For last season:
To come up with the amount, the financial services web site broke down the take-home pay the Miami Heat would get from beating the San Antonio Spurs— and then divided the money to come up with a final figure for the NBA superstar.
So here's what they found based on a $13 million figure—the total amount available for teams that made the playoffs this year, according to the NBA.
We can start the money count with the teams that had the best record in their conference. There are two conferences, and the two teams with the best record were the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Miami Heat. They get $328,078 each.
Next, since the Heat had the best record for the season, that team gets an additional $347,947, according to the playoff rules.
Now, each team that is in the first round of the playoffs, win or lose, gets $194,016. So we can add that to the Heat money pot. And we can throw in second round playoff money—$230,853 for each team—as well as third round money: $381,482.
And the team that wins the NBA title gets $2,302,232 all to themselves.
So if the Heat win, they get a total amount of $3,784,608.
That's not all that much from what's expected to be a grueling championships series. But it's about to get even smaller for the team. That's because, as tradition stands, the winning teams typically divide up the money among the players, team officials and support staff.
GoBankrate says the Heat have some 72 people who could receive a share. So, $3,784,608 divided by 72, assuming equal shares, is a whopping $52,564. That's right, LeBron, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh each get $52,564 under this formula—if they win the title.
