On Tuesday, Forbes published its annual list of the NBA’s highest-paid players both in terms of on- and off-court earnings. Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry led the way with $62.6 million in salary plus an estimated $141 million in off-court earnings, making him the first NBA player to earn $200 million in one year.
Philadelphia 76ers forward LeBron James slipped to No. 4 with $93.9 million, in large part because he took nearly a $50 million pay cut to sign with the Sixers. Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant ($104.9 million), Miami Heat forward Giannis Antetokounmpo ($103.5 million) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards ($87.9 million) round out the top five.
The NBA’s four top earners all have one thing in common: They’ve each been in the league for at least 10 years, which means they’re eligible to sign new contracts beginning at 35% of the salary cap. Players with 0-6 years of NBA experience can only receive 25% of the salary cap in most circumstances, while players with 7-9 years of experience can receive 30%.
That ascending contract structure has major pitfalls, though, particularly in the NBA’s second-apron era. Teams are becoming more wary of handing out big-money, long-term contracts, especially to older players. One wrong step can lead to an albatross contract that effectively ruins a team’s chances of contending for a championship.
LeBron made the unprecedented decision this summer to go from a $52.6 million max contract to a $3.9 million veteran-minimum deal, but he isn’t the only older star who’s taken a below-max contract in recent years. Curry signed a two-year, $116 million extension in September that was roughly $20 million less than he could have earned. Durant signed a two-year, $90 million extension last October that was $30 million less than his max deal.
That trend has caught the eye of the National Basketball Players Association, which is setting the stage for the NBA’s next major labor battle.
“We think the players should make decisions for themselves and we should not be ... pocket-watching,” NBPA executive president David Kelly told reporters in July. “The system should not require a player to carry all of that burden. We should not put a player in the position to carry the burden of keeping a team together.”
The NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement runs through 2029-30, but either side can opt out after the 2028-29 season. Given the NBPA’s saber-rattling about the second apron, this CBA likely has only three years left, which means both sides should already be preparing for another round of labor negotiations.
If the second apron remains in place, Forbes’ list of highest-paid players could help provide a solution to the NBA’s current dilemma with its contract structure.
Reimagining NBA Contracts
Remove off-court earnings momentarily and just look at the league’s highest-paid players in terms of their 2026-27 cap hit. Among the top 12, Jayson Tatum is the only one who won’t be at least 30 years old by the end of October. (Jaylen Brown turns 30 on Oct. 24, while Devin Booker turns 30 six days later.)
The Boston Celtics openly admitted that they traded Brown this offseason in large part for financial reasons. Team president Brad Stevens told reporters the Celtics’ path back toward title contention “looked a little bit more challenging with 70% of our cap and such a high percentage of our usage tied into two players [Brown and Tatum].”
The Sixers traded Paul George, whom they signed to a four-year, $211.6 million max contract two summers ago, to acquire Brown. George played only 78 games during his two seasons in Philly due to a combination of injuries and a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug policy. His contract became an albatross almost as soon as the ink dried on it.
That’s a byproduct of the NBA’s current contract rules, which divvy up percentages of the salary cap based on years of experience in the league. The problem is that teams often wind up paying players more once they’re past their prime than they did in the midst of it.
The NBA’s dilemma harkens back to the infamous comments that Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made earlier this year.
“I want people to understand one thing. The money they gave me wasn’t for what I’m going to do. It was for what I already did,” Guerrero said in an interview. “They didn’t pay me because I’m going to hit 40 [home runs] every year. They paid me for what I already accomplished.”
In essence, the NBA’s system forces teams to do the same. They’re able to pay players a greater percentage of the salary cap when they’re in their mid-30s than they can in their mid-20s. That’s counterintuitive in terms of expected production moving forward.
But what if endorsements could help bridge the gap?
A Potential Solution?
Outside of Curry, LeBron, Durant and Giannis, most of the league’s highest-paid players derive a majority of their earnings from their NBA salary. Edwards, Tatum and two-time reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are all earning an estimated $25 million or more from endorsements this year, but Warriors forward Jimmy Butler (No. 7 overall), Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (No. 9 overall) and Sixers center Joel Embiid (No. 10 overall) are each pulling in less than an estimated $15 million in off-court earnings.
Still, it stands to reason that the more established an NBA star is, the more likely he is to sign lucrative endorsement deals. And since their off-court earnings typically only rise further into their careers, that could help offset any declines in their on-court earnings once they reach their mid-30s.
That begs the question: Should the NBA rethink its contract system to give teams the ability to pay players the most when they’re at their peak? Could endorsements and investments help stars make up the difference later in their careers even if they can’t earn as much from their NBA contracts?
The easiest solution would be to allow teams to give 35% max deals to players with 7-9 years of experience and then begin dialing back how much players can earn after that, particularly once they reach their mid-30s. However, that isn’t as simple as it might sound. Under current NBA rules, a player’s max salary is never lower than 105% of his previous salary, so the new rules would have to account for how to handle players who receive a 35% max earlier in their careers.
Another oft-proposed solution is allowing teams to still hand out 35% max contracts to older stars, but only having 30% of that count against a team’s cap sheet. Granted, that would run counter to the NBA’s push for “parity of opportunity,” which includes redistributing star talent around the league in part for financial reasons.
Maintaining the status quo could be another option. Teams are allowed to introduce players to potential sponsors, although they need to be particularly careful about following the NBA’s rules after the Los Angeles Clippers’ salary-cap circumvention scandal. Making the introduction is the extent of their allowable involvement; anything beyond that could get them into stripped-first-round-pick territory.
Either way, Curry and the Warriors will be instructive over the next year. The Warriors effectively appear to be in a gap year with Jimmy Butler (ACL), Moses Moody (patellar tendon) and Kristaps Porziņģis (POTS) all sidelined. They’ll have a chance to reset around Curry and Brandin Podziemski next offseason, but Curry only took $10 million less than his max salary in 2027-28. It still may be tough to construct a championship-caliber supporting cast around him on that salary.
Meanwhile, James’ decision to take a minimum deal with the Sixers is paying off early. The Sixers are 2-0, with a pair of victories over the two teams that met in the Eastern Conference Finals this past spring. It’s unreasonable to expect superstars to take minimum deals—even those in the twilight of their careers—but LeBron’s estimated $1.4 billion net worth gave him a unique opportunity. (His estimated $90 million in off-court earnings helped blunt the pain of his major on-court pay cut, too.)
Will Curry regret not taking more of a pay cut if the Warriors can’t reload around him in the next year, particularly in the context of his $140 million-plus in off-court earnings? Every dollar less that he took from the Warriors is another dollar they could have spent on building out his supporting cast.
We’ll see what comes of labor negotiations in the next few years. But if the second apron remains in place, players and teams will need to keep getting creative to retain their cores. As stars get older and supplement their net worths with tens of millions in off-court earnings, being willing to sacrifice by taking a well-below-max deal could be the potential solution to the NBA’s misaligned contract system.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com