How are NBA stars paid? By game? By week?
The NBA is one of the leagues with the highest player salaries in the world, Steph Curry is the top in the league, earning 43 million this year.
Are the NBA’s best players paid like the rest of us? Well, yes. We may not see as many commas in our paychecks as some of the biggest superstars in the world, but the question isn’t how much are they paid, rather how are they paid?
Steph Curry tops the charts this year at $43 million
This season it's the Golden State Warriors who will be shelling out the largest salary in the league, making their sharp shooting point guard Steph Curry top dog. The two time NBA MVP will rake in more than 43 million dollars this year, almost two million dollars more than the second best paid players in the 20-21 campaign, Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul.
Four time NBA Champion Lebron James, who has fallen out of the top 5 top earners, will collect just a shade under 40 million dollars.
NBA stars are paid like the majority of us
The majority of us reading this article may not expecting the millionaire salaries of the NBA elite, but we are expecting to be paid by our employers on a bi-monthly basis. And so do all NBA players. Players around the league are paid in 24 installments throughout the 12 months of the year, with their fiscal year starting the 1st of November and ending on Halloween.
Of course there are exceptions from time to time when dealing with some of the most idolized athletes in the world. Kobe Bryant asked for the maximum possible payment from the Lakers at the beginning of the 2013-14 season. The Buss family agreed to pay Bryant a hefty $24 million in his first deposit of that season. Carmelo Anthony was another NBA star who, after signing with the New York Knicks, asked for half of his $124 million contract up front.
So what could you buy with an NBA paycheck?
This season the NBA league minimum has been raised to $925,000. Every two weeks the leagues lowest paid players are paid $38,541. To put that in perspective the average price of college tuition, room and board, and other expenses college students around the country is around $40,000.
The top paid player in the league, Steph Curry, will be signing $1.7 million checks twice a month this season. So what could Steph Curry buy with a single pay check? If he got traded to the Knicks tomorrow, he could score a one bedroom one bathroom swanky Manhattan apartment overlooking Central Park. If he needs more space, perhaps he’d fancy an entire island in the Caribbean.
We may only be able to dream about making what the NBA's biggest and brightest make, but at least we all look forward to the first and 15th of every month.