Average Salary of Each Starting Position in the NBA

[Scalabrine]

With Free Agency about to start, and it appearing that many people don't know what the value of certain positions/players are, I thought this would be a really good visual for many of us to understand what guys are getting paid based on the position/role they are playing.

Average Salaries of Each Position
Point Guard 31.60869565
Wings 22.43181818
Forward 26.10344828
Big Man 21.91666667

Point Guards Used

Spoiler:

Trae Young ATL 42.5
Marcus Smart BOS 21
Kyrie Irving BKN 38
Ben Simmons BKN 35.5
LaMelo Ball CHA Rookie
Lonzo Ball CHI 20
Darius Garland CLE Rookie
Luka Doncic DAL 42.5
Spence Dinwiddie DAL 19
Steph Curry GSW 54
Kevin Porter HOU Rookie
Malcolm Brogdon IND 21
Russell Westbrook LAL 46
Kyle Lowry Miami 30
Jrue Holiday MIL 34
D'Angelo Russel MIN 29
Ja Morant MEM Rookie
CJ McCollum NOLA 33.5
SGA OKC 34.5
Markelle Fultz ORL 16.5
Harden PHI 43
CP3 PHX 30
Lillard POR 44
De'Arron Fox SAC 33
D.Murray SAS 16
FVV TOR 21.5
Mike Conley UTH 22.5

Wings Used

Spoiler:

Bogdanovic ATL 18
Huerter ATL 16.5
Brown BOS 26.5
White BOS 17.5
Harris BKN 19
Terry Rozier CHA 24
Lavine CHI 37
Levert CLE 17.5
Hardaway DAL 19
Barton DEN 15
Thompson GSW 38
Gordon HOU 19
Hield IND 23.5
Powell LAC 18
Bane MEM Rookie
Brooks MEM 11.5
Herro MIA rookie
Robinson MIA 18
Edwards MIN rookie
Fournier NYK 18
Giddey OKC rookie
Anthony ORL rookie
Booker PHX 31.5
Simons POR FA
Vassell SAS Rookie
Trent TOR 17.5
Mitchell UTA 32.5
Beal WASH 43
Caldwell Pope WASH 13

Forwards Used

Spoiler:

Collins ATL 25
Gallinari ATL 20.5
Tatum BOS 32.5
Hayward CHA 30
Derozan CHI 27.5
Markannen CLE 17
Finney Smith DAL 14
Gordon DEN 21.5
Porter JR. DEN 34.5
Wiggins GSW 29.5
Leonard LAC 44
George LAC 44
Morris LAC 16
Covington LAC 12
James LAL 43
Butler MIA 35
Middleton MIL 35.5
Ingram NOLA 31.5
Randle NYK 29
Isaac ORL 17.5
Harris PHI 36
Bridges PHX 23
Grant POR 20
Hart POR 13
Barnes SAC 21.5
Siakam TOR 34.5
Anunoby TOR 18
Bogdanovic UTH 18.5
Kuzma WSH 13

Centers Used

Spoiler:

Capela ATL 18
Horford BOS 27.5
Williams BOS 12
Plumlee CHA 9
Vucevic CHI 25
Allen CLE 20
Wood DAL 13.5
Jokic DEN 29.5
Olynyk DET 12.5
Tuner IND 20
Davis LAL 38
Adams MEM 17.5
Jackson Jr. MEM 26
Adebayo MIA 32.5
Lopez MIL 13
Giannis MIL 45.5
Valanciunas NOLA 15
Noel NYK 9
Carter Jr. ORL 12.5
Embiid PHI 29.5
Sabonis SAC 19
Poeltl SAS 9
Gobert UTH 41
Porzingis WAS 31.5

- I usedhttps://www.spotrac.com/nba/rankings/2022-23/average/ to analyze average salaries for players. I also rounded to the nearest 0.5.

- To make this list more accurate, I excluded rookie contracts, and I used guys that would start on most teams (there was no calculation for this, just basically used my expert opinion). For example, Alec Burks was the starting Point Guard for the Knicks last year, I did not use his salary in this calculation, because I do not think that 90+% of the league would start him at PG.

- Check out the spoilers for the exact numbers of each player used, if you feel a player should be added or removed from the list, I'll edit the list and the numbers.

- I did this all on google sheets. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y05382Ib7o-iptcOEEv39CNFjMJvUrlVy1VjscF2mhg/edit?usp=sharing Theres the link if anyone wants to look at the data further or expand on it with your own sheet.

What do you make of these numbers?

[Freighttrain]

Makes sense since the talent pool is guard dominated. Surprised there is little discrepancy between wings & center though, although the lack thereof combined with a few max contracts skews the averages I suppose.

[Hangtime84]

The golden era of PGs slowly coming to an end. I expect those numbers will drop as well.

