NBA Maximum Salary Projections For 2023/24
Although a number of big-money free agent contracts have been completed since the 2022/23 NBA league year began, several of the most lucrative deals signed by players in ’22 have been contract extensions. And many of those extensions have been maximum-salary deals.
[RELATED: 2022/23 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]
Because those extensions won’t go into effect until at least the 2023/24 season and the NBA won’t finalize the ’23/24 salary cap until next summer, we can only ballpark what many of year’s maximum-salary contracts will look like based on the league’s latest cap estimates.
When the NBA confirmed its salary cap data for the 2022/23 season on June 30, the league also updated its cap projection for the ’23/24 campaign, estimating a $133MM cap. That estimate has since risen to $136MM. We’re basing our figures on a projection of $136,021,000, which would be the maximum allowable increase.
Listed below are the early maximum-salary projections for 2023/24. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous club can offer five years instead of four, and 8% annual raises instead of 5% raises. The second chart shows the maximum salaries for a player signing with a new team.
A player’s maximum salary is generally determined by his years of NBA experience, so there’s a wide gap between potential earnings for younger and older players. Unless they qualify for a more lucrative extension by meeting certain performance criteria, players with no more than six years of NBA experience are limited to a starting salary worth up to 25% of the cap. For players with seven to nine years of experience, that number is 30%. For players with 10 or more years of experience, it’s 35%.
Here are the the early max-salary projections for 2023/24:
A player re-signing with his own team (8% annual raises, up to five years):
| Year | 6 years or less | 7-9 years | 10+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | $34,005,125 | $40,806,150 | $47,607,175 |
| 2024/25 | $36,725,535 | $44,070,642 | $51,415,749 |
| 2025/26 | $39,445,945 | $47,335,134 | $55,224,323 |
| 2026/27 | $42,166,355 | $50,599,626 | $59,032,897 |
| 2027/28 | $44,886,765 | $53,864,118 | $62,841,471 |
| Total | $197,229,725 | $236,675,670 | $276,121,615 |
The “6 years or less” column here is what the new extensions for Ja Morant, Zion Williamson, and Darius Garland will look like if none of them make an All-NBA team in 2023. All three players have Rose Rule language in their contracts, however, and could move up to the 30% max column (“7-9 years”) if certain criteria are met.
The 30% max column will also apply to players who reach the free agent market next summer with between seven and nine years of NBA experience under their belts. That would be Fred VanVleet‘s maximum contract with the Raptors, for instance, assuming he doesn’t sign an extension before then.
The third column (35%) will apply to the new super-max extension signed by Nuggets star Nikola Jokic. Sixers center Joel Embiid also previously signed a super-max extension that will begin in 2023/24, though his deal is for four years, so it’d be worth a projected $213,280,144 instead of the projected $276MM+ that Jokic will earn over five seasons.
A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):
| Year | 6 years or less | 7-9 years | 10+ years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | $34,005,125 | $40,806,150 | $47,607,175 |
| 2024/25 | $35,705,381 | $42,846,458 | $49,987,534 |
| 2025/26 | $37,405,638 | $44,886,765 | $52,367,893 |
| 2026/27 | $39,105,894 | $46,927,073 | $54,748,251 |
| Total | $146,222,038 | $175,466,445 | $204,710,853 |
If a player changes teams as a free agent, he doesn’t have access to a fifth year or 8% raises. So if someone like Cameron Johnson were to sign an offer sheet with a new team next summer, he’d be limited to a four-year deal projected to be worth just over $146MM.
If a veteran free agent with between seven and nine years of NBA experience – wants to change teams in 2023, he would be able to sign a four-year contract worth up to a projected $175.47MM.
James Harden, Draymond Green, or another veteran with 10+ years of experience would be able to earn nearly $205MM across four years if they change teams as free agents in 2023. While it’s probably unlikely that Harden, Green, or any other 10-year veteran changes teams and signs a four-year, maximum-salary deal next offseason, it will theoretically be the first time in NBA history that a player could receive a $200MM+ contract while changing teams.
Pacific Notes: James, Anthony, Howard, Crowder
Bronny James will be eligible for the draft in 2024, and LeBron James‘ desire to play with his son could affect his decision regarding an extension, as Joe Vardon of The Athletic explains. James, who could be an unrestricted free agent after next season, can sign a two-year, $98MM extension with the Lakers this offseason.
