In recent years, contracts of hundreds of millions of dollars have continuously appeared in the NBA. In 2017, Stephen Curry became the first NBA player to receive a supermax contract worth $ 207 million. After only 6 years, Jaylen Brown became the first player to receive a contract worth more than 300 million USD. This is a consequence of the rapid development of the NBA.
Nikola Jokic will receive a contract of 400 million USD
Jokic is now considered one of the best players in the world following his NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets, preceded by two MVPs he won in 2021 and 2022. There is no doubt that Jokic is the star. No. 1 of the current Nuggets, and possibly the club’s greatest legend in the future.
Therefore, Nuggets has never shown “stingy” to Jokic. Last year, the Nuggets convinced Jokic to renew with a supermax contract worth a total of $ 270 million with a term of 5 years. The new contract will keep Jokic until the end of the 2027/28 season.
In the summer of 2026, Jokic will be eligible to re-sign with Denver. According to Kurt Helin, Jokic could negotiate with the Nuggets about a supermax contract worth $404 million over five seasons. Jokic won’t need to meet any criteria to claim this super max contract, no championships or individual awards as the Serbian striker will spend more than 10 years playing in Denver.
Besides Jokic, there are still a number of other candidates with the potential to become the first player to receive a $ 400 million contract in the NBA. These are Ja Morant, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Zion Williamson. However, unlike Jokic, all 3 will need to meet many strict conditions such as participating in the All-Star or All NBA team continuously, as well as winning noble individual titles.
While both Ja and Zion have their own problems, Shai of the Oklahoma City Thunder has emerged as the young player with the best prospects of winning individual awards and making the All NBA rosters. From there, qualify for a supermax contract.
NBA is growing very fast
The NBA is going through one of the best periods in league history. The attraction of the NBA has extended beyond the borders of the United States, becoming one of the most attractive leagues on the planet with a revenue of up to 8 billion USD per year. Dragging the development of the tournament is the galloping salary increase of the players.
According to statistics, the average salary of NBA players is $ 8.3 million, much higher than $ 5.3 million in Indian Premier League cricket, $ 4.03 million in MLB and 3.97 million USD in the English Premier League. The average value of the clubs is nearly 3 billion USD, of which the Golden State Warriors lead with a value of nearly 7 billion USD.
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Besides the technical factors, what made the NBA grow so quickly came from sponsorship deals, mostly from broadcasters like Disney (ESPN and ACB) and Turner (TNT) in 2015. The deal lasted. 10 years and 24 billion USD (the new deal being negotiated could be even higher). These huge profits make the NBA’s salary fund continuously expand, thereby leading to large contracts being signed continuously. Especially after the advent of supermax contracts.
Supermax Contract has appeared since 2017, with the purpose of retaining the players selected by the team in the NBA Draft. If the player has played 7 years since the rookie season, the player can sign an extension with 35% of the salary in the first year. The amount of money received by players increases by 8% per year. The contract extension is from 4 or 5 years, depending on the conditions of the game.
Stephen Curry was the first player to receive a supermax contract in 2017 for $ 207 million. Recently, Jaylen Brown reached an agreement on a super maximum contract worth $ 304 million with the Boston Celtics. It took only 6 years, the salary ceiling of NBA players has increased to nearly 100 million USD.