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NBA Maximum Salary Projections For 2023/24

Although a number of big-money free agent contracts have been completed since the 2022/23 NBA league year began, several of the most lucrative deals signed by players in ’22 have been contract extensions. And many of those extensions have been maximum-salary deals.

[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]

Because those extensions won’t go into effect until at least the 2023/24 season and the NBA won’t finalize the ’23/24 salary cap until next summer, we can only ballpark what many of year’s maximum-salary contracts will look like based on the league’s latest cap estimates.

When the NBA confirmed its salary cap data for the 2022/23 season on June 30, the league also updated its cap projection for the ’23/24 campaign, estimating a $133MM cap. That estimate has since risen to $136MM. We’re basing our figures on a projection of $136,021,000, which would be the maximum allowable increase.

Listed below are the early maximum-salary projections for 2023/24. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous club can offer five years instead of four, and 8% annual raises instead of 5% raises. The second chart shows the maximum salaries for a player signing with a new team.

A player’s maximum salary is generally determined by his years of NBA experience, so there’s a wide gap between potential earnings for younger and older players. Unless they qualify for a more lucrative extension by meeting certain performance criteria, players with no more than six years of NBA experience are limited to a starting salary worth up to 25% of the cap. For players with seven to nine years of experience, that number is 30%. For players with 10 or more years of experience, it’s 35%.

Here are the the early max-salary projections for 2023/24:


A player re-signing with his own team (8% annual raises, up to five years):

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2023/24 $34,005,125 $40,806,150 $47,607,175
2024/25 $36,725,535 $44,070,642 $51,415,749
2025/26 $39,445,945 $47,335,134 $55,224,323
2026/27 $42,166,355 $50,599,626 $59,032,897
2027/28 $44,886,765 $53,864,118 $62,841,471
Total $197,229,725 $236,675,670 $276,121,615

The “6 years or less” column here is what the new extensions for Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, and Darius Garland will look like if none of them make an All-NBA team in 2023. All three players have Rose Rule language in their contracts, however, and could move up to the 30% max column (“7-9 years”) if certain criteria are met.

The 30% max column will also apply to players who reach the free agent market next summer with between seven and nine years of NBA experience under their belts. That would be Fred VanVleet‘s maximum contract with the Raptors, for instance, assuming he doesn’t sign an extension before then.

The third column (35%) will apply to the new super-max extension signed by Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. Sixers center Joel Embiid also previously signed a super-max extension that will begin in 2023/24, though his deal is for four years, so it’d be worth a projected $213,280,144 instead of the projected $276MM+ that Jokic will earn over five seasons.


A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2023/24 $34,005,125 $40,806,150 $47,607,175
2024/25 $35,705,381 $42,846,458 $49,987,534
2025/26 $37,405,638 $44,886,765 $52,367,893
2026/27 $39,105,894 $46,927,073 $54,748,251
Total $146,222,038 $175,466,445 $204,710,853

If a player changes teams as a free agent, he doesn’t have access to a fifth year or 8% raises. So if someone like Cameron Johnson were to sign an offer sheet with a new team next summer, he’d be limited to a four-year deal projected to be worth just over $146MM.

If a veteran free agent with between seven and nine years of NBA experience – wants to change teams in 2023, he would be able to sign a four-year contract worth up to a projected $175.47MM.

James Harden, Draymond Green, or another veteran with 10+ years of experience would be able to earn nearly $205MM across four years if they change teams as free agents in 2023. While it’s probably unlikely that Harden, Green, or any other 10-year veteran changes teams and signs a four-year, maximum-salary deal next offseason, it will theoretically be the first time in NBA history that a player could receive a $200MM+ contract while changing teams.

Poll: Early 2023 Rookie Of The Year Predictions

When Scottie Barnes was named the NBA’s Rookie of the Year for the 2021/22 season, it was the 17th time in the last 19 years that a top-six pick won the award.

The only outliers during that time were Michael Carter-Williams, who was the 11th pick in 2013 and beat out an uninspiring crop of rookies that included No. 1 pick Anthony Bennett; and Malcolm Brogdon, a 2016 second-rounder who won the award in a year in which the No. 1 pick (Ben Simmons) sat out with an injury.

Going back even further, only three other players drafted outside the top six since 1975 have earned NBA Rookie of the Year honors: Amar’e Stoudemire (No. 9) in 2003, Damon Stoudamire (No. 7) in 1996, and Mark Jackson (No. 18) in 1988.

