Indeed. I've heard this about other Globetrotter players. That their talents, skills and abilities could make most NBA players look small.
The year Lemon joined the Globetrotterss the Celtics has a total payroll of less than $100,000. He probably made more money than a lot of NBA players at that time. Chamberlain played for them for 1 year and went from $50,000 to $30,000 when he joined the NBA.