Lots of the NBA’s highest-paid players are on contracts considered maximum-salary deals, however the 2022/23 salaries for those players vary significantly depending on when the player signed his contract and the way much NBA experience he has. That’s why a player like Stephen Curry will earn about $17.7MM greater than Donovan Mitchell in ’22/23 despite each stars technically being on max deals.
When a player signs a maximum-salary contract, he doesn’t necessarily earn the NBA max for every season of that contract — he earns the max in yr one, then gets a series of similar annual raises. In Curry’s case, his 2022/23 salary actually exceeds this yr’s maximum, because the annual cap increases since he began earning the max haven’t kept pace along with his annual 8% raises.
Listed below, with some help from Spotrac‘s salary data, are the highest 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2022/23 season. The players on this list don’t necessarily have the contracts with the most important overall value. The list below only considers salaries for ’22/23.
Moreover, we’ve noted players who could potentially increase their earnings via incentives or trade bonuses. We didn’t add those notes for players like Curry who’ve trade bonuses but are already earning the utmost — their salaries for this season can’t increase beyond their max.
The cutoff for a spot on this yr’s top-50 list is over $25MM, so 13 players earning $20MM+ didn’t make the cut, led by Knicks forward Julius Randle ($23.76MM, plus incentives) and Hawks big man John Collins ($23.5MM).
Listed here are the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players for the 2022/23 season:
- Stephen Curry, Warriors: $48,070,014
- Russell Westbrook, Lakers: $47,063,478
- LeBron James, Lakers: $44,474,988
- Kevin Durant, Nets: $44,119,845
- Note: Durant’s cap hit features a $42,969,845 base salary and $1,150,000 in likely incentives.
- Bradley Beal, Wizards: $43,279,250
- Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks: $42,492,492 (15% trade kicker)
Kawhi Leonard, Clippers: $42,492,492 (15% trade kicker)
Paul George, Clippers: $42,492,492
Damian Lillard, Trail Blazers: $42,492,492 - Klay Thompson, Warriors: $40,600,080 (15% trade kicker)
- Rudy Gobert, Timberwolves: $38,172,414
- Anthony Davis, Lakers: $37,980,720 (15% trade kicker)
- Khris Middleton, Bucks: $37,948,276
- Jimmy Butler, Heat: $37,653,300 (15% trade kicker)
- Tobias Harris, Sixers: $37,633,050 (5% trade kicker)
- Luka Doncic, Mavericks: $37,096,500
Zach LaVine, Bulls: $37,096,500
Trae Young, Hawks: $37,096,500 - Kyrie Irving, Nets: $36,934,550 (15% trade kicker)
- Note: Irving’s cap hit features a $36,503,300 base salary and $431,250 in likely incentives. He also has one other $718,750 in unlikely incentives.
- Pascal Siakam, Raptors: $35,448,672
Ben Simmons, Nets: $35,448,672 - Karl-Anthony Towns, Timberwolves: $33,833,400 (15% trade kicker)
Devin Booker, Suns: $33,833,400
Kristaps Porzingis, Wizards: $33,833,400 - Jrue Holiday, Bucks: $33,665,040
- Note: Holiday’s cap hit features a $32,544,000 base salary and $1,121,040 in likely incentives. He also has one other $4,752,000 in unlikely incentives.
- Joel Embiid, Sixers: $33,616,770
Andrew Wiggins, Warriors: $33,616,770 - CJ McCollum, Pelicans: $33,333,333
- Nikola Jokic, Nuggets: $33,047,803
- Note: Jokic’s cap hit features a $32,478,837 base salary and $568,966 in likely incentives. He also has one other $568,966 in unlikely incentives.
- James Harden, Sixers: $33,000,000 (15% trade kicker)
- Brandon Ingram, Pelicans: $31,650,600
Jamal Murray, Nuggets: $31,650,600 - D’Angelo Russell, Timberwolves: $31,377,750
- Deandre Ayton, Suns: $30,913,750
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: $30,913,750
Michael Porter Jr., Nuggets: $30,913,750 - Donovan Mitchell, Jazz: $30,351,780 (15% trade kicker)
Jayson Tatum, Celtics: $30,351,780 (15% trade kicker)
Bam Adebayo, Heat: $30,351,780
De’Aaron Fox, Kings: $30,351,780 - Gordon Hayward, Hornets: $30,075,000 (15% trade kicker)
- Jaren Jackson Jr., Grizzlies: $28,946,605
- Kevin Love, Cavaliers: $28,942,830
- Jaylen Brown, Celtics: $28,741,071
- Note: Brown’s cap hit features a $26,669,643 base salary and $2,071,428 in likely incentives. He also has one other $1,035,714 in unlikely incentives.
- Chris Paul, Suns: $28,400,000
- Kyle Lowry, Heat: $28,333,334
- Jalen Brunson, Knicks: $27,733,332 (10% trade kicker)
- DeMar DeRozan, Bulls: $27,300,000
- Al Horford, Celtics: $26,500,000
- Draymond Green, Warriors: $25,806,468 (15% trade kicker)
One player notably missing from this list is Clippers guard John Wall, who exercised a $47,366,760 player option for the 2022/23 season in June, when he was still a member of the Rockets. Wall eventually agreed to a buyout with Houston, but still counts for $40,866,760 against the team’s books this season, and is earning $6,479,000 on his latest take care of L.A.
Wall’s combined cap hits would make him considered one of the highest three highest-paid players for 2022/23, so why doesn’t he make the cut? Because he’s not actually earning all that cash this season — even when a team doesn’t apply the stretch provision to a player’s cap hit when he’s waived, the player’s payments still get “stretched” across multiple seasons.
Which means the Rockets will actually be paying the $40,866,760 they owe Wall across three years as a substitute of only one, which works out to annual payments of roughly $13.62MM. Combining that number with Wall’s latest $6,479,000 salary for 2022/23 wouldn’t make him considered one of the NBA’s top 50 highest-paid players for this season.
