<h1>How Much Do NBA Players Get Paid?&nbsp;</h1> <p>Ever wonder what an NBA player actually takes home after Uncle Sam, their agent, and the league's escrow system all take their cut?&nbsp;</p> <p>When you see headlines screaming about Stephen Curry's $59 million salary, that's not what's landing in his bank account. Not even close.</p> <p>Let's break down the real numbers behind NBA player salaries: from how they get paid to what they actually pocket. And, to do that, we are going to look at the facts about how the money flows in the highest-paid professional sports league on the planet.</p> <h2>The Big Picture: NBA Salary Landscape 2025</h2> <p>The average NBA player salary for the 2024-25 season sat at approximately $11.9 million per year. That's not a typo: just shy of twelve million dollars to play basketball.</p> <p>The median salary (the middle point where half earn more, half earn less) comes in around $5.7 million, which tells you there's a massive gap between the stars and the role players.</p> <p>Here's the range you're looking at:</p> <ul> <li>Minimum salary (rookie, 0 years): $1,157,153&nbsp;</li> <li>Average salary: $11,910,649</li> <li>Top salary (Stephen Curry): $59,606,817</li> </ul> <p>For context, the 2025-26 salary cap is set at $154.647 million per team. That's the total amount each franchise can spend on their 15-man roster, though there are ways to exceed it with luxury tax penalties.</p> <h2>The Top Earners: Who's Banking the Biggest Checks?</h2> <p>The highest-paid players in the NBA for 2024-25 are pulled down numbers that will make your head spin:</p> <ol> <li>Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors) - $59,606,817</li> <li>Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets) - $55,224,526</li> <li>Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers) - $55,224,526</li> <li>Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns) - $54,708,608</li> <li>Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks) - $54,126,450</li> </ol> <p>These supermax contracts are reserved for elite players who've made All-NBA teams and meet specific criteria.</p> <p>LeBron James, at 40 years old, is still pulling in $52.6 million, proving that elite talent doesn't come cheap regardless of age.</p> <h2>How NBA Players Get Paid: The Payment Schedule</h2> <p>NBA players don't get one massive check or weekly payments like most jobs. They get paid twice monthly on the 1st and 15th of every month - and only during their contract period.</p> <p>That works out to 24 paychecks over 12 months if they opt for year-round payments. Some players choose to get paid only during the season (October through April), which means bigger individual checks but nothing in the summer months.</p> <p>Most players take the 12-month option to ensure steady income year-round.</p> <p>Let's break down what that means for the average player:</p> <ul> <li>Annual salary: $11,910,649</li> <li>Per paycheck (24 total): $496,277</li> <li>Per month: $992,554</li> <li>Per week: $229,051</li> <li>Per game (82 games): $145,252</li> </ul> <p>Even the minimum-salary rookie is making $48,215 per paycheck twice a month. Not bad for someone just starting their career, right?</p> <h2>Per Game Breakdown: What Players Make Per Night</h2> <p>When you <a href="https://www.sportsbet.com.au/huddle/nba/nba-news/how-to-stream-the-nba">watch an NBA game in Australia</a>, here's roughly what players are earning for that single performance:</p> <ul> <li>Rookie minimum player: $14,111 per game</li> <li>Average NBA player: $145,252 per game</li> <li>Stephen Curry: $726,912 per game</li> </ul> <p>That means Curry makes more in a single game than most Americans earn in ten years. Even if he plays just 20 minutes and goes 3-for-12 from the field, he's walking away with over $700,000 for that night's work.</p> <p>For perspective on 10-day contracts (which is a common short-term deal for fringe players) a rookie earns approximately $61,500 for that 10-day stint (or three games, whichever comes first).</p> <p>A veteran with 10+ years of experience would pull down around $190,000 for the same 10-day deal.</p> <h2>What They Actually Take Home: The Reality Check</h2> <p>Now let's talk about what really lands in players' bank accounts. This is where that massive salary starts looking a lot more... 'human.'</p> <h3>Federal Income Tax: 37%</h3> <p>Nearly every NBA player falls into the highest federal tax bracket. That's 37% of their salary heading straight to the federal government. For Stephen Curry's $59.6 million salary, that's roughly $22 million in federal taxes alone.</p> <h3>State Income Tax: 0% to 13.3%</h3> <p>This is where location matters big time. Players on the following teams pay zero state income tax:</p> <ul> <li>Dallas Mavericks (Texas)</li> <li>Houston Rockets (Texas)</li> <li>San Antonio Spurs (Texas)</li> <li>Memphis Grizzlies (Tennessee)</li> <li>Miami Heat (Florida)</li> <li>Orlando Magic (Florida)</li> </ul> <p>Meanwhile, players on California teams get hammered:</p> <ul> <li>Golden State Warriors (California) - 13.3%</li> <li>Los Angeles Lakers (California) - 13.3%</li> <li>Los Angeles Clippers (California) - 13.3%</li> <li>Sacramento Kings (California) - 13.3%</li> </ul> <p>That means Curry pays an additional $7.9 million in state taxes that someone like Luka Doncic didn't pay, until he decided to move to the LA Lakers. It's why you'll often hear free agents considering "no income tax states" when choosing where to sign.</p> <h3>Jock Tax: The Tax You've Never Heard Of</h3> <p>Here's a sneaky one most fans don't know about: NBA players pay state income tax in every state they play a game. It's called the "jock tax," and it's calculated based on the number of games played in each state.