Discover the highest paid NBA players for the 2024-25 season and explore all-time earnings. Learn about supermax contracts and player salary trends.
The NBA is one of the most lucrative leagues in the world for professional athletes, with worldwide popularity and huge revenues leading to some incredible paydays for the best basketball players in the world.
The NBA’s salary cap was permanently introduced for the 1984-85 season and has gradually increased ever since. The cap in 1984-85 was just $3.6m, while in the 2024-25 season teams will have a total of $140.6m to spend on player salaries.
As the cap has increased, so too have player salaries, with the best players in the league now signing some of the biggest sports contracts ever. The current veteran minimum salary is $1.157m, while the NBA average salary for the 2024-25 season was $9.191m, according to Spotrac.
The best players in the league will earn much, much more than those sums, however. Here is a breakdown of the top 10 highest paid NBA players for the 2024-25 season.
Current Highest Paid NBA Players
1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Gilgeous-Alexander capped off an incredible 2023-24 season by signing the biggest contract in NBA history. The reigning NBA regular season and Finals MVP became the highest-paid basketball player in the world with a four-year, $285.4m extension that will run from 2027-2031.
Gilgeous-Alexander’s average annual salary of $71.4m is comfortably the highest in the NBA, and makes him one of the highest-paid athletes in the world.
In offering him the richest contract in NBA history, the Thunder recognised Gilgeous-Alexander for his performance in taking them to their first ever NBA title in 2024-25, and OKC are again the favourites in the NBA odds to lift the Larry O’Brien trophy next season.
2. Joel Embiid
Prior to SGA’s contract extension, Philadelphia 76ers centre Joel Embiid had the NBA’s highest annual salary. Embiid signed a three-year, $192.9m extension prior to the 2023-24 season, with an average annual salary of $64.3m.
Embiid struggled with a left knee injury throughout the 2024-25 NBA season and was limited to just 19 games. He averaged 23.8 points and 8.2 rebounds per game with career-low field goal and three-point shooting percentages.
With a contract that includes a player option for the 2028-29 season, the 76ers will be hoping the 31-year-old can return to the level of performance that saw him named NBA MVP in 2023.
3. Jayson Tatum
Boston Celtics forward Tatum is the NBA’s third-highest player after he signed a five-year contract extension worth an average of $62.8m per year, which runs until the end of the 2029-30 season.
At $313.9m, Tatum actually has the biggest NBA contract in terms of total value, but his average annual salary is below both Gilgeous-Alexander and Embiid’s.
Tatum suffered a torn Achilles tendon during the 2025 NBA Playoffs and is expected to miss most, if not all of the 2025-26 season.
T4. Giannis Antetokounmpo
Two of the best big men in the NBA are tied for fourth on the list of the highest-paid players.
The first is Antetokounmpo, the two-time league MVP who plays for the Milwaukee Bucks. ‘The Greek Freak’ signed a three-year, $186m contract extension in October 2023, which runs until the end of the 2027-28 season. Antetokounmpo’s average annual salary is $58.5m.
T4. Anthony Davis
Tied with Antetokounmpo with a $58.5m annual salary is Davis the star power forward for the Dallas Mavericks.
Davis signed a maximum salary three-year extension in August 2023 while he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, with a total value of $186m.
AD was sent to the Mavericks in February 2025 as a part of the blockbuster trade that saw star guard Luka Doncic join the Lakers.
6. Jaylen Brown
Brown is the second Boston Celtic to feature among the 10 biggest NBA contracts, due to a five-year, $304m extension he signed in July 2023. At the time, Brown’s extension was the most lucrative deal in the history of the NBA, and came after he was selected in the All-NBA second team.
Brown’s contract pays him an average annual salary of $57.1m and runs until the end of the 2028-29 season, when he will be 32 years of age.
7. Jimmy Butler
Butler signed a two-year extension shortly after being traded to the Golden State Warriors by the Miami Heat in February 2025.
The 35-year-old’s new deal is worth a total of $111m with a yearly salary of $55.5m, and is due to expire at the end of the 2026-27 season, making it one of the shortest contracts on this list.
