3 ways to estimate how much Miles Bridges should be paid this offseason
By Mat Issa
Method #2: Cerebro Sports Global Search Tool
The website Cerebro Sports has a Global Search tool that allows you to compare players from different eras dating all the way back to 1980.
According to their database, there are eight player seasons with similar statistical profiles to the one had by 2023-24 Bridges. One of those player seasons is, ironically enough, 2021-22 Bridges. So, we'll leave that player season out of this conversation. Meanwhile, 2019-20 Pascal Siakam (another player with a statically similar season to Bridges) was still on his rookie deal in 2019-20. Since Bridges is past his rookie contract days, Siakam's salary in that season isn't really relevant to this discussion.
With those two seasons eliminated, here are the six player seasons with similar statistical footprints and the percentage of the salary cap each of them was making during that season.
Player | Year | Age | % of Salary Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
Tobias Harris | 2017-18 | 25 | ≈ 16.1% |
Tobias Harris | 2019-20 | 27 | ≈ 30% |
Jason Richardson | 2005-06 | 25 | ≈ 18% |
Clifford Robinson | 1994-95 | 28 | ≈ 12.1% |
Detlef Schrempf | 1994-95 | 32 | ≈ 31.3% |
Dirk Nowitzki | 2013-14 | 35 | ≈ 38.6% |
A couple of caveats to mention here: 1) we can disregard 2013-14 Dirk Nowitzki. That version of Nowitzki was in the twilight of his career, and he was being rewarded for taking pay cuts during his prime to help the Dallas Mavericks build a winner. 2) 2019-20 Harris is generally agreed to have been grossly overpaid. So, we won't want to use his salary figure as a point of comparison. 3) 1994-95 Detlef Schrempf was both an All-Star and Third Team All-NBA player when he was collecting 31.3% of his team's maximum salary cap. Considering Bridges has never been an All-Star, let alone an All-NBA player, it isn't wise to use Schrempf here, either.
That leaves us with 2017-18 Harris, 2005-06 Jason Richardson, and 1994-95 Clifford Robinson. Those three were between the 12.1% and 18% range. Based on next season's salary cap, that would be roughly between 17.1 million and 25.4 million, which is well over the NTML.