The easiest way for LeBron and Bronny to play together is for LeBron to be a member of the team that drafts Bronny. The Lakers will likely have to commit to doing what it takes to draft his son in order for an extension to be reached. Vardon, noting that L.A. doesn’t currently control its 2024 first-round pick, suggests that the team may have to consider a trade bringing in a ’24 first-rounder, even though Bronny doesn’t currently project as a first-round prospect.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Many veteran players who saw action for the Lakers last season are still unsigned. ESPN’s Dave McMenamin takes a look at those players, including Carmelo Anthony, Avery Bradley and Dwight Howard, and explores which teams might have an interest in them.
- A tweet from the Suns’ Jae Crowder created a stir, Jeremy Cluff of the Arizona Republic notes. Crowder wrote “Change is inevitable.. Growth is optional.!! I believe its time for a change… I wanna continue growing!” That fueled speculation that he wants to be traded. Crowder is entering his walk year and has been the subject of trade rumors, particularly involving one of his former teams, the Heat. The Suns are above the tax line and might look to shed some salary.
- In case you missed it, Steve Kerr and Draymond Green played instrumental roles in convincing JaMychal Green to sign with the Warriors. Get the details here.
And-Ones: McCormack, Luxury Tax, OKC Blue, Harrison
David McCormack has signed with Besiktas in Turkey, according to a team press release. McCormack was reportedly signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Timberwolves but apparently chose to begin his pro career in Europe.
The undrafted big man out of Kansas was a prominent member of the Jayhawks’ national championship team. He spent all four of his college seasons at Kansas, starting 96 of 132 total games. In 2021/22, he averaged 10.6 PPG and 7.0 RPG in 40 contests (21.9 MPG).
We have more from around the basketball world:
- A total of 10 teams are currently projected to collectively spend $650MM in luxury tax payments next season, according to Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype. That would an NBA record for tax penalties. The Warriors, Nets, Clippers, Bucks, Lakers, Sixers, Celtics, Suns, Nuggets and Mavericks all project as taxpayer teams for the time being.
- The G League’s Oklahoma City Blue will continue to play the Thunder’s Paycom Center next season, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman reports. The Blue also played there last season, having been the only G League team to host their games in an NBA arena. They often had to play late morning or early afternoon games with the Thunder playing there on the same night.
- Former NBA swingman Andrew Harrison has signed with Yukatel Merkezefendi Belediyesi in Turkey, as JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors relays (Twitter link). Harrison has suited up with the Grizzlies, Cavaliers and Pelicans during his NBA career. In his last NBA season, he played a combined 16 games with Cleveland and New Orleans in 2018/19.
Rayjon Tucker Waived By Bucks, Will Play In Australia
9:53pm: Tucker is signing with Melbourne United of Australia’s NBL, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets.
9:02pm: The Bucks have waived shooting guard Rayjon Tucker, according to the NBA transactions log.
Milwaukee re-signed Tucker last month to a one-year, minimum-salary contract but the money was non-guaranteed.
The Bucks had 19 players under contract, so this move will give them a pair of openings on their 20-man offseason roster. One of those spots could be reserved for restricted free agent Jordan Nwora.
Tucker has appeared in a total of 39 NBA games across three seasons for Utah, Philadelphia, Denver and Milwaukee, averaging 3.0 PPG and 1.0 RPG in just 7.7 minutes per contest. He has been much more active in the G League during that span, having played for the Salt Lake City Stars, the Wisconsin Herd, and the Delaware Blue Coats.
In 27 regular season games last season for the Herd (the Bucks’ G League affiliate), Tucker averaged 21.1 PPG on 53% shooting.
Atlantic Notes: Sixers, Harden, Rivers, Simmons, Raptors, C’s
The NBA is not only investigating whether the Sixers violated tampering rules prior to free agency but also whether they have a handshake agreement with James Harden after the star guard declined his $47.4MM option and took a pay cut, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps in an appearance on NBA Today (video link).
Harden signed a two-year deal for $68.6MM that includes a player option. The league is concerned whether the Sixers front office, led by president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, already has another agreement in place with Harden regarding a future contract.
The league “could potentially levy a really big penalty” against the Sixers if that occurred, Bontemps said.
On the same show, a clip from The VC (Vince Carter) Show was broadcast in which 76ers coach Doc Rivers denied that the Sixers knew Harden would opt out and re-sign: “I guarantee you that Daryl had no idea what James was going to do.”
We have more from the Atlantic Division:
- Rivers also spoke about the Ben Simmons situation, saying that Simmons essentially overreacted to issues he had in Philadelphia (video link). “What frustrated me was that I still think (his issues) shouldn’t have been enough to want to leave,” Rivers said. “I told Ben that and I kept telling him that. That’s not why you want to leave a team. You work these things out and they didn’t get worked out.”
