In 2016 Mike Conley signed the biggest contract in NBA history, now 6 years later

[RoyceDa59]

…5 years, $153M in 2016.

Now 6 years later, Jokic just signed a record breaking 5 year $270M deal.

What a difference half a decade makes. $117M dollars, nearly $20M per season.

So when you see contracts today that are an “overpay”, realistically our perception as fans just hasn’t caught up with reality yet. With league revenues globally continuing to rise, and players earning 50%, 15M per season is a nothing burger in the NBA now a days. Only 12 mouths to feed.

Are NBA contracts out of hand, or are we just getting started? When will we see the first $300M contract? How about $500M? Based on the trendline of the examples above, we may see the first $1B contract within the next 15 years.

[76ciology]

Read the news.

Inflation bro

[Vol]

Meanwhile, my salary in the span has remained the same.

[Tim Kempton]

You actually make a good point. Besides max deals, a lot of times I'll scoff at some mid-tier player signing a 50-60 mil contract over 3-4 years. It's hard to remember that just a few seasons ago, that same contract would have been 25-30 mil.

[GrindCityHustle]

Conley got paid so much because he is a high character guy. Literally that gets you an extra 30 mill in this league.

[Tor_Raps]

Read the news.

Inflation bro

Then how come my salary isn't going up anywhere near that? Lol

[madmaxmedia]

Overall the players still get ~50% of the BRI pie, which has always seemed just about right to me.

[Myth]

I was looking at CJ McCollum’s contract numbers today and was thinking how very neutral it is compared to how it has been talked about the past few years.

[Beethoven]

It's because of gas prices.

[JRoy]

…5 years, $153M in 2016.

Now 6 years later, Jokic just signed a record breaking 5 year $270M deal.

What a difference half a decade makes. $117M dollars, nearly $20M per season.

So when you see contracts today that are an “overpay”, realistically our perception as fans just hasn’t caught up with reality yet. With league revenues globally continuing to rise, and players earning 50%, 15M per season is a nothing burger in the NBA now a days. Only 12 mouths to feed.

Are NBA contracts out of hand, or are we just getting started? When will we see the first $300M contract? How about $500M? Based on the trendline of the examples above, we may see the first $1B contract within the next 15 years.

One is a perennial all star and multiple MVP and the other is Mike freakin Conley.

[Blacksheep25]

Giannis will make $50 million in ‘26 and be up for extension at 32. I’d expect something like 5-$400 million.

Jokic will make $60 million and be up for extension in 28. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him be first. $100 million per player in 6 more years.

Whomever pans out among Mobley, Barnes, Cade certainly have an expected career earnings potential over a billion. Probably closer to 1.3 billion given the current trends. They’ll make $500 million by 30 and have last monster contract in 10–12 years that likely nets them something like. 5 years 750 million.

There are a handful of young guys who will earn over a billion.

Truly astounding money

[Ryoga Hibiki]

The trick is to always look only at the starting salary and not at the average, avoiding getting caught into dumb considerarions like "he will make 50m in 2026!!!1!"

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[Blacksheep25]

The trick is to always look only at the starting salary and not at the average, avoiding getting caught into dumb considerarions like "he will make 50m in 2026!!!1!"

___
Sent from my Nokia 3210 using RealGM mobile app

Why? OP is asking when we will see first $300 or. $500 million contract. Those are multi year guaranteed deals regardless of how they’re structured.

[Ballerhogger]

League has made more money from big tv contracts

[dmakk]

People need to start looking at contacts like a percentage of the cap. Here's the cap history going back to 1984.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/cba/

[thamadkant]

Read the news.

Inflation bro

Is this sarcasm?

NBA's inflation is about 1,000 times more than the economy (hyperbole obviously).

[JN61]

Read the news.

Inflation bro

Then how come my salary isn't going up anywhere near that? Lol

If you are American your salary stays same if you are normal working person. Profits only goes up for millionaires. Capitalism for you.

[Pointgod]

Because the league is in a much better position financially than they were 6 years ago. Player’s salaries aren’t some arbitrary number. Now let’s do the value of franchises over the past 6 years. Players like Lebron have actually been underpaid their whole career when compared to the value that they bring to a franchise which is essentially just a money printing machine.

[dans1230]

Meanwhile, my salary in the span has remained the same.

If your salary has remained the same over the last 6 years then that may say more about you then it does where you work.
The average US salary in 2016 was $63000 per year.
The average US salary in 2022 is $95000 per year.

[BK_2020]

Max contract salaries are indexed to basketball revenue and almost always underpay the player signing them. This is in addition to the star players being underpaid their entire career up to that point due to rookie scale/ rookie extension restrictions for 8-9 years.