815: New Championship Favorite

The summer of 2014 felt especially human compared with previous years.

First, Randolph voluntarily took a $6 million pay cut to preserve the team's championship core.

Just when people thought a $6 million cut was already extreme enough, Dirk Nowitzki went even further.

After earning an annual salary of $22.72 million in Dallas last season, Nowitzki decided to take a voluntary pay cut so the Mavericks would have room to operate in free agency. His new contract with the Mavericks paid just $7.97 million for one year!

Originally, Cuban had offered Dirk a one-year, $20 million contract. After all, Dirk had still averaged 21.7 points and 6.2 rebounds last season, while shooting 49.7 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from three-point range.

He might have been old, but he was still an indispensable force for the Dallas Mavericks.

Yet Dirk righteously turned down Cuban's offer. Having never used an agent, he negotiated with Cuban personally for the first time. Of course, unlike everyone else, Dirk was not bargaining for a higher salary—he wanted Cuban to give him less.

That was how the one-year, $7.97 million contract came to be.

$7.97 million for a year was undoubtedly far below Dirk's actual value. He had effectively taken a $12 million pay cut, twice as much as Randolph!

Even Garnett, whose tank was nearly empty, had just signed a one-year, $12 million contract with the Nets.

Dirk's $7.97 million deal left people utterly baffled.

Yet these things that defied business logic and commercial principles had indeed happened.

Randolph, Nowitzki, and Duncan, who had voluntarily taken a pay cut the previous summer, all taught everyone one thing—NBA was far more than just business.

Of course, those willing to take pay cuts to remain with their original teams were still only a small minority.