This article investigates the labor market structure and determinants of salaries for players in the National Basketball Association. Hodson and Kaufman's (1982) resource perspective is seen as a useful way of integrating the various components of the “new structuralist” perspective into a coherent framework. An expanded version of the resource perspective that includes human capital and performance criteria is utilized in this analysis. A three-tiered model of labor market segmentation is revealed in the labor market for professional basketball players, but other structural, human capital, and performance variables also serve as important resources in salary determination. Further, the analysis compliments several recent studies that have shown the utility of analyzing segmentation processes within occupations, industries, and firms.
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