- Raptors stars Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam could sign lucrative extensions this offseason but will likely to decide to wait, as Eric Koreen of The Athletic explains. VanVleet could sign a four-year contract extension worth approximately $114MM right now but might get more money down the road if he waits and remains productive. Beginning in October, Siakam could sign a three-year extension in excess of $125MM. However, Siakam — who has two years left on his current deal — could also get more by putting extension talks on the backburner.
- The Celtics are hiring Craig Luschenat as a player development coach, Jared Weiss of The Athletic tweets. Luschenat has been on the staff of the team’s G League affiliate in Maine.
Kevin Durant To Meet With Nets Owner Joe Tsai?
It has been over a month since star forward Kevin Durant requested a trade out of Brooklyn, and with no indication that any deal is imminent, Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com cites a source who says a meeting between Durant and Nets owner Joe Tsai is expected to take place in the coming days.
“What I’m hearing is that KD is going to meet with the owner this week,” Bulpett’s source said. “He’s going to go directly to the owner, Joe Tsai, sometime this week. We’ll see how that works.”
Assuming that meeting takes place, it’s unclear what would come of it. It’s possible Durant wants to reiterate his request to be moved and to check in on where things stand. It’s also not out of the realm of possibility that he could back off that trade request if he gets certain assurances from Tsai and the Nets.
“I have no idea what’s going to come of that meeting,” the source told Bulpett. “There are some things that KD is unhappy about, and I’m not sure any of that gets fixed here. But maybe it does.”
The most recent solid rumor we heard related to the Durant sweepstakes surfaced last Monday, when ESPN and The Athletic reported that the Celtics had talked to the Nets about a possible deal and had been willing to include Jaylen Brown in their offer. Subsequent reporting has suggested that the offer in question was weeks old, and Bulpett says some of his sources have pushed back against the notion that it was ever really on the table.
The fact that the Celtics’ interest – and Brown’s potential availability – leaked at all didn’t sit well with some people around the NBA, one personnel executive from another club told Bulpett.
“I think there’s some teams that aren’t very happy that when they talk to Brooklyn it gets in the papers,” the executive said. “That doesn’t help. I’ve talked with a couple of teams that are not happy with the rumors that creep out of there through all this. It’s not a good way to do business.”
The exec added that he the Celtics and Nets “haven’t had any conversations for a while” and expressed skepticism that the two teams will get a deal done, according to Bulpett.
Bulls Sign Goran Dragic
AUGUST 2: Nearly a month after first reaching an agreement with Dragic, the Bulls have officially signed him, the team announced today in a press release.
JULY 3: The Bulls are fortifying their backcourt bench depth with a new veteran addition. Chicago will sign former All-NBA point guard Goran Dragic to a one-year contract, per Jordan Schultz of the Pull Up Podcast (Twitter link).
Dragic, most recently with the Nets, will earn $2.9MM, the veteran’s minimum, next season, tweets Shams Charania of The Athletic.
Dragic, who has an All-Star season and an All-NBA season on his résumé, played a crucial role during the Heat’s NBA Finals run within the Orlando “bubble” campus in 2020. The Slovenian guard’s production fell to earth the next season amid injury troubles, and he was ultimately dealt to the Raptors in the sign-and-trade agreement that landed Kyle Lowry with the Heat in the 2021 offseason.
Last year, Dragic appeared in just five games with Toronto before reaching an agreement to leave the club as it sought out a suitable trade. The 36-year-old was shipped to the Spurs and negotiated a buyout with San Antonio, then latched on with the Nets as a free agent.
Across 16 games with Brooklyn, including six starts, Dragic averaged 7.3 PPG, 4.8 APG and 3.2 RPG, while posting .376/.245/.739 shooting splits. Though his assist and rebounding numbers were in line with his career averages of 4.8 APG and 3.1 RPG, his scoring efficiency across 25.5 MPG for Brooklyn was a far cry from his 14-year career average of 13.7 PPG on .460/.362/.767 shooting.
The addition of Dragic marks Chicago’s fourth free agent agreement this offseason. The team agreed to re-sign All-Star shooting guard Zach LaVine to a maximum deal, is bringing back deep-bench reserve forward Derrick Jones Jr., and will add journeyman reserve center Andre Drummond to boost its rebounding.
As Yossi Gozlan of HoopsHype observes (via Twitter), thanks to Dragic’s minimum-salary deal, the Bulls are now approximately $1.7MM below the luxury tax this season, carrying a projected 15 players on guaranteed contracts. Gozlan adds that Chicago has around $7MM left to use from its non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
Any further Bulls roster changes seem more likely to come via trade than free agency. Opening up a roster spot now to add another free agent would require trading or waiving a current Bull with a guaranteed salary. The team also has a $5MM trade exception that will expire after July 7.