In other words, it should come as no real surprise that the major betting favorites to win the award in 2023 are all top-six picks.

[RELATED: 2022 NBA Draft Results]

According to BetOnline.ag, Magic forward Paolo Banchero, this year’s No. 1 pick, is the current frontrunner (+250), which makes sense — Orlando is expected to finish in the lottery again this season and there aren’t many veterans on the depth chart standing in the way of Banchero earning a significant role from day one.

Thunder big man Chet Holmgren (+400) and Kings forward Keegan Murray (+400) are the next-best bets, per BetOnline. Holmgren and Murray were among the top two-way players in the 2022 draft class, which could help their respective Rookie of the Year cases. As Barnes’ win earlier this year showed, voters have become more inclined to weigh a player’s defensive contributions than they once were — it’s not just about which rookie averages the most points per game.

Rockets forward Jabari Smith (+800), Pistons guard Jaden Ivey (+800), and Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin (+1000) round out the top six. After that group, Rockets forward Tari Eason, the No. 17 pick in the draft, has the next-best odds at +2000.

All three of Smith, Ivey, and Mathurin are in position to play major roles on rebuilding clubs, though guards like Ivey and Mathurin sometimes require some time to get their feet under them and learn how to score efficiently at the NBA level — slow starts from Cade Cunningham and Jalen Green last season cost them a chance at Rookie of the Year honors, despite strong finishes.

We want to know what you think. Which player is your early pick for Rookie of the Year in 2022/23? Are you taking a top-six selection, or is there a dark horse you believe can defy the historical odds and take home the award?

Vote in our poll below, then head to the comment section to weigh in with your two cents!

Checking In On Remaining Restricted Free Agents

Of the players who finished last season on an NBA roster and didn’t have a contract for 2022/23, there are still dozens of unrestricted free agents on the open market. However, the number of restricted free agents is far smaller.

As our list of current free agents shows, there are just eight restricted free agents still unsigned — four who received standard qualifying offers and four who received two-way QOs.

We’re already a month into the 2022 free agent period, but it’s possible that some of these restricted free agents will remain on the market for another month or two. Let’s take a closer look at the RFAs still available…


Standard RFAs:

It’s no surprise that Bridges remains unsigned. He was arrested just before free agency began and now faces multiple felony charges related to domestic violence. The Hornets will certainly be in no rush to re-sign him as the legal process plays out, and Bridges’ $7.9MM qualifying offer won’t expire until October 1, so he’ll be in no hurry to accept it either. If and when Bridges is back under contract, the NBA would have the option of placing him on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation.

The other three cases here look more like straightforward examples of how restricted free agency often works. In all likelihood, the Bucks, Cavaliers, and Spurs have made preliminary offers to Nwora, Sexton, and Wieskamp, respectively, and have encouraged them to explore the market to see if they can get a more lucrative offer sheet elsewhere. Until that happens, those teams are unlikely to bid against themselves by increasing their offers.

We know, for instance, that the Cavs have reportedly offered Sexton a three-year deal worth roughly $40MM. He’s believed to be seeking a salary closer to $20MM per year.

All three players would have the option of accepting their qualifying offers and heading into the season on a one-year contract, but that may be a more viable path for Sexton, who is coming off a lost season and has a QO worth $7.2MM, than for Nwora ($2.1MM). Wieskamp’s qualifying offer is also relatively modest ($1.8MM), but his NBA résumé is far more limited than Sexton’s or Nwora’s, so it’s unclear if he’ll get a better offer than that.


Two-way RFAs:

A report in early July suggested that Duke was hoping to earn a standard contract from the Nets, and following a Las Vegas Summer League in which he averaged 19.0 points per game in five appearances, there’s no reason to think his stance has changed. Brooklyn only has 13 players on standard contracts, so a promotion remains in play for Duke, but the team likely wants resolution on the Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving sagas before locking in those back-of-the-roster spots.

Once Goran Dragic officially signs, the Bulls will have 15 players on standard guaranteed contracts and just one on a two-way deal, so they’d probably like to see Hill accept his two-way qualifying offer to fill that second slot.

