Salary Cap

Rookie Scale Salaries For 2025 NBA First-Round Picks

With the NBA’s salary cap set at $154,647,000 for the 2025/26 league year, the rookie scale has been set as well. The rookie scale locks in the value of contracts for first-round picks.

In each NBA league year, rookie scale amounts are assigned to each first-round slot, from No. 1 through No. 30. Teams can sign their first-rounders to as little as 80% of that rookie scale amount, or up to 120% of that figure.

While that rule theoretically affords teams some flexibility, first-round picks almost always sign contracts worth 120% of their rookie scale amount, and unsigned first-rounders have a cap hold worth 120% of their rookie scale amount.

Listed below are the salary figures that represent 120% of the rookie scale amounts for 2025’s first-round picks. If a first-round pick signs a rookie scale contract in 2025/26, it will be for the amount below, unless he accepts a deal worth less than the maximum allowable 120% (in which case, we’ll update these numbers).

These salary figures will only apply if the player signs in 2025/26. If a player doesn’t sign an NBA contract this year, his rookie contract will look a little different in future seasons.

Rookie scale contracts are guaranteed for the first two years, with team options on the third and fourth years.

Here’s the 2025 breakdown:

No.
2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29 Total
1 $13,825,920 $14,517,480 $15,208,680 $19,178,145 $62,730,225
2 $12,370,320 $12,989,040 $13,607,760 $17,172,993 $56,140,113
3 $11,108,880 $11,663,880 $12,219,840 $15,445,878 $50,438,478
4 $10,015,680 $10,516,560 $11,017,560 $13,937,213 $45,487,013
5 $9,069,840 $9,523,080 $9,976,560 $12,640,302 $41,209,782
6 $8,237,640 $8,649,600 $9,061,680 $11,490,210 $37,439,130
7 $7,520,040 $7,896,240 $8,271,960 $10,505,389 $34,193,629
8 $6,889,200 $7,233,720 $7,578,240 $9,639,521 $31,340,681
9 $6,332,520 $6,649,560 $6,966,000 $8,874,684 $28,822,764
10 $6,016,080 $6,316,680 $6,617,160 $8,436,879 $27,386,799
11 $5,715,120 $6,001,080 $6,286,920 $8,342,743 $26,345,863
12 $5,429,520 $5,701,200 $5,972,760 $8,230,463 $25,333,943
13 $5,157,960 $5,416,080 $5,673,840 $8,107,917 $24,355,797
14 $4,900,320 $5,145,360 $5,390,640 $7,983,538 $23,419,858
15 $4,655,040 $4,887,720 $5,120,400 $7,849,573 $22,512,733
16 $4,422,360 $4,643,520 $4,864,920 $7,462,787 $21,393,587
17 $4,201,080 $4,411,200 $4,621,200 $7,098,163 $20,331,643
18 $3,991,320 $4,190,520 $4,390,320 $6,752,312 $19,324,472
19 $3,811,560 $4,002,000 $4,193,040 $6,457,282 $18,463,882
20 $3,658,800 $3,841,680 $4,024,440 $6,205,686 $17,730,606
21 $3,512,520 $3,688,320 $3,864,000 $6,155,352 $17,220,192
22 $3,372,240 $3,540,600 $3,709,320 $6,101,831 $16,723,991
23 $3,237,480 $3,399,480 $3,560,880 $6,042,813 $16,240,653
24 $3,108,120 $3,263,400 $3,418,800 $5,979,481 $15,769,801
25 $2,983,320 $3,132,360 $3,282,000 $5,910,882 $15,308,562
26 $2,884,560 $3,028,560 $3,172,920 $5,720,775 $14,806,815
27 $2,801,280 $2,941,440 $3,081,840 $5,559,639 $14,384,199
28 $2,783,880 $2,923,560 $3,062,640 $5,528,065 $14,298,145
29 $2,763,960 $2,902,080 $3,040,320 $5,487,778 $14,194,138
30 $2,743,800 $2,880,960 $3,018,480 $5,448,356 $14,091,596

2025’s first-round picks:

