Episode 6 | NBA + payroll

This was a fun episode with only one analysis and a points-per-million game that Greg and I played. The topic of team financials is certainly an interesting one, but there are so many angles to explore that it could get very complicated very quickly. For now, we decided to keep it simple and look at overall team payroll as a predictor for season success and getting into the playoffs.

Long story short, more money is better. Not really all that shocking but it begs several other questions. Namely, do expensive players gravitate towards certain places? Like the Lakers have a high payroll and Charlotte does not, but is that more explained by the owners willingness to spend or the fact that more stars want to be in LA than Carolina. My guess is probably a little of both.

In the future, we will probably explore some more nuanced ways of looking at financials. For instance, a measure of how large your top three contracts are, or which position you pay most highly. A lot of fertile ground for analysis!