It’s unclear what the Raptors‘ plans are for Johnson. The team has filled its two-way slots with new signees (Ron Harper Jr. and Jeff Dowtin) and there will be stiff competition for a spot on the 15-man regular season roster — the team already has 13 players on fully guaranteed contracts, plus three with partial guarantees and second-rounder Christian Koloko still unsigned. We’ll see if Johnson gets a chance to vie for one of those roster spots.

There may be a cleaner path for Thomas to earn a place on the Celtics‘ 15-man roster. Only 12 of Boston’s regular season roster spots are accounted for so far, so Thomas could get the chance to compete to be the 13th or 14th man. The team has already filled both its two-way slots with new additions (JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele).

NBA Players With Trade Kickers In 2022/23

A trade kicker is a contractual clause that pays an NBA player a bonus when he’s traded. They’re one of the tools teams have at their disposal to differentiate their free agent offers from the ones put on the table by competing clubs — or to incentivize a player to sign an extension before he reaches free agency.

Sometimes the kicker is worth a fixed amount, but usually it’s based on a percentage of the remaining value of the contract. So, a player who has a 10% trade kicker is eligible for a bonus worth 10% of the amount of money he has yet to collect on his deal.

Regardless of whether a trade kicker is set at a fixed amount or a percentage, the bonus can’t exceed 15% of the remaining value of the contract. Most trade kickers are worth 15%, the highest percentage allowed.

A trade bonus must be paid by the team that trades the player, rather than the team acquiring him. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement also allows a player to waive his trade kicker as part of a deal, if he so chooses.

If you want a more detailed explanation of how trade kickers work, check out the Hoops Rumors Glossary entry on the subject.

Here’s a list of the NBA players who have active trade kickers for 2022/23, listed alphabetically, along with the details of those trade bonuses:



The following players have trade bonuses on their contracts, but those bonuses would be voided if they were to be traded during the 2022/23 league year, since they’re already earning this season’s maximum salary:


The following players have signed contract extensions that will include trade kickers, but those extensions won’t go into effect until at least the 2023/24 season:

Hoops Rumors’ 2022 NBA Free Agent Tracker

We’re now a full month into the 2022 free agent period, and all but two of the NBA’s 30 teams have signed at least one free agent. With training camps set to tip off next month, Hoops Rumors is here to help you keep track of which players are heading to which teams this offseason.

To this end, we present our Free Agent Tracker, a feature we’ve had each year since our inception in 2012. Using our tracker, you can quickly look up deals, sorting by team, position, free agent type, and a handful of other variables.

A few notes on the tracker:

  • Some of the information you’ll find in the tracker will reflect tentative agreements, rather than finalized deals. As signings become official, we’ll continue to update and modify the data as needed.
  • Similarly, contract years and dollars will be based on what’s been reported to date, so in some cases those amounts will be approximations rather than official figures. Salaries aren’t necessarily fully guaranteed either.
  • Players who have reportedly agreed to training camp/Exhibit 10 deals won’t be added to the tracker until those deals become official.
  • A restricted free agent who signs an offer sheet won’t be included in the tracker right away. We’ll wait to hear whether the player’s original team will match or pass on that offer sheet before we update our tracker, in order to avoid any confusion.
  • If you’re viewing the tracker on our mobile site, be sure to turn your phone sideways to see more details.

Our 2022 Free Agent Tracker can be found anytime on the right sidebar of our desktop site under “Hoops Rumors Features,” and it’s also under the “Tools” menu atop the site. On our mobile site, it can be found in our menu under “Free Agent Lists.”

The tracker will be updated throughout the offseason, so be sure to check back for the latest info. If you have any corrections, please let us know right here.

Our lists of free agents by position/type and by team break down the players who have yet to reach contract agreements.

Community Shootaround: Expansion

NBA commissioner Adam Silver has consistently asserted that the league isn’t planning on expansion in the near future.

During his annual press conference at the Finals, Silver had this to say: “At least maybe there are people talking who are not at the league office about us potentially expanding after the 2024 season. We are not discussing that at this time. As I said before, at some point, this league invariably will expand, but it’s not at this moment that we are discussing it.”

The NBA has been slow to embrace expansion. The last time a new franchise was accepted came in 2004, when the Bobcats — now Hornets — were added.

A franchise fee in excess of a $1 billion would be the main incentive for expansion among owners. It would also have natural appeal to the players, creating more NBA jobs.

