There are many NBA players technically on maximum salary contracts, but most of those players didn’t earn identical salaries this season, making the league’s “maximum salary” something of a misnomer. While each NBA player has a maximum salary that he can earn in a given season, that number varies from player to player, with a handful of factors playing a part in determining the exact figure.
The primary factor in determining a player’s maximum salary is his years of service. If a player has been in the NBA for no more than six years, he can earn up to 25% of the salary cap in the first year of his deal. Players with seven to nine years of experience can earn up to 30%, while veterans with 10 or more years in the NBA are eligible for up to 35% of the cap. In 2022/23, the salary cap is $123,655,000, meaning the maximum salaries are as follows:
| Years in NBA | Salary |
|---|---|
| 0-6 | $30,913,750 |
| 7-9 | $37,096,500 |
| 10+ | $43,279,250 |
The figures above explain why Zach LaVine, who signed a maximum salary contract with the Bulls last July following his eighth NBA season, earned a salary of $37,096,500 this season. But they don’t explain why Suns star Devin Booker, who is also in that 7-9 year window and is on a max contract of his own, made just $33,833,400.
The reason Booker’s maximum salary is a few million shy of LaVine’s is that those league-wide maximum salary figures only apply to the first year of a multiyear contract.
When a player signs a maximum contract, he can receive annual raises of up to either 8% or 5%, depending on whether he signs with his previous team or a new team. So by the third, fourth, or fifth year of his contract, he could be earning significantly more or less than his updated max for that season, depending on the rate the salary cap has been increasing and whether or not he has moved into a new “years of service” group.
Booker signed his first maximum salary contract extension in 2018 and it went into effect in 2019/20, when he had fewer than six years of NBA experience. Although he has received annual 8% raises since then, those raises haven’t been enough to keep up with the annual cap growth and with his move into the 7-9 year window. As a result, he earned about $3.26MM less than his actual max in 2022/23, despite being on a “max contract.”
Booker signed a new contract extension last summer that will go into effect in 2024/25, at which point he’ll receive a major pay bump and surpass LaVine’s annual earnings.
Here are a couple more ways a player’s usual maximum salary can fluctuate:
- A free agent’s maximum salary is always at least 105% of his previous salary. For example, Warriors star Stephen Curry is earning $48,070,014 this season. He’s under contract for three more years, but if he were eligible for free agency this offseason, he’d be eligible to receive a starting salary of up to $50,473,515 (105% of this year’s salary), even though that figure will easily exceed 35% of the 2023/24 cap.
- In certain situations, players eligible for new contracts can earn the maximum salary for the level above the one they’d typically fall into. A player receiving a designated rookie extension can earn up to 30% of the cap instead of 25% if he meets certain criteria. A veteran can become eligible to earn up to 35% of the cap instead of 30% if he meets the same criteria, which are related to MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, or All-NBA honors.
A player who signs a maximum salary contract can receive a trade kicker as part of his deal, but he can’t cash in on that bonus for any amount beyond his maximum salary in a given league year. For instance, Bradley Beal‘s max salary contract with the Wizards features a 15% trade kicker, but if he had been traded this season, he wouldn’t have been eligible to receive that bonus, since he was already earning his maximum salary of $43,279,250.
Similarly, a maximum salary player whose team finishes the season below the minimum salary floor isn’t eligible to receive a share when the team distributes that money to its players, since his max salary for that year can’t be exceeded.
The current figures for maximum salaries in 2023/24 are as follows, based on the NBA’s projection of a $134MM salary cap:
| Years in NBA | Salary |
|---|---|
| 0-6 | $33,500,000 |
| 7-9 | $40,200,000 |
| 10+ | $46,900,000 |
These figures will apply to players who previously signed maximum salary extensions that will go into effect in ’23/24, including Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, Darius Garland, and Nikola Jokic.
Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.
Earlier versions of this post were previously published by Luke Adams and Chuck Myron.
Harden is eligible for $46,900,000 in 2023-24 season?
A veteran can become eligible to earn up to 35% of the cap
Correct.
Not against players getting paid. The market dictates that. But every team should know when to walk away from a player. You may be do a max contract. Don’t mean you are a max player. Sometimes it’s best to trade that player. While his value is high. It’s about building your team.
Either the cap percentage needs to come down and/or the raise percentage needs to come down. The current system has almost eliminated the “middle class player”. And most importantly Franchises need to stop paying B or C level players max money. These contracts paralyze an organization for years.
The cap itself needs to go up significantly or the amount of a players salary counts against the cap needs to go down. A team using it’s Bird rights shouldn’t be penalized so harshly to retain it’s own players. There are plenty of “middle class players”, especially if they could pay players what they’re truly worth. Curry would make $75 million+ in an open market and LeBron would be in the neighborhood of $90 million a season.
Stephen Curry is 35 years old. When I was 35, I made $580 a week. This is one of many reasons my love for pro sports has waned over the years.
Curry’s boss was a partner in a venture capitalist firm at 31. Can you imagine what he made in a week?
This is the post-2011 compensation structure that the PTB in the NBA (the small market owners & the superstar players) want. It hasn’t been good for the product on the court. Bn’t hurt the bottom lut it’s consisent with the marketing and hasine. Yet, anyway.
None of it has anything to do with the money the players make as a group. Only about the allocation among them.