The forces shaping NBA player pay are so unrelated to those in play for programmer salaries that the author sounds shallow when he says that a factor of 4x betw

The forces shaping NBA player pay are so unrelated to those in play for programmer salaries that the author sounds shallow when he says that a factor of 4x between max and average in the NBA is why we shouldn't be surprised if there's a similar spread in programmers. Just as a start, nobody will pay the average basketball player, but the average programmer can earn a nice living. Then move down the line to the owners' monopoly vs players' union, 5 players on the floor, etc. A better analysis could start with why a 10x more skilled programmer isn't able to produce 10x more value, or, if she is, why she isn't the one capturing it. There sure are domains where 10 hard working just-competent programmers can outproduce a single genius. Ideally the genius has a few near-peers and a grunt-programming support team, and everyone feels good about that.