NBA cost per win through 12/2/13

What should have been a battle for borough supremacy this Thursday between the Knicks and Nets has turned into a match-up of two awful basketball teams. It's not just the Manhattanites and Brooklynites that are floundering though, the entire Eastern conference has been historically inept so far this year.

But a Milwaukee team with a $55.9 million payroll going 3-13 is different than the Knicks going 3-13 with a $86.9 million payrfoll, before luxury tax. The Knicks salary still pales in comparison to the Nets, who have a $101.3 million tab before the luxury tax. The 5-12 Nets projected but rarely intact starting lineup of Deron Williams ($18.5 million), Joe Johnson ($21.5 million), Paul Pierce ($15.3 million), Kevin Garnett ($12.4 million) and Brook Lopez ($14.7 million) will make about $82.4 million combined in 2013-14, or more than the entire payroll of 27 out of 30 NBA teams. 

But have the Nets been the most cost inefficient team so far this year? Below is the cost per win (pre-luxury tax) for each NBA franchise for games through yesterday, December 2nd. As wildly as Mikhail Prokhorov and Billy King spent this summer, James Dolan still takes the cake in ineptitude, at least for now.