  1. Cooper Flagg (Mavericks)
  2. Dylan Harper (Spurs)
  3. VJ Edgecombe (Sixers)
  4. Kon Knueppel (Hornets)
  5. Ace Bailey (Jazz)
  6. Tre Johnson (Wizards)
  7. Jeremiah Fears (Pelicans)
  8. Egor Demin (Nets)
  9. Collin Murray-Boyles (Raptors)
  10. Khaman Maluach (Suns)
  11. Cedric Coward (Grizzlies)
  12. Noa Essengue (Bulls)
  13. Derik Queen (Pelicans)
  14. Carter Bryant (Spurs)
  15. Thomas Sorber (Thunder)
  16. Yang Hansen (Trail Blazers)
  17. Joan Beringer (Timberwolves)
  18. Walter Clayton (Jazz)
  19. Nolan Traore (Nets)
  20. Kasparas Jakucionis (Heat)
  21. Will Riley (Wizards)
  22. Drake Powell (Nets)
  23. Asa Newell (Hawks)
  24. Nique Clifford (Kings)
  25. Jase Richardson (Magic)
  26. Ben Saraf (Nets)
  27. Danny Wolf (Nets)
  28. Hugo Gonzalez (Celtics)
  29. Liam McNeeley (Hornets)
  30. Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Clippers)

NBA Minimum Salaries For 2025/26

An NBA team that has spent all its cap space and doesn’t have any of its mid-level or bi-annual exception available still always has the ability to sign a player to a minimum-salary contract, unless that club is right up against its hard cap.

Teams with cap room or with access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception will have a little more flexibility to sign players to longer-term minimum-salary contracts. However, teams without cap room and without any other exceptions on hand can still use the minimum salary exception to add as many players as roster limits and the hard cap allow, for contracts of up to two years.

[RELATED: Values of 2025/26 mid-level, bi-annual exceptions]

Undrafted free agents and second-round picks are often recipients of minimum-salary contracts, but there are plenty of veterans who end up settling for the minimum too. Because a player’s minimum salary is determined by how much NBA experience he has, many veterans will earn more than twice as much money as a rookie will in 2025/26 on a minimum-salary contract.

Listed below are 2025/26’s minimum salary figures, sorted by years of NBA experience. If a player spent any time on an NBA club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience has not yet made his NBA debut.

These figures represent approximately a 10% increase on last season’s minimum salaries, since that’s the amount of the NBA’s salary cap increase for 2025/26.

Here’s the full breakdown:

Years of Experience Salary
0 $1,272,870
1 $2,048,494
2 $2,296,274
3 $2,378,870
4 $2,461,463
5 $2,667,947
6 $2,874,436
7 $3,080,921
8 $3,287,409
9 $3,303,774
10+ $3,634,153

Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger players, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to one-year, minimum-salary contracts. Those deals will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $2,296,274, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.

For instance, Mason Plumlee, who has 12 seasons of NBA experience, will reportedly sign a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Hornets, who will only be charged $2,296,274 for Plumlee’s contract. He’ll earn $3,634,153, but the NBA will make up the difference. This rule only applies to one-year contracts, not to multiyear deals.

If a player signs a minimum-salary contract after the regular season begins, he’ll earn a prorated portion of the amount listed above.

Those figures listed above also only apply to players who are signing new contracts in 2025/26. Players who are in the second, third, or fourth year of a minimum-salary deal will be earning a slightly different predetermined amount.

For example, Knicks big man Ariel Hukporti – who signed a minimum-salary contract last season and now has one year of NBA experience – will earn a $1,955,377 salary in the second year of his contract, less than than the $2,048,494 he would receive if he were signing a new minimum deal this fall. That’s because his second-year salary is based on a 5% raise over last season’s minimum salary for a player with one year of experience, whereas the cap rose by 10%.