When the league finally gets around to expansion, there are plenty of viable options. Seattle has been talked about virtually since it lost the SuperSonics in 2008. The city got the latest NHL expansion team, the Kraken, and there’s an arena available for an NBA franchise. There’s little doubt that Seattle, which also has NFL and MLB franchises, will support an NBA team if it gets another one.

Las Vegas, which has become the host of the Summer League, is another obvious choice. It now has NHL and NFL franchises, as well as a Triple-A baseball club.

There are plenty of other major U.S. cities that could support an NBA team. Pittsburgh has long-term franchises in all three other major pro sports. St. Louis saw the Rams come and go but it has two other highly successful pro franchises. Kansas City, like Seattle, was once an NBA city.

Louisville, a major city in basketball-mad Kentucky, would also be a logical destination. Tampa hosted the Raptors during the pandemic.

The league could also look beyond the borders to Mexico City or Montreal, or perhaps even overseas to London.

That brings us to our question of the day: When the NBA is finally ready to expand, what major city is most deserving of a franchise?

Please take to the comments section to weigh in on this topic. We look forward to your input.

Players Who Can’t Be Traded Until January 15

As we detailed in an earlier article, players who signed new contracts as free agents during the 2022/23 league year can’t be traded for three months or until December 15, whichever comes later. That means that nearly every team has at least one player – and often more than one – who won’t become trade-eligible until mid-December.

There’s also a small subset of free agent signees whose trade ineligibility lasts for an extra month. These players all meet a specific set of criteria: Not only did they re-sign with their previous team this offseason, but they got a raise of at least 20%, their salary is worth more than the minimum, and their team was over the cap, using Bird or Early Bird rights to sign them.

Listed below are the players who meet this criteria and can’t be traded until at least January 15, 2023. Players who have the ability to veto trades in 2022/23 are marked with a caret (^).

We’ll continue to update this page over the next few months, if necessary.


Brooklyn Nets

Charlotte Hornets

Chicago Bulls

Denver Nuggets

Golden State Warriors

Houston Rockets

Los Angeles Clippers

Memphis Grizzlies

Miami Heat

Milwaukee Bucks

New York Knicks

Oklahoma City Thunder

Orlando Magic

Phoenix Suns

Portland Trail Blazers

Toronto Raptors

Washington Wizards

Trade Breakdown: Rudy Gobert To Timberwolves

This is the ninth installment in our series breaking down the major trades of the 2022 offseason. As opposed to giving out grades, this series will explore why the teams were motivated to make the moves. Let’s dive into the biggest deal of the summer so far, a transaction that saw a four-time All-NBA center head from the Jazz to the Timberwolves


The day after free agency opened, the Jazz agreed to send Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves in exchange for Malik Beasley, Patrick Beverley, Jarred Vanderbilt, Leandro Bolmaro, the draft rights to Walker Kessler (No. 22 pick), the Timberwolves’ unprotected 2023, 2025, and 2027 first-round picks, the Wolves 2029 first-round pick (top-five protected), and the right to swap first-rounders with Minnesota in 2026.

The Timberwolves’ perspective:

Minnesota has had an NBA team since 1989. In 33 seasons, the Timberwolves have had a winning record nine times and made the postseason 10 times.

They have advanced past the first round of the playoffs once in their 33-year history – in 2003/04, when MVP Kevin Garnett led the Wolves to the Western Conference Finals, where they ultimately fell to the Lakers in six games. Garnett was the driving force behind eight of the team’s 10 postseason trips.

The Wolves have made the playoffs twice in the past 18 years. For the majority of their existence, they unfortunately have been a laughingstock around the league.

In ‘21/22, Minnesota doubled its win total (23 to 46) and reached the playoffs. Despite a frustrating first-round loss to Memphis, a series in which the Wolves blew multiple big fourth quarter leads – and one which they probably should have won – the season was still an all-around success and certainly a positive step forward.

Minnesota is not a free agent destination, so the only realistic way to acquire a top-tier talent is through the draft or via trade. It’s a smaller market, and the Wolves have been poorly run from top to bottom for decades.

Gobert, meanwhile, has been the single most impactful defensive player in the NBA over the past six regular seasons, and it’s not particularly close. He has been named to six consecutive All-Defensive First Teams and has won Defensive Player of the Year three times since ’16/17, finishing no worse than third in voting in the years he hasn’t won.

