The incredible salary earned by professional athletes is entirely justified as long as you accept the premise of our market economy itself. They earn that money by creating revenue for the owners of the teams at the expense of their bodies and time. They are paid such exorbitant amounts because their playing creates vastly larger sums for the organization, which is parlayed into large salaries for managers, marketers, agents, etc. While it may be that the NBA is managing its finances poorly, that is not self-evident from its asking for a loan from a commercial lender. This type of loan is not a bailout from the government, it is simply the business of banks.
The other thing to keep in mind about the seemingly outrageous salaries of pro-athletes is that in the NBA, the average career is 5 years. The strain on the body of a basketball player is a lot higher than that of the owner who is earning multi-millions from the labor of his players, and he is able to do that for many more years.
Just keep in mind that players are paid an absurd fee because networks pay an absurd fee to televise games, the leagues make absurd fees on merchandising, ticket sales, etc. The only thing that is disgusting is our collective willingness to watch people perform arbitrary actions with balls. But then, people have always been fascinated by watching tasks performed extremely well, so perhaps that is not so disgusting either.