Fresh off the latest sign of the apocalypse their 101-97 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats, the Mavs host the Wolves Monday night. Gunning their way to early season victories over the Los Angeles Lakers, Toronto Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers — as well as a split with the Bobs, they’re leading the league in scoring, at 104.7 a game. Newly acquired, semi-former-Wolf, OJ Mayo is leading the way with 21.9 a game.

Mavericks probable starting lineup:

PG Darren Collison

SG OJ Mayo

SF Jae Crowder

PF Elton Brand

C Brandon Wright

Free to get all the touches he wants with Dirk Nowitzki out, and this year no longer competing for them with Rudy Gay, Zach Randolph, Mike Conley or Marc Gasol — Mayo has shot over 45% of his shots from 3 (including two games with 10 attempts). So far things have worked out. He’s been unconscious and made 60% of them.

Another refugee in the Mavs camp this year is Collison. He is tasked with distributing to such ball stoppers as Mayo, Vince Carter and Chris Kaman and so far has been a nice surprise — resembling his New Orleans self more than his days Indiana — at over 7 assists per game.

Wolves probable starting lineup:

PG Luke Ridnour

SG Alexey Shved

SF Andrei Kirilenko

PF Derrick Williams

C Nikola Pekovic

Whether Brandon Roy or JJ Barea return tonight or not, the cursed starting shooting guard position is sure to feature more Shved than ever. The loss of Chase Budinger stings as he was starting to inflict some real damage in coach Rick Adelman’s offense. The silver lining is that he will not miss the entire season, although we have yet to learn how severe the injury was and how long his rehab will be.

The Mavs have freshly signed big man Troy Murphy to add to their barrage of bigs (Kaman, Brand and Wright) to throw at Pek. How Pek deals with the (even more) added attention will be critical.

Cross match-ups between (Wolves draft board fan-favorite) Crowder and Kirilenko could be favorable, with Carter coming off the bench.

After grinding it out inside with Indiana and Chicago, the Wolves will have to stretch their defense to stop the threes from raining. Short-manned as ever, it should be a good test for the Timberwolves.

Yahoo.com posted the Forbes article highlighting the richest contract this season in the NBA.  Some players are worth it.  Some are not.  But here is the run down.

1. Kobe Bryant, LA Lakers at $24.8M
2. Rashard Lewis, Magic at $20.5M
3. Kevin Garnett, Celtics at $18.8M
4. Tim Duncan, Spurs at $18.7M
5. Michael Redd, Bucks at $18.3M
6. (Tie) Pau Gasol, LA Lakers at $17.8M
7. (Tie) Andrei Kirilenko, Jazz at $17.8M
8. Gilbert Arenas, Wizards at $17.7M
9. Yao Ming, Rockets at $17.7M
10. Zach Randolph, Grizzles at $17.3M

*I am assuming they are rounding up – hence no ties with Arenas and Yao.  If you want more NBA Salary info, go to www.hoopshype.com and have fun times.

The list makes me sad not only because there is an ungodly amount of money there, but it is a top 10 list without many of the best players in the league.  No LeBron ($14.5M).  No Dwight Howard ($16.5M).  No Carmelo ($17.1M).  No Chris Paul or Deron Williams (both at $14.9M).  And no D-Wade ($14M).

How many players on this list would you say are the best on their team?  One, maybe two…possibly three.  Kobe for sure, Duncan yes, Yao…probably not.  Lewis is the 3rd, probably 4th options on his team.  Redd missed all of last season and every game so far this season, Pau would be first on most but his own and in Miami, Kirilenko is 4th best and there were talks of him not starting, Arenas is…well, Gilbert, and Randolph is on a team with Rudy Gay and OJ Mayo – and vastly overpaid Michael Conley.

Duncan is coming of a season which saw him earn the most money of his career ($22M) while scoring the least amount of ppg (17.9) and rpg (10.1).  Granted, it is still pretty stellar, but not worth $22M.

Here are some other players who are overpaid!

• Vince Carter, Magic at $17.3
• Kenyon Martin, Nuggets and Elton Brand, 76ers at $15.9M
• Peja Stojakovic, Hornets at $15.3M
• Jason Richardson, Suns at $14.4M
• Andrew Bynum, Lakers at $13.8M

More power to them for getting paid and not living up to expectations and never getting a large contract again.

Lesson for the Future: Antoine Walker!