One thing that I have taken away from the Patriots latest Super Bowl victory (other then adulation) is sacrifice.
Tom Brady had essentially been the most underpaid player in the NFL for almost his entire career. In 2013, Brady restructured his contract, which had two years remaining, the deal added an extension with “out years”—2015, 2016 and 2017—at salaries of $7, $8, and $9 million, respectively. As anyone with even a casual following of the business of football knows, these are startlingly low numbers for a quarterback of Brady’s caliber.
Brady’s 2015 compensation of $8 million is roughly 1) a quarter of Wilson, Eli Manning, Rivers, Roethlisberger and Newton ($31 million and above); 2) a half of Peyton Manning, Jay Cutler and top rookies Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota ($15 million or above); and 3) $11 million less than longtime peer Drew Brees ($19 million).
Brady understands that the Patriots aren't using his pay cut to make a profit, they use it to surround him with better players, players themselves who take pay cuts to play for titles. Julian Edelman one of the best slot men in the NFL is only making $4.2 million on average per year compared to someone like Jordy Nelson who averages 9.7 million.
Same goes for the San Antonio Spurs and Tim Duncan. In 2012-2013, Duncan went from earning 17 million to 9.6 million in order to keep his core and add to the base squad, and his sacrifice payed off making finals in 2013 and winning it all in 2014.
Even though I am a huge fan of Lebron, I think this is something he hasn't grasped yet as he seems to be driven by titles but at the same time doesn't want to make any short term salary sacrifice something that may be telling against GSW this season and in the coming future.