Ten of the biggest player contracts in NBA history so far!
Tenth, Klay Thompson – $190 million for five years
Ninth, Anthony Davis – $190 million for five years
Eighth, Kevin Durant – $194 million for four years
Seventh, Joel Embiid – $196 million for four years
Sixth, Stephen Curry – $201 million for five years
Fifth, Rudy Gobert – $205 million in five years
Fourth, Russell Westbrook – $206 million for five years
Third, Luka Doncic – $207 million for five years
Second, Stephen Curry – $215 million for four years
First, Giannis Antetokounmpo – $228 million for five years
In 2014, after Adam Shawl succeeded David Stern as the new president of the NBA, he signed a nine-year, $24 billion deal with ESPN and TNT, effective from the 2016-17 season and ending in the 2024-25 season.
Because the NBA's salary cap is based on 48% of the league's estimated total revenue for the season, after the new broadcast contract was signed, when the league could make more money in 16 years, representatives of the NBA's labor and management began to negotiate the way to raise the salary cap. It is worth mentioning that Paul and James were both negotiators on the labor side at that time.
The league as a representative of the management has officially proposed to reduce the impact of the soaring salary space by raising the salary cap year by year, and the players' union as the representative of the labor side has demanded that the salary cap be raised in accordance with the regulations in the 16-17 season, that is, insisting on raising the salary cap by an instant of $24 million.
In the end, in this negotiation, the players' union as the representative of the labor side won the victory, and the salary cap for the 2016-17 season was raised from $70 million last season to $94 million, thus the NBA entered an era of soaring player salaries, with annual salaries of $30 million and $40 million starting to become ubiquitous, and now as long as an All-Star player, you can get a top salary contract with an average salary of at least $30 million or more, and 16 years ago The only players in NBA history who have really made $30 million a year are Jordan and Kobe Bryant.
From an objective point of view, the way the league official proposed at that time was the most reasonable, because it would avoid the emergence of a large number of huge garbage contracts, which would make the league more healthy to develop and operate, but this would not maximize the interests of the players.
In the summer of 2016, too many free agents got huge contracts that didn't meet the ability at all, such as the Lakers giving Rohr Dun and Mozgov a four-year, $72 million, four-year, $6/million garbage contract, respectively.
If the soaring salary space in the summer of 16 years has increased the salary of all players, the emergence of the "designated veteran clause" in the summer of 17 has benefited the league's big stars.
Before the appointment of veteran clauses, the maximum salary contract for NBA players was calculated entirely based on NBA age:
For players with 0 to 6 years of NBA experience, the maximum salary contract is based on 25% of the salary cap;
For players with 7 to 9 years of NBA experience, the maximum salary contract is based on 30% of the salary cap;
For players with 10 years of NBA experience or older, the maximum salary contract is 35% of the starting salary quoted on salary.
After the introduction of the veteran designation clause, the player's maximum salary contract has changed slightly, and the NBA allows teams to designate 1 to 2 players with 7 to 9 years of age who meet the terms and conditions to sign a maximum salary contract that accounts for 35% of the starting salary of the salary cap. Then, coupled with the previous "Rose clause", super-maximum contracts have become no longer rare, and the amount of contracts for players has been constantly breaking records in just a few years.
It is worth mentioning that the veteran's designated clause was actually used to target the Warriors who were invincible in the league at that time, and the purpose was to force the Disintegration of the Warriors' Big Four lineup through the pressure of huge salaries, and it was Mo Dog, who was the general manager of the Rockets at the time, who proposed this plan.
This summer, many big-name players will face contract renewals, and according to the rules, these big-name players can get a two-hundred-million-dollar contract, such as Morant, LaVine and Ayton, and even some players who meet the conditions are eligible for a five-year, $250 million contract, such as Jokic, Irving and Harden.
In the past two years, there have been news reports that the NBA is negotiating a new broadcast contract with broadcasters, and this broadcast contract totals 70 billion to 75 billion US dollars. If the NBA can really sign such a broadcast contract, then in the 2025-26 season, the NBA's salary space will usher in a sharp rise, even larger than 16 years, and then the salary contract of big-name players will generally enter the era of $200 million, and many players will get three hundred million DOLLAR contracts. #NBA# #NBA Spit Conference # #NBA总决赛 #
