The pool of bonus money for NBA playoff teams this season is worth approximately $34.7MM, according to Kurt Badenhausen and Lev Akabas of Sportico.
The top six teams in each conference earn bonuses based on their regular season records, while the 16 playoff teams also receive a chunk of money from the playoff pool, increasing the value of their payout with each series win. That bonus money is divvied up among the players on each club’s 15-man roster.
Teams eliminated in the play-in tournament aren’t entitled to any of the playoff bonus money, even if they had the seventh- or eighth-best regular season record in their conference.
The breakdown for 2025’s playoff pool money is as follows (rounded to the nearest thousand), per Sportico:
Regular season achievements:
- Best record in NBA (Thunder): $869K
- No. 1 seeds in each conference (Cavaliers, Thunder): $761K per team
- No. 2 seeds (Celtics, Rockets): $609K per team
- No. 3 seeds (Knicks, Lakers): $456K per team
- No. 4 seeds (Pacers, Nuggets): $372K per team
- No. 5 seeds (Bucks, Clippers): $288K per team
- No. 6 seeds (Pistons, Timberwolves): $204K per team
Postseason achievements:
- Teams participating in first round (all 16 playoff teams — the 12 listed above, plus the Magic, Heat, Warriors, and Grizzlies): $466K per team
- Teams participating in conference semifinals (eight teams): $568K per team
- Teams participating in conference finals (four teams): $951K per team
- Losing team in NBA Finals: $3,803,000
- Winning team in NBA Finals: $8,805,000
A team that makes a deep playoff run will cash in on more than one of the bonuses listed above.
For example, if the Thunder win the championship, their payout from the playoff pool would be worth more than $12.4MM in total — that amount would include their bonuses for posting the NBA’s best record, claiming the West’s No. 1 seed, making the first round, making the conference semifinals, making the conference finals, and winning the NBA Finals.
so do 2-way players who are not eligible to play in the playoffs entitled to any of this money? is Branden Carlsen just unemployed rn and the thunder just let him hang out on the bench not making any money?
My understanding is that two-way players aren’t entitled to any of this playoff bonus money.
Sportico refers to it being split up among the “15-man roster,” and two-way players aren’t mentioned at all in the section of the CBA on the player playoff pool (whereas they ARE mentioned in the section on the in-season tournament prize money).
This came up last year too and I noted at the time that it makes sense they wouldn’t get playoff bonuses since they’re ineligible to play in the playoffs, but it’s surprising they wouldn’t get a half-share of the bonuses for regular season results.
This is both a crazy amount of money, but also little more than a single paycheck to a lot of the guys on each roster. But it seems to be enough to inspire them to care as much as possible which is nice. I just wish 2-way dudes got a piece of that. Also, do coaches and team personnel also get a paycheck from the league? Towel boys should get an extra thousand bucks.