[Wigginstime]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

[Effigy]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

Is it much more successful for forwards or centers?

[Scalabrine]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

I wouldn't put Trae in there yet. First off, his contract is just kicking in this year, so we have no idea how that's gonna pan out. Secondly, it's the rookie scale, elevated max, not the true "super max", isn't it?

[Lou Fan]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

I'd say the Rockets did more than fine during the Harden years. Russ was an ALL-NBA caliber player every year healthy year in OKC and got good value for them in his trade. Again say that one was a good deal. Of all the contracts Portland has signed over the years the Dame one is not even close to the problem. Jury is still out on the Hawks. Let's not forget they were in the ECF just last season.

[Wigginstime]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

Is it much more successful for forwards or centers?

Very few forwards and center have gotten super max contracts because most of these guys have all jumped teams making them ineligible. I would say there is far less regret giving the +$36M contracts out to forwards and centers. This list includes:
Durant
Lebron
Giannis
George
Kawhi
Butler
Davis
Gobert
Embiid

Not sure you can say any of these contracts fall under the "regret" category. The only forward/center who you could say is a terrible contract is Tobias Harris.

[xdrta+]

Good stuff, OP. Thanks for taking the trouble.

[Jadoogar]

Makes sense since the talent pool is guard dominated. Surprised there is little discrepancy between wings & center though, although the lack thereof combined with a few max contracts skews the averages I suppose.

likely because most teams play 2 wings (sometimes 3) vs just 1 center. So that probably brings the wing average down a bit.

[Jadoogar]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

Is it much more successful for forwards or centers?

Very few forwards and center have gotten super max contracts because most of these guys have all jumped teams making them ineligible. I would say there is far less regret giving the +$36M contracts out to forwards and centers. This list includes:
Durant
Lebron
Giannis
George
Kawhi
Butler
Davis
Gobert
Embiid

Not sure you can say any of these contracts fall under the "regret" category. The only forward/center who you could say is a terrible contract is Tobias Harris.

You could argue Kawhi is a bad contract due to his health
Several of these are worse or on par with Harden's contract with Houston (Gobert, Butler, AD, Embiid)

[whitehops]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

i think extensions after their rookie contracts aren't too bad, it's more so their second extension when they're like 28 years old. they make even more on that contract and their play is a lot more likely to slip so they can quickly become albatross contracts.

[edmunder_prc]

First max contracts after rookie deals are fine - its low $30 millions. A well built team can work with that, hopefully they have a rookie deal with a rising star.

Giving Beal his supermax, for 5/250 million should get the GM fired if that was his plan going forward.

[Richard4444]

The golden era of PGs slowly coming to an end. I expect those numbers will drop as well.

Of course. Doncic, Trae, Morant, SGA, Garland, LaMelo, Cade, and Haliburton do not have a future in the league.

[eyeatoma]

With Free Agency about to start, and it appearing that many people don't know what the value of certain positions/players are, I thought this would be a really good visual for many of us to understand what guys are getting paid based on the position/role they are playing.

Average Salaries of Each Position
Point Guard 31.60869565
Wings 22.43181818
Forward 26.10344828
Big Man 21.91666667

Point Guards Used

Spoiler:

Trae Young ATL 42.5
Marcus Smart BOS 21
Kyrie Irving BKN 38
Ben Simmons BKN 35.5
LaMelo Ball CHA Rookie
Lonzo Ball CHI 20
Darius Garland CLE Rookie
Luka Doncic DAL 42.5
Spence Dinwiddie DAL 19
Steph Curry GSW 54
Kevin Porter HOU Rookie
Malcolm Brogdon IND 21
Russell Westbrook LAL 46
Kyle Lowry Miami 30
Jrue Holiday MIL 34
D'Angelo Russel MIN 29
Ja Morant MEM Rookie
CJ McCollum NOLA 33.5
SGA OKC 34.5
Markelle Fultz ORL 16.5
Harden PHI 43
CP3 PHX 30
Lillard POR 44
De'Arron Fox SAC 33
D.Murray SAS 16
FVV TOR 21.5
Mike Conley UTH 22.5

Wings Used

Spoiler:

Bogdanovic ATL 18
Huerter ATL 16.5
Brown BOS 26.5
White BOS 17.5
Harris BKN 19
Terry Rozier CHA 24
Lavine CHI 37
Levert CLE 17.5
Hardaway DAL 19
Barton DEN 15
Thompson GSW 38
Gordon HOU 19
Hield IND 23.5
Powell LAC 18
Bane MEM Rookie
Brooks MEM 11.5
Herro MIA rookie
Robinson MIA 18
Edwards MIN rookie
Fournier NYK 18
Giddey OKC rookie
Anthony ORL rookie
Booker PHX 31.5
Simons POR FA
Vassell SAS Rookie
Trent TOR 17.5
Mitchell UTA 32.5
Beal WASH 43
Caldwell Pope WASH 13