It’s hard to overstate just how dominant he has been. The counting stats are very good – he has averaged 14.8 PPG, 13.1 RPG and 2.3 BPG in 423 games (32.6 MPG) over that same time period, shooting 67.3% from the field and 65.1% from the free throw line – but they don’t adequately reflect his impact.

Here are the Jazz’s defensive ratings over the past six seasons, per NBA.com: third, first, second, 13th, third, and 10th. Despite a lack of strong defenders around Gobert, the Jazz played like the NBA’s best defense when he was on the court in ‘21/22 and were the equivalent of the league’s 21st-best defense when he sat.

When Gobert was the nearest defender to an opponent last season, that opponent shot 6.9% worse than his expected field goal percentage, the second-best mark in the league among all players who received regular minutes. Of players who defended at least five shots per game at the rim, Gobert held the stingiest defensive field goal percentage, limiting opponents to just 49.3%.

Minnesota struggled with defensive rebounding throughout the ’21/22 season, ranking 25th in the league, and the postseason was no different — the Grizzlies outrebounded the Wolves by an average of 6.3 boards per game over the six-game series, and most of that differential came on the offensive glass (12.5 per game vs. 7.0). Minnesota’s inability to control its own paint was a huge detriment in the series.

In addition to being the league’s foremost rim protector, Gobert also led the league in rebounds per game last season with 14.7, including a league-high 36.3% defensive rebounding percentage.

Advanced stats like net rating, win shares, plus/minus, estimated plus/minus, and RAPTOR paint Gobert as a top-15 regular season player over the past six seasons. He is nearly single-handedly capable of leading a team to a top-10 defense.

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Players Who Can’t Be Traded Until December 15

As teams explore the trade market for potential deals to complete their rosters for training camp, there are a number of trade restrictions those clubs must take into account. Most notably, newly-signed free agents can’t be dealt until at least December 15.

The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement states that a free agent who signs with an NBA team can’t be traded for three months or until December 15, whichever is later. There are also some recently-signed players who meet a few specific criteria and can’t be traded until January 15. That list of players can be found right here.

The players who aren’t eligible to be traded until December 15 are listed below.

Players whose contracts haven’t been officially finalized aren’t yet listed below. Players who have the ability to veto trades in 2022/23 are marked with a caret (^). Players on non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed contracts are marked with an asterisk (*). However, those on Exhibit 10 deals won’t be listed here unless they make the regular season roster.

We’ll continue to update this page over the next few months as players are signed or waived.

Updated 10-17-22 (3:07pm CT)


Atlanta Hawks

Boston Celtics

Brooklyn Nets

Charlotte Hornets

  • None

Chicago Bulls

Cleveland Cavaliers

Dallas Mavericks

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NBA Players Who Can Veto Trades In 2022/23

Entering the 2022/23 league year, it had been four years since any NBA player had an explicit no-trade clause in his contract, but the Wizards ended that streak by awarding Bradley Beal a no-trade clause as part of his new five-year, maximum-salary deal.

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and had become even rarer in recent years. Beal is just the 10th player in NBA history to receive one.

To be eligible to negotiate a no-trade clause, a player must have at least eight years of NBA experience and has to have spent at least four years (albeit not necessarily the most recent four years) with his current team. Even if a player qualifies, his team is typically unlikely to restrict its flexibility by including a no-trade clause in his deal.

While Beal is the only NBA player with an explicit no-trade clause in his contract at the moment, there are several who will have the ability to veto trades in 2022/23.

A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year deal with an option year – is given no-trade protection. That group doesn’t include players on two-way contracts, but it does include players who accept standard (non two-way) one-year qualifying offers.

A player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team also has the ability to veto a trade for a full calendar year.

With those criteria in mind, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the ’22/23 league year:

No-trade clauses:

Players whose offer sheets were matched:

Players re-signing for one year (or two years, with a second-year player/team option):

If any player who re-signed for one year approves a trade during the 2022/23 league year, he’ll have Non-Bird rights at season’s end instead of Early Bird or full Bird rights.

The only player with veto rights who consented to a trade during the 2021/22 season was forward Solomon Hill — he signed off on a deal that sent him from the Hawks to the Knicks. Hill had suffered a torn hamstring prior to that trade and knew he’d likely be waived soon by one team or another, so vetoing the deal in an effort to retain his Early Bird rights with Atlanta would’ve been futile.

Any player who approves a trade will retain his veto ability on his new team, and would have to consent to any subsequent deal during the 2022/23 season.