The Average NBA Salary by Year Surge
by Richard Janvrin,
August 04, 2025
The rise of salaries across sports over the decades has been the epicenter of entertainment for fans, and they’ve gone up drastically. In fact, the average NBA salary by year has gone from something as low as $4,000 in the mid-1940s to now tens of millions of dollars for the cream of the crop.
Nowadays, it’s not uncommon for the average NBA salary to exceed $30 million. As of 2025, dozens of players have an average annual value. This reflects the ever-increasing salary cap and the number of players on a team.
Below, I’ll examine the rise of NBA salaries through the years, including supermax contracts, and answer the question, “What does the average NBA player make?”
- Growth of the Average NBA Player Salary
- Factors That Have Led to Surging NBA Salaries
- The Supermax Era
- Looking Ahead at NBA Salary Averages
Growth of the Average NBA Player Salary
The first NBA season was the 1946-47 season. In those days, the average NBA salary was $4,000 to $5,000. In those days, the NBA salary cap was $55,000.
While this may not sound like much, the average American salary in 1946 was approximately $2,600, so NBA players were still earning about twice as much.
Still, compared to today, that disparity is extremely close.
Then, as the 1950s and 1960s progressed and the sport’s popularity grew, so too did the salaries. The top players in the league, such as Wilt Chamberlain, signed the first six-figure contracts. In 1965, he signed a three-year deal worth $100,000 per season. For context, the average American salary in 1965 was about $4,100.
As the NBA entered the 1970s, the average salary was approximately $35,000.
That decade proved to be a turning point for the average NBA player salary. This was due to surging television deals, and by 1980, the average salary ballooned from $35,000 to $180,000.
Again, for the context, the average American salary in 1980 was $21,000.
So, we went from 1946, when it was about twice as much as the average American now, to more than eight and a half times as much.
The NBA salary average only grew, reaching about $370,000 by the mid-1980s.
Backing up real quid, Moses Malone, in 1979, signed the first $1 million per year deal.
In the 1980s, the television deals, sponsorships, and NBA/ABA merger (in the mid-1970s) just made payrolls, the salary cap, and salaries surge. NBA career earnings could now offer true generational wealth to players and their families.
Finally, as the league entered the 1990s, the average salary had risen to about $1 million. This was certainly quite the change from $5,000 per year just 45 years prior.
In the mid-1980s, a formal salary cap was established. There was one back in the mid-1940s, but it lasted just one season.
The salary cap for the 1984-85 season was $3.6 million.
In the mid-1990s, the Chicago Bulls signed Michael Jordan to a one-year deal worth $30 million. This exceeded the salary cap. The Bulls were able to do so because, in those days, teams could exceed the cap to re-sign a player, but they certainly had to pay an exorbitant amount in taxes.
In the 2000s, the average salary was approximately $4 to $5 million. It somewhat plateaued as the 2010s neared, partially due to the 2008 financial crisis and, later, in 2011, the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which reduced the players’ share of revenue.
Then, in the mid-2010s, there were massive TV deals that exceeded $2 billion, and the average salary grew to about $8 million.
Looking at today and the 2024-25 season, the average NBA salary is nearly $12 million. In 2023-24, it was $9.7 million.
The minimum salary in 2024-25 was just over $1.15 million.
The highest paid? Golden State Warriors superstar Steph Curry at $55.76 million.
In the 2024-25 season, 27 players earned more than $40 million each.
In 2025-26, more than a dozen players are expected to earn $50 million or more.
Factors That Have Led to Surging NBA Salaries
The NBA salary average continues to grow for many reasons, with the primary factor being media and television rights deals.
In July 2024, the NBA announced a new television deal involving Disney (ABC and ESPN), Comcast (NBA and Peacock), and Amazon. The deal is expected to net the league approximately $76 billion.
This is a significant development that’ll likely result in an increase in the average NBA salary each year.
Not only that, but partnerships with NBA sportsbooks also contribute as the NBA has embraced legal sports betting.
In 2025, the salary cap will be nearly $140 million with a maximum of $154.6 million. Keep in mind, an NBA roster has just 15 players, so there can be about $10 million per player on average, but we know the superstars will make a massive portion of that.
Another factor to consider regarding the NBA salary average is the marketplace and bidding. Teams are vying for the top talent and are always willing to pay top dollar for talent.
There are other salary cap/league mechanisms that help bolster salaries, including the Larry Bird Exception and luxury tax thresholds. The Larry Bird Exception, as mentioned earlier regarding Jordan, allows teams to exceed the salary cap to re-sign their own free agents.
NBA players also have a plethora of ways to make cash, including endorsements, merch sales, and more. These are all things that, decades ago, weren’t part of the equation as much.
The Supermax Era
In 2017, the new NBA CBA allowed for the Designated Veteran Player Extension, which is commonly referred to as the supermax deal.
If a player meets certain thresholds, they can sign for 35% of the salary cap.
These include things like years of play, earning All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, or MVP honors, and more.
As of June 2025, the contract with the highest value is Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum. He’s signed to a five-year, $313,933,410 deal.
His average annual value is $62,786,682, but that’s not the highest.
Right now, Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid has the highest average annual value at $64,302,336. He’s signed to a three-year, $192,907,008 deal.
Looking Ahead at NBA Salary Averages
With the new TV deal, we can only expect the salary cap to continue ballooning. Just from 2024-25 to 2025-26, the salary cap will increase by about 10%.
I can only expect it to continue climbing.
It won’t be long before players are paid about $100 million per season. By 2030, the salary cap is projected to balloon to nearly $250 million. The supermax deal will likely be close to $80 million.
The NBA has come a long way since the inaugural 1946-47 season, and the average NBA salary by year isn’t slowing down anytime soon.