Two San Antonio Spurs Among the Few Players Not Facing Pay Cuts After Coronavirus Halts NBA Season

Looks like the San Antonio Spurs' Dejounte Murray and Trey Lyles are among the handful of NBA players who aren't sweating a drastic pay cut from the league's coronavirus-forced shutdown.

The New York Times' Marc Stein reports the NBA paychecks issued Wednesday could be the last for a while. It's unclear when, or whether, the season can be completed, and players "have not been assured future payments," he tweeted.

NBA players are on a 12-month payment schedule, except for just nine players, all represented by Klutch Sports, according to Stein. In addition to Lakers superstar LeBron James, those nine include Murray and Lyles.

The Klutch players receive 90% of their season salary by April 1, the last day most others are guaranteed to get a bank deposit.

The nine Klutch players are naturally led by LeBron James and include John Wall, Kentavious-Caldwell Pope, Dejounte Murray, Miles Bridges, Darius Bazley, Darius Garland, Terrance Ferguson and Trey Lyles. Next season it will be 10 when Draymond Green’s contract extension kicks in

— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 31, 2020

That's got to be a relief for Murray and Lyles. While some of the NBA's highest-profile stars have fat enough endorsement deals to keep them comfortable, the majority rely on game checks to provide their income.

Even so, we're guessing plenty of San Antonians would be just fine with earning half an NBA player's annual salary.

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