NBA Players Lose $484MM From 2024/25 Salaries

The NBA’s basketball-related income (BRI) for the 2024/25 season came in at $10.247MM, as first reported by Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) and as outlined in greater detail by Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico. That total was less than projected, resulting in player salaries being reduced by a total of approximately $484MM for ’24/25.

The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for players to earn 51% of the NBA’s BRI in each season, and the league holds back a percentage of player salaries in order to ensure that revenue split is achieved. In 2024/25, 10% of player salaries were held in escrow, and 91% of that money in escrow was ultimately sent to the teams, with just 9% going to the players.

As a result, players earned just 90.9% of their reported salaries in 2024/25. For a player like Warriors star Stephen Curry, who had the NBA’s highest ’24/25 cap hit at $55.76MM, that would mean his actual earnings were about $5MM less than that.

Badenhausen suggests overall league revenue came in lower than originally anticipated due to a variety of factors, including a turbulent year for local media deals. The fact that multiple small-market teams – including the Pacers and the champion Thunder – made deep playoff runs also likely reduced the overall gate receipts for the playoffs, he adds.

While players came out on the wrong end of the escrow split this season, that isn’t always the case. As Badenhausen points out, in three straight seasons from 2014-17, league revenue surged to the point that players not only got back the full amount of their salaries held in escrow but also received supplemental checks to ensure the BRI split was met.

Conversely, during the COVID-shortened seasons, the league held back a higher percentage of player salaries in escrow due to the lost revenue.

The players shouldn’t have to worry about receiving their full salaries in 2025/26, Badenhausen writes, with the league’s new media deals taking effect. The NBA will be collecting roughly $7 billion annually as a result of their 11-year, $76+ billion agreements with ESPN/ABC (Disney), NBC, and Amazon, beginning this season. The league’s previous media deal with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) was worth $24 billion over nine seasons, or about $2.7 billion per year.

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