If the Bulls do make a deal, it could involve their backcourt depth. The team adds to a group of guards that already includes Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu, and Coby White, though Ball’s health heading into next season remains a question mark.
K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago reports that the team anticipates this current roster will be intact for training camp in the fall, though he acknowledges that the team does appear to have a surplus of guards.
Steve Kerr Happy With Warriors’ Offseason Moves
Two weeks after winning the NBA title, the Warriors were faced with decisions on how to replace three important members of the championship roster. With Gary Payton II, Otto Porter and Nemanja Bjelica leaving in free agency, the team targeted Donte DiVincenzo and JaMychal Green to take their place. In an interview with Anthony Slater of The Athletic, coach Steve Kerr said both players are ideal matches for Golden State’s style.
“Donte is a perfect fit for the way we play,” Kerr said of the former Bucks and Kings guard. “The ball movement, the cutting. He’s a great cutter. He’s a really good spot-up shooter. He’s a good passer on the move. He’s not just a spot-up shooter. He’s a secondary playmaker. Pretty bouncy, but with a great feel for the game. He’s gonna fit right in.”
DiVencenzo committed to Golden State shortly after free agency began, while Green was persuaded to sign with the Warriors after initially planning to join another team. Kerr sees Green as a replacement for both Porter and Bjelica as he possesses elements of both of their games.
“He’s capable of sort of playing either role, the four or the five,” Kerr said. “If he’s playing with Draymond (Green), he can stretch the floor and can guard the five, while Draymond guards the four. He gives us frontcourt flexibility. I have a lot of confidence he’ll shoot the ball well. Players generally shoot the ball better with us, I think. That’s not always true. But the space that Steph and Klay provide them along with Draymond’s passing. You saw it with Otto and Gary last year. I think JaMychal will love playing with our guys.”
Here are some other highlights of Kerr’s interview:
On the challenges the Warriors will face in defending a title, compared to last year when they were trying to prove they could still be contenders:
“I don’t know that it’s a bigger challenge because last year felt like a huge challenge going in. Last year felt more daunting because we’d had two lousy seasons in a row. This year feels different because we’re the defending champs. It feels like we’ve got our groove back. We’ll have Klay (Thompson) back for a full season. Our foundation in place. While we’re absolutely going to play a lot of young guys, we kind of have a core six, a foundational six players who are really the ones that make everything happen and will allow us to bring the young guys along.”
On larger roles, and perhaps even regular minutes, for young players Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and James Wiseman:
“All of them have shown really good signs . JK had a stretch last year where — I think it was March, early April — he played really well and started to get more comfortable. He didn’t get as much run in the playoffs, but that’s normal for a rookie, especially once we were fully healthy.
“Moses looks the part. He’s got a more advanced, well-rounded game than JK right now in terms of how it fits with the others. That 3-and-D position. He projects to be a part of things next year. He showed it in the playoffs against Dallas.
“Then James I actually think had some really good moments his rookie year. It gets lost in the shuffle because overall it was a struggle for our team and James had ups and downs. But you remember he had some really big games for us. As he continues to build momentum and gain confidence in his body and skills, I think he’ll help us.”
On the Warriors’ approach with Andre Iguodala, who has a roster spot waiting if he decides to return:
“I leave Andre alone. He knows where we stand. If he wants to come back, we’d love to have him. The one thing we feel strongly about with Andre is we want to give him whatever space and time he needs to make a decision. I’m leaving him alone. Whenever he makes his decision is fine with us.”
CJ Elleby Signing With Timberwolves
2:00pm: Elleby will be signing an Exhibit 10 contract with the Wolves, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter link).
12:45pm: The Timberwolves have reached a contract agreement with free agent small forward CJ Elleby, tweets Michael Scotto of HoopsHype. Elleby will be given an opportunity to compete for a roster spot in camp, sources tell Scotto.
Elleby, 22, was selected by the Trail Blazers with the 46th pick in the 2020 draft and spent his first two NBA seasons in Portland. He got a shot at regular playing time last season and averaged 5.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 58 games, making 28 starts.
The Wolves will have 19 players under contract once they officially finalize all of their reported signings, but only 12 players have fully guaranteed contracts.
Elleby will be competing with Austin Rivers, Jaylen Nowell and Nathan Knight, who all have partial guarantees, as well as Phillip Wheeler, who will be in camp on an Exhibit 10 contract.
Hoops Rumors Chat Transcript: 8/2/2022
Hoops Rumors hosted a live chat today. Click here to read the transcript.
Our next live chat will take place on Saturday afternoon at 12:00 pm Central time, with Dana Gauruder!