</p> <p>So when Curry travels to New York to play the Knicks, he pays New York state tax on 1/82nd of his salary (roughly $727,000) at New York's rate. He plays two games in California already, but he's also paying taxes in Massachusetts, Illinois, Ohio, and 10+ other states throughout the season.</p> <p>The jock tax typically adds another 1-2% in overall tax burden, depending on the team's schedule.</p> <h3>Agent Fees: 3-4%</h3> <p>Most NBA players pay their agents 3-4% of their contract value. For an average player making $11.9 million, that's $357,000 to $476,000 to the agent annually.</p> <p>For max contract guys, that's even more significant. Curry's agent (if taking 4%) would earn $2.38 million per year just from Curry's playing contract alone (not counting endorsements).</p> <h3>NBA Escrow: The 10% You Might Not Get Back</h3> <p>Here's another big one that catches people off guard. The NBA withholds 10% of every player's salary in an escrow account. This is designed to ensure players don't receive more than their guaranteed 51% of Basketball Related Income (BRI).</p> <p>At the end of the season, if league revenues meet projections, players get most of that 10% back. If revenues fall short, they don't.</p> <p>In 2024-25, players collectively forfeited $480 million from escrow because revenues didn't hit projections. That means players only got back about 9% of their escrow withholding, losing roughly 9.1% of their stated salaries.</p> <p>Stephen Curry personally lost $5.1 million from his 2024-25 salary due to escrow. That's the highest individual loss in the league.</p> <h3>The Real Take-Home Calculation</h3> <p>Let's calculate what an average NBA player actually takes home:</p> <ul> <li>Starting salary: $11,910,649</li> <li>Minus federal tax (37%): -$4,406,940</li> <li>Minus state tax (avg 5%): -$595,532</li> <li>Minus jock tax (1.5%): -$178,660</li> <li>Minus agent fee (3.5%): -$416,873</li> <li>Minus escrow loss (9.1%): -$1,083,869</li> <li>Real take-home: $5,228,775</li> </ul> <p>That's 43.9% of the original contract. Still an absurd amount of money, but less than half of what gets reported in headlines.</p> <p>For California-based players like Curry, the take-home is even worse:</p> <ul> <li>Starting salary: $59,606,817</li> <li>After all deductions: ~$25-27 million</li> </ul> <p>So Curry's $59.6 million contract becomes roughly $26 million in actual take-home pay. Still generational wealth, but you can see how the numbers shrink fast.</p> <h2>Why NBA Players Earn Way More Than NFL Players</h2> <p>You've probably heard that the NFL generates more total revenue than the NBA - and it's true. The NFL pulled in around $18 billion in 2023, while the NBA generated roughly $10.5 billion.</p> <p>So why do NBA players make way more per person? Three key reasons:</p> <h3>1. Roster Size: 15 vs 53 Players</h3> <p>This is the big one. NFL teams carry 53 players on the active roster. NBA teams carry just 15. That's more than three times as many mouths to feed in football.</p> <p>Even though the NFL has a higher salary cap ($255.4 million in 2025 vs $154.6 million in the NBA), when you divide by roster size, NBA players come out way ahead:</p> <ul> <li>NFL per-player average: $255.4M ÷ 53 = $4.82 million</li> <li>NBA per-player average: $154.6M ÷ 15 = $10.31 million</li> </ul> <p>That's why the NBA minimum salary ($1.15 million) demolishes the NFL minimum ($795,000), and the average NBA salary ($11.9M) is nearly four times the NFL average ($3.2M).</p> <h3>2. Revenue Share: Players Get 51% in NBA</h3> <p>The NBA's collective bargaining agreement guarantees players 51% of Basketball Related Income. The NFL players get around 48-48.5% of league revenues.</p> <p>That extra 2-3% might not sound like much, but when you're talking billions in revenue, it's massive money flowing to fewer players.</p> <h3>3. Guaranteed Contracts vs Non-Guaranteed</h3> <p>NBA contracts are fully guaranteed. When a team signs you to a four-year, $80 million deal, you're getting that money even if they cut you after one year.</p> <p>NFL contracts are largely non-guaranteed except for signing bonuses and specific guarantees negotiated into deals. Teams can cut players and walk away from most of the remaining contract money.</p> <p>This security allows NBA players to negotiate for higher AAV (average annual value) since teams are committing to the full amount regardless of injury or performance decline.</p> <h2>Do NBA Players Get Paid During the Playoffs?</h2> <p>Short answer: Not directly from their regular season contract.</p> <p>Playoff bonuses come from a separate playoff pool funded by gate revenues and split among teams based on how far they advance. The deeper you go, the bigger your playoff check.</p> <p>For 2025 playoffs, the championship team's players each received approximately $1.1 million in playoff bonuses. Players eliminated in the first round got around $350,000 each.</p> <p>This is why you'll sometimes hear players talk about playoff money as "extra". Think of it as bonus money on top of their regular salary.</p> <h2>How We Got Here</h2> <p>NBA salaries have exploded over the past three decades, and it's all about television deals.</p> <p>In 1990, the average NBA salary was around $750,000. Michael Jordan's peak salary in 1997-98 was $33.14 million. And that was the highest of the era.</p> <p>Then came massive TV deals:</p> <ul> <li>2014: ESPN and Turner Sports signed a $24 billion TV deal</li> <li>2016: The salary cap jumped from $70M to $94M in one year</li> <li>2025: Current TV deals worth $2.66 billion per year</li> </ul> <p>That 2016 cap spike is why you saw "crazy" contracts like Chandler Parsons' $94 million deal and Timofey Mozgov's $64 million contract: teams suddenly had cap space they needed to spend.</p> <p>As streaming deals continue growing (Amazon, Apple, etc.), expect salaries to keep rising.</p> <p>Some projections have the salary cap hitting $200 million by 2030, which would push average salaries to $15-16 million and max contracts over $70 million annually.</p>