The Nemesis
Semper Tyrannus
Twice the money to split between half the players. Simple as that really
Was going to post something like this yesterday. Basketball salaries also get propped up because the league makes serious bank with smaller rosters.
there's a 2016 comparison out there which I believe fails to account for the league's new super-crazy TV deal which pegs the NBA at just under $6b and the NHL at like $3.4b.
The average NHL roster is 23 players x 31 teams = ~713 full-time players (or equivalent full seasons out of part-timers/call-ups)
The average NBA roster is 15 players x 30 teams = ~450 full-time players
so if each league allotted half its revenue pie to the players (which is roughly accurate):
NBA: $3b / 450 = approx. $6.67m per player
NHL: $1.7b / 713 = $2.38m per player
But considering that league minimums are relatively similar in both leagues (the global NHL minimum is about $575,000 and the minimum for players with little to no NBA experience is about $562,000. The NBA amount scales up by seasons of NBA play the player has though) it also makes it easier for the NBA to achieve a broader spread of salaries away from that per-player average, which is why you can get a lot more players making above that figure.