Feb 11, 2013; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal (3) is fouled by Milwaukee Bucks center Joel Przybilla (10) at the Bradley Center. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

In one sense, there isn’t a whole lot at stake in the NBA playoffs, at least not in terms of a direct payout from the league. Of the $13 million dollars set aside for the playoff pool, only $776,717 separates the Finals winner from the loser.

Put another way:  the different between winning and losing is roughly $75,000 less than what the Milwaukee Bucks paid Joel Przybilla for a season as their last-string center, a season that consisted of 12 games, one glorious start, and 2 points.

(Ed. note: AP style dictates that I use the word “two” instead of the numeral “2″ here, but when talking about a player’s point total for the entirety of a regular season, I say we just go crazy, throw up the numeral and see what happens.)

But $776,717 isn’t the total payout.  The Heat and Spurs have each guaranteed themselves over $2.5 million this postseason, a sum usually distributed among players and other team personnel.  It’s often the case that team captains decide on the methodology of such a split.  Some teams opt for equal divisions.  Others divvy up shares based on players’ importance to the team.  Often team trainers and other staff are figured into the distribution.

Below is the distribution of playoff funds for the 2013 NBA postseason, with the result of the NBA Finals still pending.

The Bucks are among the group of four teams receiving the minimum payment of $194,016 for making the playoffs, not advancing, and not finishing among the top six seeds in either conference’s regular season.

Over the decades, the NBA’s playoff pool has grown.  In 1951, the league’s players and coaches shared a pool of $50,000.  Since then, it has expanded from from $1.5 million in 1983 to $5 million in 1993 to $8.75 million in 2003.

December 12, 2011; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry (30) types on the computer for Twitter during media day at the Golden State Warriors Practice Facility. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Of the four major sports leagues, the NBA has embraced has embraced social media the most tightly.  In that spirit, it seems fair to evaluate the influence each team’s social media holds over its audience.  Klout, while not perfect, is the most well known method for measuring such social media impact.

Klout scours social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, and measures their data to create a “Klout Score.” Klout scores range from 1 to 100, with higher scores corresponding to a broader online social influence. The data below are broken up by NBA division, with measurements taken in June 2011 and May 2013.

A few notes:  Klout has reformulated its algorithms and measurement scales since 2011, so the scores of 2011 are not directly comparable with the scores of 2013.  Also, the scales aren’t linear — in fact, they’re probably closer to something logarithmic — so a score of 89 is actually better than a score of 88 by a good bit more than 1%.

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Southeast Division

Pacific Division

Northwest Division

Southwest Division 

Other team-based notes and trends:

• There is likely a fair bit of playoff bias in measurements taken in June and May; for example, in 2011, the Mavericks and Heat topped the league during their respective runs to the NBA Finals.  Out of the playoffs in 2013, Dallas finished with a score much closer to the league average.
• With a score of 95, Chicago finished with the highest 2013 score; Portland finished last with a mark of 84.
• Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Utah finished in a surprising tie for the sixth-highest score, following five teams from bigger markets with more television exposure: the Bulls, Lakers, Celtics, Knicks, and Heat.