Here’s what multiyear minimum-salary contracts signed in 2025/26 will look like:

Experience
2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 2028/29
0 $1,272,870 $2,150,917 $2,525,901 $2,735,698
1 $2,048,494 $2,411,090 $2,616,754 $2,830,685
2 $2,296,274 $2,497,812 $2,707,612 $3,068,140
3 $2,378,870 $2,584,539 $2,934,742 $3,305,598
4 $2,461,463 $2,801,346 $3,161,876 $3,543,059
5 $2,667,947 $3,018,158 $3,389,014 $3,780,524
6 $2,874,436 $3,234,968 $3,616,151 $3,799,340
7 $3,080,921 $3,451,779 $3,634,152 $4,179,277
8 $3,287,409 $3,468,962 $3,997,570 $4,179,277
9 $3,303,774 $3,815,861 $3,997,570 $4,179,277
10+ $3,634,153 $3,815,861 $3,997,570 $4,179,277

Technically, a minimum-salary contract could cover five years for a player with full Bird rights, but in actuality, that never happens.

While some second-round picks and undrafted free agents will sign three- or four-year minimum-salary contracts, a minimum deal exceeding two years is rare for a player with more than a year or two of NBA experience under his belt.


Data from RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

Values Of 2025/26 Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Exceptions

The salary cap for the 2025/26 NBA league year has officially been set, with the league announcing that the cap will be $154,647,000, a 10% increase on last year’s number.

Under the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, the values of the mid-level, room, and bi-annual exceptions are tied to the salary cap and the percentage that it shifts in a given year. Here’s how that math works:

  • Non-taxpayer mid-level exception: Worth 9.12% of salary cap.
  • Taxpayer mid-level exception: Increases at the same rate as the salary cap.
  • Room exception: Worth 5.678% of the salary cap.
  • Bi-annual exception: Worth 3.32% of the salary cap.

Listed below are the maximum annual and total values of each of these exceptions, along with a brief explanation of how they work and which teams will have access to them. For more information, check out glossary entries on the mid-level exception and the bi-annual exception.


Mid-Level Exception (Non-Taxpayer):

Year Salary
2025/26 $14,104,000
2026/27 $14,809,200
2027/28 $15,514,400
2028/29 $16,219,600
Total $60,647,200

The non-taxpayer mid-level exception is the primary tool available for over-the-cap teams to add free agents. As long as a team hasn’t dipped below the cap to use cap space and doesn’t go over the first tax apron ($195,945,000) at all, it can use this MLE, which runs for up to four years with 5% annual raises.

This exception can also be used to acquire players via trade or waiver claim.


Mid-Level Exception (Taxpayer):

Year Salary
2025/26 $5,685,000
2026/27 $5,969,250
Total $11,654,250

This lesser form of the mid-level exception is capped at two years and can only be used to sign free agents, not to acquire players via trade or waiver claim. It includes a maximum raise of 5% for the second season.

This exception is essentially available to teams who expect their total salaries to fall between the first tax apron and the second apron ($207,824,000). It’s not available to teams above the second tax apron, so a team that does use it becomes hard-capped at that second apron. A team that uses more than $5,685,000 of its mid-level exception will be hard-capped at the first apron.


Room Exception:

Year Salary
2025/26 $8,781,000
2026/27 $9,220,050
2027/28 $9,659,100
Total $27,660,150

Although this is also a mid-level exception of sorts, it’s colloquially known as the “room” exception, since it’s only available to teams that go below the cap and use their cap room.

If a club goes under the cap, it loses its full mid-level exception, but gets this smaller room exception, which allows the team to go over the cap to sign a player once the team has used up all its cap space.

The room exception can be used to sign players for up to three years, with 5% annual raises. It can also be used to acquire players via trade or waiver claim.


Bi-Annual Exception:

Year Salary
2025/26 $5,134,000
2026/27 $5,390,700
Total $10,524,700

The bi-annual exception, as its name suggests, is only available to teams once every two years. Of the NBA’s 30 clubs, only two – the Rockets and Clippers – used it in 2024/25, so they won’t have access to it in ’25/26. The league’s other 28 teams could all theoretically use it this season.

Still, even if a team didn’t use its BAE in ’24/25, that club doesn’t necessarily have access to it for the coming year. As is the case with the non-taxpayer MLE, this exception disappears once a team goes under the cap to use room. It’s also not available to teams over the first tax apron — using the BAE creates a hard cap at that apron.

