# Bulls Salary History



## bullsville (Jan 23, 2005)

Thanks to Patricia's Web Site for the numbers.

The salary cap for the 90-91 season was $11.871 million.
Team Payroll 
1. Cleveland Cavaliers $14,473,000
2. New York Knicks $13,712,000
3. Detroit Pistons $13,025,000
4. Philadelphia 76ers $12,385,000
5. Los Angeles Lakers $12,145,000
6. Atlanta Hawks $11,976,000
7. Houston Rockets $11,960,000
8. New Jersey Nets $11,860,000
9. Phoenix Suns $11,833,000
10. San Antonio Spurs $11,792,000
11. Golden State Warriors $11,775,000
11. Milwaukee Bucks $11,775,000
13. Dallas Mavericks $11,743,000
14. Charlotte Hornets $11,577,000
15. Portland Trailblazers $11,455,000
16. Boston Celtis $11,426,000
17. Denver Nuggets $11,365,000
18. Indiana Pacers $11,291,000
19. Utah Jazz $11,227,000
20. Seattle Supersonics $10,890,000
21. Los Angeles Clippers $10,615,000
22. Sacramento Kings $10,480,000
*23. Chicago Bulls $10,040,000*
24. Washington Bullets $9,640,000
25. Miami Heat $8,925,000
26. Minnesota Timberwolves $8,050,000
27. Orlando Magic $7,872,000

Has any team in any sport ever won a championship with a payroll ranked so low? The Magic and TWolves and Heat were in their 3rd year or less in the league, so the only non-expansion team with a lower payroll was the Bullets.

===================

The salary cap for the 91-92 season was $12.5 million.
Team Payroll 
1. Boston Celtis $25,343,000
2. Cleveland Cavaliers $16,882,000
3. Chicago Bulls $16,829,000
4. Los Angeles Lakers $15,673,000
5. Detroit Pistons $15,428,000

===================

The salary cap for the 92-93 season was $14 million.
Team Payroll 
1. Boston Celtics $24,998,000
2. Cleveland Cavaliers $19,675,000
3. Los Angeles Lakers $18,851,000
4. Chicago Bulls $18,535,000
5. San Antonio Spurs $18,223,000

======================

The salary cap for the '93-'94 season is $15.175 million. Only
one team - Dallas - is under the cap. 
Team Payroll (rounded to nearest $100,000)
1. Cleveland Cavaliers $23.7
2. Portland Trail Blazers $23.5
3. Atlanta Hawks $22.5
4. Los Angeles Lakers $22.5
5. New York Knicks $22.1
6. Phoenix Suns $21.6
7. Golden State Warriors $21.2 
8. Boston Celtics $21.2
9. Orlando Magic $20.8
10. Los Angeles Clipers $20.2
11. New Jersey Nets $20.1
12. Chicago Bulls $19.6

(The Bulls salary increased from the season before, but since they were already over the cap and MJ, Pip, Cartright, Grant, Paxson, King, Perdue, Armstrong and Scott Williams were all under contract already, the percentage increase was small compared with the rest of the league. So despite adding Toni to the roster, the Bulls' payroll didn't go up much at all. Pretty good cap management when you consider they paid MJ to play baseball.)

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1994-1995

[All 27 teams are over the $15,964,000 salary cap.]
Chicago Bulls .............. 22,053,129 [paper lists (rounded) 22,080,000]
San Antonio Spurs .......... 22,721,982 [paper lists (rounded) 22,680,000]
New Jersey Nets ............ 23,121,800 [paper lists (rounded) 23,130,000]
Phoenix Suns ............... 23,170,884 [paper lists (rounded) 27,180,000]
Seattle Supersonics ........ 24,073,500
Boston Celtics ............. 24,462,000
Indiana Pacers ............. 24,918,500
New York Knicks ............ 25,748,900
Portland Trail Blazers ..... 26,658,000 [paper lists (rounded) 27,460,000]
Cleveland Cavaliers ........ 28,106,000
Orlando Magic .............. 29,069,916 [paper lists (rounded) 29,060,000]
Los Angeles Lakers ......... 42,068,300

(Bulls were 12th, still over the cap with everyone under contract except Ho Grant, who walked as a FA.)

===================

The salary cap for the 95-96 season is $23 million (but Vancouver and
Toronto have a $19 million cap due to their expansion terms). 17 of the 
29 teams are over the cap.

Chicago Bulls .......... $23,512,000
Indiana Pacers ......... $23,909,000
Portland Trailblazers .. $23,926,000
Detroit Pistons ........ $23,970,000
Sacramento Kings ....... $24,391,000
Denver Nuggets ......... $24,553,000
Philadelphia 76ers ..... $25,133,000
Houston Rockets ........ $25,632,000
Seattle Supersonics .... $25,852,000
San Antonio Spurs ...... $26,553,000
Cleveland Cavaliers .... $27,695,000
Los Angeles Lakers ..... $30,073,000
Phoenix Suns ........... $36,525,000
Orlando Magic .......... $36,526,560
New York Knicks ........ $43,329,000

The Bulls were 15th, right in the middle of the pack.

======================

The 1996-97 salary cap is $24.3 million for each team, with Toronto and Vancouver
having a salary cap of $18,225,00 each.

25. Washington Bullets ..... $34.56 million
26. Phoenix Suns ........... $36.14 million
27. Indiana Pacers ......... $40.93 million
28. Orlando Magic .......... $45.05 million
29. Chicago Bulls .......... $58.27 million

============================

The salary cap for 1997-98 is $26.9 million.

25. Indiana Pacers .......... $39,162,273
26. Washington Wizards ...... $40,718,075
27. Orlando Magic ........... $43,954,299
28. New York Knicks ......... $53,974,881
29. Chicago Bulls ........... $61,330,670

The Bulls eventually evened out a lot of the money from when they were not top-5 in payroll over the last 2 seasons. MJ got most of that money, but that's the way it should have been.

One more thing- the Magic of the 1997 and 1998 seasons were #2 and #3 in payroll, yet they won only 45 and 41 games and lost in the first round and missed the playoffs. The guy making $14 million of their salary was none other than Horace Grant, who made twice as much money as Penny.


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