NBA All-Star Game: The hidden impact on players' salaries revealed

The NBA All-Star Game lost some of its luster in recent years simply due to its lack of competitiveness. There’s nothing on the line, so it’s viewed as a simple form of entertainment, which has resulted in interest in the event waning.

For the players, however, there’s still something in it for them, so the incentive is there. The prize money continues to increase, which is a nice bonus for the players, but there is often times an impact on their individual salary as well. Some players have in their contracts that they will earn a bonus if they make it to the All-Star Game.

The NBA All-Star prize money

For the All-Star Game, there is a prize pool of $1.8 million. Each player on the winning team will receive $125,000. The players on the runner-up team will get $50,000 each, and the players on the eliminated teams will get $25,000.

The winner of the Slam Dunk contest will earn $105,000 and the runner-up will receive $50,000. The third and fourth-place finishers will receive $20,000 each.

The winner of the 3-point contest takes home $50,000. Second-place earns $35,000, third gets $25,000, and fourth gets $10,000.

The players on the team that wins the Rising Stars game will each receive $25,000 while the losing team’s players will receive $10,000 each.

The All-Star effect on NBA salaries

The players selected to participate in the All-Star Weekend are more likely to receive a pay raise. Some contracts even include clauses that state bonuses for reaching certain milestones, like a certain number of games, the playoffs, and of course, the All-Star game. Typically, the All-Star clause is included in the contracts of players who have not yet reached that goal as an incentive to get there.

Phoenix Suns power forward Kevin Durant is one of the players in this year’s All-Star game who can expect to receive a little extra, as his contract states a $1.3 million bonus for his selection.

Last year, then New York Knicks player Julius Randle received a 5% bonus for reaching the All-Star game, earning him an extra $1.38 million while Boston Celtics shooting guard Jaylen Brown earned a $1.5 million bonus for his.

This year’s format is a little different - instead of the traditional Eastern vs Western game, there will now be a tournament of four teams. The fourth will be the winner of Friday’s Rising Stars tournament. The events kick off tonight at 7 p.m. ET starting with the Celebrity Game, and followed by the Rising Stars competition. Saturday will feature the three NBA All-Star events - Skills Challenge, 3-point contest, and Slam Dunk. And Sunday will complete the events with the final All-Star Game. You can follow along with each event right here on AS USA as we bring you live text coverage.

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