The BAE can be used to sign players for up to two years, with a 5% raise after year one. It can also be used to acquire players via trade or waiver claim.

NBA Maximum Salaries For 2025/26

Now that the NBA has set its salary cap for the 2025/26 league year at $154,647,000, we have a clear idea of what maximum-salary contracts will look like for the coming season.

Listed below are the maximum-salary contracts for players signing contracts that start in 2025/26.

The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous team 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.

These figures will apply to a number of players who signed maximum-salary contract extensions that will go into effect in 2025/26: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Jimmy ButlerAnthony Davis, Jayson Tatum, Jamal Murray, Donovan Mitchell, Cade Cunningham, Evan Mobley, Scottie Barnes, and Franz Wagner.

They’ll also apply to anyone who signs a maximum-salary contract with his own team as a free agent in ’25/26.

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.

In the charts below, the “6 years or less” column details the maximum contract for a player like Barnes or Wagner, as well as what a free agent like Josh Giddey is eligible for.

The “7-9 years” column applies to players like Murray and Mitchell, as well as Cunningham and Mobley, who both qualified for a Rose Rule rookie scale extension.

The “10+ years” column applies to the league’s most experienced vets, including Antetokounmpo, Lillard, Butler, and Davis, along with those who qualified for the super-max, like Tatum.

Here are the maximum salary figures for 2025/26:


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
2025/26 $38,661,750 $46,394,100 $54,126,450
2026/27 $41,754,690 $50,105,628 $58,456,566
2027/28 $44,847,630 $53,817,156 $62,786,682
2028/29 $47,940,570 $57,528,684 $67,116,798
2029/30 $51,033,510 $61,240,212 $71,446,914
Total $224,238,150 $269,085,780 $313,933,410

A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):

Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2025/26 $38,661,750 $46,394,100 $54,126,450
2026/27 $40,594,838 $48,713,805 $56,832,773
2027/28 $42,527,925 $51,033,510 $59,539,095
2028/29 $44,461,013 $53,353,215 $62,245,418
Total $166,245,525 $199,494,630 $232,743,735

It’s worth noting that none of the maximum-salary figures listed above will apply to extension-eligible players whose new contracts will start in 2026/27.

This group includes maximum-salary rookie scale extension candidates like Paolo Banchero and Jalen Williams. It also includes players who signed max extensions in previous years that will begin in ’26/27, such as Joel Embiid and Bam Adebayo

The exact value of those players’ contracts will depend on where the cap lands for 2026/27, which won’t be officially announced until next June.

Salary Cap, Tax Line Set For 2025/26 NBA Season

The NBA has officially set the salary cap for its 2025/26 season. The cap has come in at $154,647,000, which was the projection all season long. It represents an increase of 10% on last season’s $140,588,000 cap.

Here are the details, courtesy of a league press release (Twitter link), ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), and Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report (Twitter link):


  • Salary cap: $154,647,000
  • Luxury tax line: $187,895,000
  • First tax apron: $195,945,000
  • Second tax apron: $207,824,000
  • Minimum salary floor: $139,182,000
  • Non-taxpayer mid-level exception: $14,104,000
  • Taxpayer mid-level exception: $5,685,000
  • Room exception: $8,781,000
  • Bi-annual exception: $5,134,000
  • Maximum salaries:
    • 6 years or fewer: $38,661,750
    • 7-9 years: $46,394,100
    • 10+ years: $54,126,450
  • Early Bird exception: $13,936,650
  • Estimated average salary: $13,870,000
  • Trade cash limit: $7,964,000
  • Maximum Exhibit 10 bonus: $85,300
  • Expanded traded player exception amount: $8,527,000

The first tax apron for the 2025/26 league year ($195,945,000) will be the hard cap for any team that acquires a player via sign-and-trade, signs a player using more than the taxpayer portion of the mid-level exception, signs or acquires a player using a bi-annual exception, uses any portion of its mid-level exception to add a player via trade or waiver claim, uses an expanded traded player exception (ie. takes back more than 100% of a player’s salary using salary-matching), uses a trade exception generated prior to the start of the 2025 offseason, or signs a player who is waived during the regular season and had a salary exceeding $14,104,000.

