The NBA and WNBA are the two top leagues for basketball in the United States for men and women, respectively. In the NBA, players took home an average annual salary of over 12 million U.S. dollars for the 2023/24 season, with the league's minimum salary set at 1.16 million U.S. dollars that year. In comparison, players in the WNBA received an average annual pay of 119.59 thousand U.S. dollars, with the highest-earning players in the WNBA receiving around 252 thousand U.S. dollars annually.

The minimum salary for players signing contracts in the 2024/25 NBA season amounted to 1.16 million U.S. dollars. This represented an increase of around 3 percent from the previous season, when the figure stood at 1.12 million U.S. dollars.

Basketball is a commonly watched sport both in the United States and worldwide. The National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league for men with 30 teams competing against each other in the United States. Over the past years, NBA has gained significant popularity and a significant increase in players' salaries has made it one of the best paid sports league worldwide. In 2019, the NBA's average annual salary reached 8.32 million U.S. dollars per player and total salaries approximated to 3.67 billion U.S. dollars.

With each player taking home a handsome 8.32 million U.S. dollars every year, the NBA is the professional sports league with the highest player wages worldwide. In second place is the Indian Premier League, an annual cricket competition contested each year between eight franchises representing eight different Indian cities.

Big money in the NBA Although the wages that players in the NBA take home are astronomical, the average annual salaries vary from one team to another. Whilst the New York Knicks pay their players an average of 7.08 million U.S. dollars a year, Portland Trail Blazers spent around 10.04 million U.S. dollars annually on each of their stars in 2019/20. NBA salaries have tremendously increased throughout the years reaching 8.32 million U.S. dollars in 2019/20 compared to 4.6 million U.S. dollars in 2015/16.

Context

• The National Basketball Association (NBA) is an American men's professional basketball league.
• It is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada.
• It is the premier men's professional basketball league in the world.
• The league was founded in New York City on June 6, 1946, as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).
• It changed its name to the National Basketball Association on August 3, 1949, after merging with the competing National Basketball League (NBL).
• The NBA's regular season runs from October to April, with each team playing 82 games.

• The league's playoff tournament extends into June. As of 2020, NBA players are the world's best paid athletes by average annual salary per player.

• The NBA is an active member of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) as the national governing body for basketball in the United States.

• The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices in Midtown Manhattan, while its NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

The NBA is the third wealthiest professional sport league after the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) by revenue.

Content

1. GM, GP; GS: games played; games started 2.PTS: points 3.FGM, FGA, FG%: field goals made, attempted and percentage 4.FTM, FTA, FT%: free throws made, attempted and percentage 5.3FGM, 3FGA, 3FG%: three-point field goals made, attempted and percentage 6.REB, OREB, DREB: rebounds, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds 7.AST: assists 8.STL: steals 9.BLK: blocks 10.TO: turnovers 11.EFF: efficiency: NBA's efficiency rating: (PTS + REB + AST + STL + BLK − ((FGA − FGM) + (FTA − FTM) + TO)) 12.PF: personal fouls 13.MIN: minutes 14.AST/TO: assist to turnover ratio 15.PER: Player Efficiency Rating: John Hollinger's Player Efficiency Rating 16.PIR: Performance Index Rating: Euro league's and Euro cup's Performance Index Rating: (Points + Rebounds + Assists + 17.Steals + Blocks + Fouls Drawn) − (Missed Field Goals + Missed Free Throws + Turnovers + Shots Rejected + Fouls Committed)

Inspiration

This is one of the most common questions of everyone's life that how are these basketball players such rich and how are they getting paid, and even the stats about how everything is done on a team.

LeBron James was the top-earning player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the 2024/25 season, with a salary of 48.7 million U.S. dollars and 80 million U.S. dollars in endorsements. The Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry was the second highest-paid NBA player, with a salary of 51.9 million U.S. dollars and 50 million U.S. dollars in off-court income. NBA revenue streams Players in the NBA have two main sources of revenue: salaries from the team, and endorsements from companies and brands. NBA players not only have deals with sports brands such as Nike and Adidas, but also with consumer products such as Coca-Cola, Panini, Kia Motors, and Red Bull, to name a few. Shoe deals are particularly profitable for NBA players. Michael Jordan, for example, still profits from endorsements, as his signature Air Jordan shoes have a large share of the basketball shoe market. King James reigns supreme Thanks to his wide range of endorsements, the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James total earnings amounted to 128.7 million U.S. dollars during the 2023/24 season. Although Stephen Curry had the most on-court earnings that year, the Warriors point guard still has some way to go to match James as the NBA player with the highest cumulative career earnings. As a four-time MVP winner and the NBA's all-time highest scorer, James' earnings have certainly been backed up by his on-court performances.

