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Three in Nuggets camp are in the money even if they don't make roster

By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 5, 2008 at 9:27 p.m.

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Juwan Howard said that despite earning more than $140 million, wanting to play at age 35 shows his passion for the game.

Photo by Murad Sezer / Associated Press

Juwan Howard said that despite earning more than $140 million, wanting to play at age 35 shows his passion for the game.

Nick Fazekas, waived by Dallas, said his NBA money is cool, but it doesn't equate to happiness. Contributing to a team does.

Photo by Rocky Widner / Getty Images

Nick Fazekas, waived by Dallas, said his NBA money is cool, but it doesn't equate to happiness. Contributing to a team does.

Smush Parker said he doesn't think about pay from his former team. "I feel I have to prove myself every day," he said.

Photo by Fernando Medina / Getty Images

Smush Parker said he doesn't think about pay from his former team. "I feel I have to prove myself every day," he said.

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One expects comedian Yakov Smirnoff to jump out and say, "What a country!"

Or, to be more precise, "What a league!"

So there's an ongoing world economic crisis? One might not know it when it comes to the NBA.

There are three players in Nuggets training camp on nonguaranteed contracts who you need not cry too hard for if they don't make the team. They will be paid a total of $7.5 million this season, even if they're home, sitting in a La-Z-Boy.

Fortunate one No. 1 is forward Juwan Howard, who had his contract bought out before last season by Minnesota for more than $10 million. He'll make $5.16 million this season courtesy of the Timberwolves, who also will pay Troy Hudson $5 million this season to not play.

Beneficiary No. 2 is guard Smush Parker, who fell out of favor with Miami in November after getting into an altercation with a valet parking attendant. His punishment eventually was getting his contact bought out, and he'll make $1.66 million this season, even if he never puts on a pair of shorts in the regular season.

Lucky man No. 3 is forward Nick Fazekas. To make a deal work in February for Jason Kidd, Dallas had to waive Fazekas with about $900,000 left on his contract, including $711,517 for this season.

"It's cool, but money doesn't make you happy," said Fazekas, a 2003 graduate of Ralston Valley High School who would pull down an extra $711,517 if he lasted this season with the Nuggets or any other NBA team. "For me to be happy, it'd be to be on this team and help contribute. . . . If that money is going to make me financially set, maybe 10 years from now I'll be like, 'It'd be good that I did make that.' But right now, it doesn't (concern) me."

Of course, the kind of money Fazekas is getting for free is what Howard probably finds underneath his seat cushions.

Few players in NBA history have made as much as Howard. With most of it coming from a $105 million contract Howard played under from 1996-2003, he has pulled down more than $140 million in his career.

But Howard, 35, still wants to play. So here he is sweating it out in Nuggets camp on a nonguaranteed deal that would net him $1.26 million more if he can last the season.

"It goes to show you how much passion I have about basketball," said Howard, whose Nuggets took their first day off in camp Sunday. "Financially, I've done pretty well throughout my career. This is not about the money aspect of things. This is about the love for the game, and that's why I am here."

Parker, meanwhile, would love to restore his reputation. He was banished by the Heat after the episode in which he allegedly twisted the arm of a female attendant (no charges were filed) in a dispute about whether he had paid a $12 parking fee.

Parker, who finished last season with the Clippers after his March buyout, shrugs off questions about the bucks he got from the Heat to go away.

"I'm not even thinking (about) that," said Parker, who would pocket an extra $926,678 if he lasted throughout this season in the NBA. "I just want to work hard and try to get a spot on this Denver Nuggets team. . . . I feel I have to prove myself every day. I've been an underdog since I was undrafted in 2002."

Somehow, it's hard to consider one an underdog who could be paid $1.66 million this season while sitting around doing nothing.