The second tax apron ($207,824,000) represents the hard cap for a team that uses any portion of the mid-level exception, aggregates two or more player salaries in a trade, sends out cash in a trade, or uses a signed-and-traded player to take back salary.

The salary floor ($139,182,000) is the minimum amount a team must pay its players in 2025/26. A team that doesn’t spend up to that amount by the start of the regular season will pay the shortfall to the NBA and won’t be eligible for its full share of the luxury tax distribution at season’s end.

[RELATED: NBA Maximum Salaries For 2025/26]

[RELATED: Values Of 2025/26 Mid-Level, Bi-Annual Exceptions]

The trade cash limit is the maximum amount of money a team can send or receive during the 2025/26 league year. The sent and received categories are separate, so if a team sends out $7,240,000 in one trade and receives $7,240,000 in another, they aren’t back at square one — they’ve reached both limits.

The Early Bird amount represents the maximum starting salary a team can offer a player it intends to re-sign using his Early Bird rights, assuming that amount is greater than 175% of his previous salary.

Players earning below the estimated average salary in 2025/26 who are eligible for a veteran extension can receive a starting salary of up to 140% of the estimated average salary on a new deal. So the maximum starting salary for a player earning below the league average who signs an extension that begins in 2026/27 will be $19,418,000.

The maximum Exhibit 10 bonus is, as its name suggests, the highest possible bonus available to a player who signs an Exhibit 10 contract with an NBA team, gets cut, then spends at least 60 days with that club’s G League affiliate.

This amount ($85,300) is also the maximum two-way protection amount, which means a player who signs a two-way contract before the season can get up to $85,300 guaranteed upon signing. A player who signs a contract with more than $85,300 guaranteed is not subsequently eligible for a two-way contract with that team in 2025/26.

The expanded traded player exception amount ($8,527,000) is the amount of excess salary a team operating under both tax aprons is permitted to take back in a simultaneous trade, assuming that amount is greater than 200% (plus $250K) of the player’s (or players’) outgoing salary and is less than 125% (plus $250K) of the player’s (or players’) outgoing salary. For instance, a non-apron team trading a player with a $10MM cap hit could legally acquire a player earning $18,527,000. We have more information on this rule in our traded player exception glossary entry.


The NBA is projecting its salary cap to rise by 7% in 2026/27, tweets Marks. Most salary projections for contracts signed in ’26/27 and beyond had assumed annual 10% cap increases, so it’s notable that the first official estimate from the league is coming in a little lower than that.

NBA Still Projecting 10% Cap Increase For 2025/26

The NBA has provided teams with an updated salary cap projection for the 2025/26 season, reports Bobby Marks of ESPN (Twitter link).

According to Marks, the NBA’s latest projection remains exactly in line with its estimate from last summer. The league is still calling for a 10% cap increase for ’25/26, which is the maximum increase permitted in any single season under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

This season’s salary cap line is $140,588,000, so the projection for next season remains at $154,647,000. That’s the figure we’ve used to project minimum salaries, maximum salaries, and mid-level and bi-annual amounts for 2025/26.

As Marks details, a 10% cap increase would also cause the luxury tax line and the first and second tax aprons to rise by the same amount. They would be as follows:

  • Luxury tax: $187.9MM
  • First apron: $195.9MM
  • Second apron: $207.8MM

The 2024/25 season represents the first year in which all of the new apron-related restrictions have been in place. Navigating those aprons has proven to be a challenge for many teams, in large part because the cap only rose by about 3.4% last offseason, as Marks observes (via Twitter).

A 10% increase in 2025 – and perhaps in the next couple seasons after that, aided by the league’s lucrative new media rights deal – will help push those apron numbers higher, creating a more manageable landscape for teams going forward.