8. Nikola Jokic
Three-time NBA MVP Jokic is next on the list, with an average annual salary of $55.2m. Jokic signed his current contract in July 2022, and it was the richest in NBA history at the time. The extension is worth $264m over five years and is set to expire at the end of the 2027-28 season, although the final year is a player option.
9. Bam Adebayo
Miami Heat centre Adebayo signed a three-year, $166m contract extension in July 2024.
Adebayo’s deal is worth an average of $55.116m per year and includes a player option for the final season, which will be 2028-29.
T10. Devin Booker
The 10th spot on this list is shared between two players. The first is Booker, the Phoenix Suns’ star shooting guard who was drafted by the team in 2015.
Booker is currently entering the second year of a $220.4m contract extension, which pays him $55.110m per year until the end of the 2027-28 season.
However, Booker is now eligible to sign a further two-year, $150m extension that, if signed, would see him become the highest paid player in the NBA.
T10. Karl-Anthony Towns
Tied with Booker with an average annual salary of $55.110m is Towns, the New York Knicks centre who was traded by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2024.
Towns signed a four-year, $220.4m extension while still a member of the Timberwolves, and that deal is set to expire at the end of the 2027-28 season.
Highest NBA salaries (2025-26 season)
The players mentioned above are officially the highest paid in the NBA having signed lucrative contract extensions, but many of those deals will not begin until future seasons.
Here is a table of the highest paid players for the upcoming 2025-26 season:
Player | Team | 2025-26 salary | |
1 | Stephen Curry | GSW | $59,606,817 |
T2 | Joel Embiid | PHI | $55,224,526 |
T2 | Nikola Jokic | DEN | $55,224,526 |
T4 | Anthony Davis | DAL | $54,126,450 |
T4 | Giannis Antetokounmpo | MIL | $54,126,450 |
T4 | Jayson Tatum | BOS | $54,126,450 |
T4 | Jimmy Butler | GSW | $54,126,450 |
8 | Bradley Beal | PHX | $53,666,270 |
9 | Kevin Durant | HOU | $53,282,608 |
T10 | Devin Booker | PHX | $53,142,264 |
T10 | Jaylen Brown | BOS | $53,142,264 |
T10 | Karl-Anthony Towns | NYK | $53,142,264 |
All-Time NBA Highest Paid Players
The current top NBA salaries are also the highest in NBA history.
Prior to the 2019-20 season, no player had ever earned $40m in a single season. Steph Curry became the first player in history to eclipse $40m in base salary.
The first player to ever earn $30m in a single season was Michael Jordan. Jordan signed a one-year contract with the Chicago Bulls in 1996 that paid him $30.1m for the 1996-97 season.
The contract paid Jordan the most a player had ever received for a single season by a huge margin. The second-highest paid player in the 1996-97 season was Horace Grant of the Orlando Magic, who earned $14.9m – less than half of Jordan’s salary.
A year later, Jordan signed another record-setting deal worth $33m for the 1997-98 season, his last with the Bulls. The second-highest paid player that year was Patrick Ewing, who made $20.5m.
Adjusting for inflation, Jordan’s $33m deal in 1997 would be worth $66.4m in today’s NBA.
Which NBA players have earned the most money?
As of the end of the 2024-25 season, LeBron James is the highest paid NBA player in terms of total career earnings, with $528.7m earned across his 22-year career.
LeBron has earned more than $80m more than the next-highest earner, which is Kevin Durant of the Houston Rockets. Durant has earned a total of $447.9m in an NBA career of 18 seasons so far.
Rounding out the top five are Stephen Curry ($410.5m), Chris Paul ($400.9m) and James Harden ($372.2m).
What is a supermax contract?
A supermax contract is a special contract extension which is given to players who qualify for the Designated Veteran Player Extension.
The DVPE is only for players who have been in the NBA for at least eight years, and who are playing still for the team who drafted them (unless they were traded).
Players must also fulfil at least one of the following criteria in order to be eligible for a supermax extension:
Named to an All-NBA team in the immediately preceding season, or in two of the previous three seasons.
Named Defensive Player of the Year in the immediately preceding season, or in two of the previous three seasons.
Named NBA Most Valuable Player in one of the previous three seasons.
