After the time came to the new century, the role of NBA power forwards began to increase, and several teams took power forwards as the core of their teams, the more representative ones are Duncan of the Spurs and Nowitzki of the Mavericks! In the 1997 draft, the Spurs selected Duncan with a top pick, he debuted at the peak, quickly squeezed out Robinson, became the leader of the Spurs, and in the second year of his career, Duncan led the team to win the first championship in team history, followed by the second, the third... In a 19-year career with the Spurs, Duncan won a total of five championships.
Only a year later than Duncan, in the 1998 draft, the Bucks used the first round of the ninth pick to select Nowitzki, and then traded him to the Mavericks, unlike Duncan who entered the league completely, Nowitzki adapted for a period of time and gradually grew into the core of the team, leading the team to the Finals in 2006, the Mavericks lost to the Heat, and entered the Finals for the second time in 2011, the opponent is still the Heat, this time is Nowitzki's proof battle, but also the pinnacle battle, the Mavericks successfully won the championship, Many fans consider this to be the most valuable championship.
Duncan and Nowitzki have a lot in common, they are both power forwards, they both play for Texas teams, they are both one man and one city, and they have taken multiple salary cuts throughout their careers, which is a model for salary cuts. Yes, in order to give the team more salary space to strengthen the roster, Duncan and Nowitzki have cut their salaries many times, which has proven to work well, the team is quite competitive, the Spurs and Mavericks have been the mountains of the West for a long time, difficult to overcome, so, as a model of salary cuts, who has dropped the most between Duncan and Nowitzki?
Let's take a look at Duncan, who took three salary cuts for the Spurs in his career, and in 2007, Duncan voluntarily reduced his 2-year, $51 million contract extension to a two-year $40 million contract in order to keep Parker; In 2012, Duncan signed a three-year, $30 million contract with the Spurs, with a salary cut of up to 50%; In 2015, Duncan, who was named to the All-NBA and All-Defense Team, signed a two-year, $10 million contract with the Spurs in order to get the Spurs to sign Ader, which means that Duncan will at least have a salary cut of $60 million in his career, a staggering figure.
Let's look at Nowitzki, he cut the Mavericks' salary four times in his career, first giving up the top salary of other teams for 4 years and $86 million, signing $80 million for 4 years, then $30 million for 3 years, and then Nowitzki refused the Mavericks' 2-year $50 million contract extension, reducing his salary to $10 million for 2 years, roughly calculated, Nowitzki's career salary reduction is almost $65 million, slightly more than Duncan, it can be seen that these two are very sacrificial players, Ability to sacrifice self-interest for the sake of the team.