And-Ones: Knueppel, Bailey, Jordan Jersey, Cap Projections, G League Deal

While Duke’s Cooper Flagg is expected to be the top pick in next year’s draft, another Duke freshman has scouts excited too, according to Sam Vecenie of The Athletic. Kon Knueppel is being compared to Rockets lottery pick Reed Sheppard — a highly skilled player with elite shooting ability who was relatively underrated entering the year.

If Flagg isn’t the top pick, Rutgers’ Ace Bailey is the main candidate to supplant him. Listed at 6’10”, Bailey has shown serious shot-creation ability. Another player who has impressed scouts is Egor Demin, a 6’8″ guard who made a late commitment to BYU.

We have more from around the basketball world:

  • A game-worn Michael Jordan jersey from the Bulls‘ 1996/97 season has sold for $4.68MM via Sotheby’s, according to ESPN’s Dan Hajducky. The jersey was worn in at least 17 games during the season. It’s the fourth-most expensive NBA jersey sold by Sotheby’s. Jordan holds the all-time record with his $10.1MM “Last Dance” jersey.
  • The salary cap is projected to go up by $14MM to $154.6MM next season, but that won’t make much of a difference in terms of opening up cap space around the league, according to Spotrac contributor Keith Smith. The Nets and Wizards are the only teams projected to have meaningful cap space next summer.
  • In an NBA G League swap, the Windy City Bulls received the returning player rights to Jordan Hall by sending Chase Audige‘s returning player rights and a 2025 G League second-round pick to the Long Island Nets (Twitter link). Hall, who played nine games with San Antonio during the 2022/23 season, signed with Italy’s GeVi Napoli of the Lega Basket Serie A this summer but was waived last month.

And-Ones: G League Trade, Brissett, Future Power Rankings, Lowe

The Suns‘ and Pacers‘ G League affiliates have completed a trade involving a former No. 3 overall NBA draft pick, per a press release from the Valley Suns. Phoenix’s new affiliate acquired the returning rights to guard David Stockton from the Indiana Mad Ants in exchange for the returning rights to forward Garrison Brooks and former lottery pick Jahlil Okafor.

Brooks and Okafor were among the Suns’ picks in June’s expansion draft, but it’s unclear if either one intends to play in the G League at all in 2024/25 — they both competed overseas last season.

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

  • Free agent swingman Oshae Brissett is believed to be drawing interest from a EuroLeague team, according to a report from Sportske.net. As Dario Skerletic of Sportando relays, the Serbian outlet says that the Belgrade-based club Crvena Zvezda has its eye on Brissett as a potential target. The five-year NBA veteran, who won a title last season with the Celtics, has been on the lookout for a new home since he turned down his player option with Boston in June.
  • ESPN’s Kevin Pelton, Bobby Marks, and Tim Bontemps (Insider link) have published the latest installment of their annual “future power rankings,” which are based on each team’s projected on-court success for the next three seasons. The Thunder top this year’s version of the list, while the Celtics drop from No. 1 to No. 2 despite their 2024 championship, since their salary cap situation may get untenable in the near future. The Knicks (third) Sixers (fourth), Mavericks (fifth), Rockets (seventh), Timberwolves (eighth), and Spurs (10th) each rose five or more spots to claim a place in ESPN’s top 10.
  • Howard Beck of The Ringer sorts the NBA’s 30 teams into six separate tiers based on how clear their plans are going forward. The Nets and Wizards, in full-on rebuilds, are among the teams in the “ever-clear” top tier along with championship hopefuls like the Mavericks and Sixers, while clubs with less obvious goals, like the Hawks, Bulls, and Raptors, find themselves in the lowest “fun-house mirror” tier.
  • ESPN has laid off senior writer Zach Lowe, sources tell Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. Lowe is the second noteworthy NBA reporter to depart the network in recent weeks, joining Adrian Wojnarowski, who unexpectedly announced his retirement from the news industry last week.

NBA Finalizes Media Rights Deals With ESPN, NBC, Amazon

The NBA has finalized deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon Prime, reaching agreements to make the three broadcasters its media rights partners for the next decade-plus, reports Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. According to Marchand, the 11-year contracts – which will go into effect with the 2025/26 season – will be worth a total of approximately $76 billion.

