How much do NBA players earn? The Top 15 salary rankings, how the salary cap works, and which are the richest basketball players, including sponsors.
NBA Salaries 2024/2025, the players who earn the most: the new season of star-spangled basketball has begun, with the Boston Celtics trying to defend their title.
The NBA has always embodied the essence of basketball - almost as if it were a sport in itself like American football -, a real show capable of generating a turnover of over 10.5 billion dollars every year.
The salaries of NBA players are consequently also fabulous, with franchises that have to submit to the rigid constraints of the salary cap, a system that many would like to introduce in football as well.
In addition to salaries, NBA athletes can also count on rich sponsorship contracts, so much so that for some time now, the centenarians have been at the top of the ranking of the richest athletes in the world.
Let’s see how the salary cap works, what are the 15 highest salaries in the NBA and which players earn the most per season based on their sponsors.
NBA Salaries: How the Salary Cup Works
As is standard practice for sports in the United States, the NBA is not exempt from the logic of a salary cap that follows the dictates of the latest collective bargaining agreement that was signed in December 2016.
This is a salary cap that varies from season to season based on the total revenue of the NBA, estimated at over 10 billion dollars. Thanks to a new television contract - the record figure is 76 billion dollars in eleven years -, the salary cap this season will be 140.588 million dollars.
The sum of all the contracts of the players of each team cannot exceed this threshold. In theory there is a tolerance threshold called luxury cap, where those who go over must pay a penalty that starts from 1.5 dollars for each dollar in excess up to 3.75 over 20 million in excess.
The money from the penalties paid by those teams that go over the cap is then distributed to the franchises that remain under the salary cap (however, it is not possible to spend less than 90% of the available budget).
Compared to our football, for example, the transfer methods of a player also change. A franchise cannot buy the registration of an athlete, but can only sign him through the draft, making an exchange or signing a free agent.
NBA Salaries 2024/2025, the 15 players who earn the most
Despite the restrictions of the salary cap, the NBA player salaries are still fabulous: just think that a young player making his debut is entitled to a minimum salary of $925,000.
Let’s see who are the 15 highest paid NBA players in the 2024/2025 season.
| PLAYER | TEAM | SALARY |
|---|---|---|
| Stephen Curry | Golden State Warriors | $55.8 |
| Joel Embiid | Philadelphia 76ers | $51.4 |
| Nikola Jokic | Denver Nuggets | $51.4 |
| Bradley Beal | Phoenix Suns | $50.2 |
| Kevin Durant | Phoenix Suns | $49.9 |
| Paul George | Philadelphia 76ers | $49.2 |
| Kawhi Leonard | Los Angeles Clippers | $49.2 |
| Devin Booker | Phoenix Suns | $49.2 |
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | Milwaukee Bucks | $48.8 |
| Jimmy Butler | Miami Heat | $48.8 |
| Damian Lillard | Milwaukee Bucks | $48.2 |
| LeBron James | Los Angeles Lakers | $47.8 |
| Luka Dončić | Dallas Mavericks | $43 |
| Zion Williamson | New Orleans Pelicans | $36.7 |
| Shai Gilgeous-Alexander | Oklahoma City Thunder | $35.9 |
Fonte Sportico
The highest paid player in this NBA season will once again be Stephen Curry, who precedes the duo formed by Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic who make up the podium. Further back are two authentic legends such as LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
Italian player Danilo Gallinari cannot complain either, who, after having cashed in a salary of over 21 million dollars guaranteed by the San Antonio Spurs in recent seasons, is currently a free agent waiting for a new team.
Not just salary: the NBA players who earn the most
In addition to pharaonic salaries, NBA players can also count on rich sponsorship contracts which, in some cases, double the annual earnings of basketball players.
Overall, Stephen Curry and LeBron James will once again be the two richest NBA players this season, with their respective total earnings of $155.8 million and $133.7 million, not bad.
Overall, the top 15 NBA players will earn a total of $1.13 billion in salaries and endorsements, up 11% from last season.
Original article published on Money.it Italy. Original title: Stipendi NBA 2024/2025, i giocatori che guadagnano di più