Forwards Used

Spoiler:

Collins ATL 25
Gallinari ATL 20.5
Tatum BOS 32.5
Hayward CHA 30
Derozan CHI 27.5
Markannen CLE 17
Finney Smith DAL 14
Gordon DEN 21.5
Porter JR. DEN 34.5
Wiggins GSW 29.5
Leonard LAC 44
George LAC 44
Morris LAC 16
Covington LAC 12
James LAL 43
Butler MIA 35
Middleton MIL 35.5
Ingram NOLA 31.5
Randle NYK 29
Isaac ORL 17.5
Harris PHI 36
Bridges PHX 23
Grant POR 20
Hart POR 13
Barnes SAC 21.5
Siakam TOR 34.5
Anunoby TOR 18
Bogdanovic UTH 18.5
Kuzma WSH 13

Centers Used

Spoiler:

Capela ATL 18
Horford BOS 27.5
Williams BOS 12
Plumlee CHA 9
Vucevic CHI 25
Allen CLE 20
Wood DAL 13.5
Jokic DEN 29.5
Olynyk DET 12.5
Tuner IND 20
Davis LAL 38
Adams MEM 17.5
Jackson Jr. MEM 26
Adebayo MIA 32.5
Lopez MIL 13
Giannis MIL 45.5
Valanciunas NOLA 15
Noel NYK 9
Carter Jr. ORL 12.5
Embiid PHI 29.5
Sabonis SAC 19
Poeltl SAS 9
Gobert UTH 41
Porzingis WAS 31.5

- I usedhttps://www.spotrac.com/nba/rankings/2022-23/average/ to analyze average salaries for players. I also rounded to the nearest 0.5.

- To make this list more accurate, I excluded rookie contracts, and I used guys that would start on most teams (there was no calculation for this, just basically used my expert opinion). For example, Alec Burks was the starting Point Guard for the Knicks last year, I did not use his salary in this calculation, because I do not think that 90+% of the league would start him at PG.

- Check out the spoilers for the exact numbers of each player used, if you feel a player should be added or removed from the list, I'll edit the list and the numbers.

- I did this all on google sheets. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Y05382Ib7o-iptcOEEv39CNFjMJvUrlVy1VjscF2mhg/edit?usp=sharing Theres the link if anyone wants to look at the data further or expand on it with your own sheet.

What do you make of these numbers?

Embiid makes 33 million next season, not 29.

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/philadelphia-76ers/joel-embiid-15355/

He'll also make $43 million dollars the season after when his $198 million contract will kick in. He signed this last off-season.

Not sure if you want to take that into consideration given that it's already been signed.



Sent from my SM-S908E using Tapatalk

[Harry Garris]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

I wouldn't put Trae in there yet. First off, his contract is just kicking in this year, so we have no idea how that's gonna pan out. Secondly, it's the rookie scale, elevated max, not the true "super max", isn't it?

Trae's on a rookie max extension but he had a clause in his contract to give him a bonus if he were to make an All NBA team, which he did. So his contract turned from a 5-year $207 million deal into a 5-year $243 million deal.

It's still not a veteran supermax extension but the money is similar to a 7 year veteran regular max contract instead of a rookie extension max contract.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Nice but I think it would make more sense to go by archetype rather than nominal position.
I think it would give a bit more of a clear idea of a value of a certain kind of player.
For instance, DFS and LeBron might be both forwards, but they have a totally different role within the team.
Same Jokic and Noel.
It's being the primary creator that gives you a lot of money, whatever is your position on the court.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

Every team that has given a supermax or near supermax to a guard has seen their franchise drastically setback with the exception of Steph Curry and the Warriors. For the Warriors, Currys contract resulted in a 75M luxury tax bill but they stayed competitive and won a championship.

The other teams who near a supermax contract to a guard include

Wall - Wizards
Westbrook - OKC
Harden - Houston
Lillard - POR
Trae Young - ATL

Giving supermax contracts to guards hasn't exactly worked out.

I wouldn't put Trae in there yet. First off, his contract is just kicking in this year, so we have no idea how that's gonna pan out. Secondly, it's the rookie scale, elevated max, not the true "super max", isn't it?

Trae's on a rookie max extension but he had a clause in his contract to give him a bonus if he were to make an All NBA team, which he did. So his contract turned from a 5-year $207 million deal into a 5-year $243 million deal.

It's still not a veteran supermax extension but the money is similar to a 7 year veteran regular max contract instead of a rookie extension max contract.

you are wrong, he earned that 5/207 with the All NBA selection, the same money Luka already qualified for.