These agreements had been anticipated for quite some time, but they still don’t entirely close the book on the NBA’s latest round of media rights negotiations.

The next step, Marchand explains, will be for the league’s Board of Governors to officially approve the deals with the three prospective TV partners. That’s viewed as a formality and is expected to happen when the board meets in Las Vegas on Tuesday.

Once the Board of Governors signs off on the contracts, they’ll be sent to TNT Sports, the NBA’s longtime media partner, which was unable to agree to terms with the league during this round of negotiations. TNT’s previous deal with the NBA reportedly includes some form of matching rights, so the broadcaster will have five days to decide whether it wants to attempt to exercise those rights.

If TNT passes on that opportunity, the NBA is expected to officially announce its new media rights deal prior to the start of the Olympics later this month, according to Marchand.

If TNT opts to match one of the offers – the expectation is that Amazon’s package would be the target, per Marchand – it could extend the process. The expectation is that there could be a legal battle over whether TNT’s matching rights would be valid, given the differences between what a cable channel like TNT and a streaming giant like Amazon could offer the league.

Marchand provides some additional details on the broadcast plans, assuming ESPN, NBC, and Amazon ultimately move forward as the NBA’s partners:

  • ESPN would slightly reduce its total number of games, from about 100 to 80 per season. During the NFL season, ESPN would air games on Wednesday and Sundays, with ABC getting Saturday night games. ESPN would also air Friday games after the NFL season concludes.
  • NBC would air Sunday night games after the NFL season ends, emulating its “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts. NBC is also expected to broadcast games on Tuesday throughout the season, with Monday games on Peacock, its streaming service.
  • Amazon Prime Video is expected to air games on Thursday nights after the NFL season wraps up, similar to its “Thursday Night Football” broadcasts during the NFL season. Amazon will also likely broadcast games on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the season.
  • Amazon will be the home of the NBA’s in-season tournament.
  • All three broadcast partners will air playoff games. Amazon and NBC will each have a conference finals every other year, while ESPN will have one every year. ESPN/ABC will also get the NBA Finals each season.

ESPN is expected to pay about $2.6 billion per season for its rights, while NBC will pay $2.5 billion and Amazon will pay $1.8 billion, per Marchand.

The NBA’s previous media rights agreement with TNT and ESPN, which began in the 2016/17 season, was worth $24 billion over nine seasons. The new money that came in as a result of that deal generated a significant salary cap spike in 2016 (approximately 35%), but the NBA and NBPA have taken steps to ensure that won’t happen again this time around, with annual cap increases capped at 10%.

Rookie Scale Salaries For 2024 NBA First-Round Picks

With the NBA’s salary cap set at $140,588,000 for the 2024/25 league year, the rookie scale has been set as well. The rookie scale locks in the value of contracts for first-round picks.

In every NBA league year, rookie scale amounts are assigned to each first-round slot, from No. 1 through No. 30. Teams can sign their first-rounders to as little as 80% of that rookie scale amount, or up to 120% of that figure.

While that rule theoretically affords teams some flexibility, first-round picks virtually always sign contracts worth 120% of their rookie scale amount, and unsigned first-rounders have a cap hold worth 120% of their rookie scale amount.

Listed below are the salary figures that represent 120% of the rookie scale amounts for 2024’s first-round picks. If a first-round pick signs a rookie scale contract in 2024/25, it will be for the amount below unless he accepts a deal worth less than the maximum allowable 120%.

These salary figures will only apply if the player signs in 2024/25. If a player doesn’t sign an NBA contract this year, his rookie contract will look a little different in future seasons.

Rookie scale contracts are guaranteed for the first two years, with team options on the third and fourth years.