As of July 2024, the player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the highest cumulative career earnings was LeBron James, with total earnings of approximately 479.47 million U.S. dollars. LeBron James has played for the Los Angeles Lakers since 2018. Prior to his career with the Lakers, James also played for the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The statistic shows the average player salary of the teams in the National Basketball Association in 2019/20. The Portland Trail Blazers had an average player salary of 10.04 million U.S. dollars for the 2019/20 season.

Economic theory suggests that both athletes and team managers should trade off the security of a longer contract and annual salary when negotiating contracts. However, previous research on sports contract structure has established that in practice, there is generally a positive relationship between length and salary, even when controlling for performance variables. Research has attempted to solve this issue using instrumental variables with limited success. We suggest the key factor of player popularity as a potential solution for the endogeneity issue, and in the absence of suitable instruments, use the nonlinear structure of NBA contract length to identify the model. Using fan All-star votes as a proxy for popularity, we find that it is positively correlated with both length and salary and that popularity shows diminishing returns to both contract length and salary as a player increases in age.

In the 2023/24 season, the average player expenses for franchises in the National Basketball Association peaked at an estimated 169.57 million U.S. dollars. This denoted an increase of roughly six percent from the previous season, when the figure stood at 159.6 million U.S. dollars.

Back in the 1984-85 NBA season, Magic Johnson was the highest earning player in the league, with his Los Angeles Lakers salary earning him 2.5 million U.S. dollars annually. In the 2022-23 NBA season, Stephen Curry's contract at the Golden State Warriors was worth an estimated 48.1 million U.S. dollars annually.

During the 2024 season, Jackie Young of the Las Vegas Aces had the highest salary among players in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) with over 252 thousand U.S. dollars. In second place was Seattle Storm guard Jewel Loyd with 245.51 thousand U.S. dollars. How much do WNBA rookies earn? In the lead up to the 2024 WNBA season, one of the most pressing issues surrounding the league was the pay structure. The catalyst for this was the drafting of college basketball superstar Caitlin Clark as the No. 1 pick. Despite coming into the league as the all-time leading NCAA scorer, and potentially being the biggest draw to the league in the coming years, the WNBA's rookie salary scale dictates that Clark's base salary in her first year in the WNBA would only be a fraction of the top earners. Although Clark is likely to bolster her earnings through sponsorship deals, the league's salary structure is unlikely to change before the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) expires in 2027.
How much are men’s National Basketball Association (NBA) players paid? Compared to the top earners in the women’s league, the picture in the men's league is a little different. Some of the highest-paid male professional basketball players take home eye-watering amounts each year. LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers currently sits at the top of the pile, earning 47.6 million U.S. dollars in the 2023/24 season for his appearances in the NBA, on top of a further 70 million U.S. dollars' worth of endorsements. Overall, average annual salaries in the NBA are much higher than in the WNBA. On average, NBA players took home more than 10 million U.S. dollars in 2023/24, while WNBA players earned roughly 116 thousand U.S. dollars in 2023.

The NBA and WNBA are the two top leagues for basketball in the United States for men and women, respectively. In the NBA in 2024, players were paid around 50 percent of the league revenue. In comparison, players in the WNBA took home around 10 percent of the revenue generated in the league.

In the 2023/24 season, the Golden State Warriors franchise had the highest player expenses in the National Basketball Association. That season, the Warriors spent 215 million U.S. dollars on player salaries, and were also ranked as the NBA's most valuable franchise, the Golden State Warriors. Meanwhile, the NBA's other LA-based franchise, the 17-time champions LA Lakers, had player expenses of 175 million U.S. dollars.

During the 2024 season, the team with the highest average annual player salary in the U.S. Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) was the Connecticut Sun with 139.89 thousand U.S. dollars. The Sun reached the semi-finals in the WNBA Playoffs in the previous year, being beaten by the New York Liberty.

For the 2024 season of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), the minimum salary for players with three or more years of service in the league totaled around 77 thousand U.S. dollars. Meanwhile, those who had either no WNBA playing experience or less than three years in the league were entitled to at least 64 thousand U.S. dollars in payment. Player salaries in the WNBA are determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which is negotiated between the league and the players union (Women's National Basketball Players Association). The last CBA was concluded in January 2020 and set the league's salary structure for seasons through to 2027.

The statistic shows the average player salary of the professional sports teams in Los Angeles in 2018. The Los Angeles Clippers of the NBA had an average player salary of about 7.47 million U.S. dollars in 2018.

The statistic ranks sports teams from all over the world by the average pay per player in the 2018/19 season. The FC Barcelona of the NBA had the highest average player salary with players making an average of 12.28 million U.S. dollars in 2018/19.

As well as being one of the most successful basketball players of all time, Michael Jordan has found success off the pitch with his sneaker empire. The income from his Jordan brand reached 130 million U.S. dollars in 2019.

The statistic shows the average player salary of the professional sports teams in Houston in 2017. The Houston Rockets of the NBA had an average player salary of about 7.77 million U.S. dollars in 2017.