Here’s the 2024 breakdown:

No.
2024/25 2025/26 2026/27 2027/28 Total
1 $12,569,040 $13,197,720 $13,826,040 $17,434,636 $57,027,436
2 $11,245,680 $11,808,240 $12,370,680 $15,611,798 $51,036,398
3 $10,098,960 $10,603,560 $11,108,880 $14,041,624 $45,853,024
4 $9,105,120 $9,560,520 $10,015,920 $12,670,139 $41,351,699
5 $8,245,320 $8,657,280 $9,069,600 $11,491,183 $37,463,383
6 $7,488,720 $7,863,240 $8,237,880 $10,445,632 $34,035,472
7 $6,836,400 $7,178,400 $7,519,920 $9,550,298 $31,085,018
8 $6,262,920 $6,576,120 $6,889,320 $8,763,215 $28,491,575
9 $5,756,880 $6,045,000 $6,332,760 $8,067,936 $26,202,576
10 $5,469,120 $5,742,480 $6,015,600 $7,669,890 $24,897,090
11 $5,195,520 $5,455,560 $5,715,360 $7,584,283 $23,950,723
12 $4,935,960 $5,182,920 $5,429,760 $7,482,209 $23,030,849
13 $4,689,000 $4,923,720 $5,158,080 $7,370,896 $22,141,696
14 $4,454,880 $4,677,600 $4,900,560 $7,257,729 $21,290,769
15 $4,231,800 $4,443,360 $4,654,920 $7,135,992 $20,466,072
16 $4,020,360 $4,221,360 $4,422,600 $6,784,268 $19,448,588
17 $3,819,120 $4,010,160 $4,201,080 $6,452,859 $18,483,219
18 $3,628,440 $3,809,520 $3,991,200 $6,138,466 $17,567,626
19 $3,465,000 $3,638,160 $3,811,800 $5,870,172 $16,785,132
20 $3,326,160 $3,492,480 $3,658,560 $5,641,500 $16,118,700
21 $3,193,200 $3,353,040 $3,512,760 $5,595,827 $15,654,827
22 $3,065,640 $3,218,760 $3,372,120 $5,547,137 $15,203,657
23 $2,795,294 $3,090,480 $3,237,120 $5,493,393 $14,616,287
24 $2,825,520 $2,966,760 $3,108,000 $5,435,892 $14,336,172
25 $1,808,080 $2,847,600 $2,983,680 $5,373,608 $13,012,968
26 $2,622,360 $2,753,280 $2,884,440 $5,200,645 $13,460,725
27 $2,546,640 $2,674,080 $2,801,640 $5,054,159 $13,076,519
28 $2,530,800 $2,657,760 $2,784,240 $5,025,553 $12,998,353
29 $2,512,680 $2,638,200 $2,763,960 $4,988,948 $12,903,788
30 $2,494,320 $2,619,000 $2,744,040 $4,952,992 $12,810,352

2024’s first-round picks:

  1. Zaccharie Risacher (Hawks)
  2. Alex Sarr (Wizards)
  3. Reed Sheppard (Rockets)
  4. Stephon Castle (Spurs)
  5. Ron Holland (Pistons)
  6. Tidjane Salaun (Hornets)
  7. Donovan Clingan (Trail Blazers)
  8. Rob Dillingham (Timberwolves)
  9. Zach Edey (Grizzlies)
  10. Cody Williams (Jazz)
  11. Matas Buzelis (Bulls)
  12. Nikola Topic (Thunder)
  13. Devin Carter (Kings)
  14. Carlton Carrington (Wizards)
  15. Kel’el Ware (Heat)
  16. Jared McCain (Sixers)
  17. Dalton Knecht (Lakers)
  18. Tristan Da Silva (Magic)
  19. Ja’Kobe Walter (Raptors)
  20. Jaylon Tyson (Cavaliers)
  21. Yves Missi (Pelicans)
  22. DaRon Holmes (Nuggets)
  23. AJ Johnson (Bucks)
    • Note: Johnson accepted approximately 114% of the rookie scale amount instead of 120% ($2,943,120) for this rookie season.
  24. Kyshawn George (Wizards)
  25. Pacome Dadiet (Knicks)
    • Note: Dadiet accepted 80% of the rookie scale amount instead of 120% ($2,712,120) for his rookie season.
  26. Dillon Jones (Thunder)
  27. Terrence Shannon (Timberwolves)
  28. Ryan Dunn (Suns)
  29. Isaiah Collier (Jazz)
  30. Baylor Scheierman (Celtics)