Many of the NBA’s highest-paid players are on contracts considered maximum-salary deals, but the 2022/23 salaries for those players vary significantly depending on when the player signed his contract and how much NBA experience he has. That’s why a player likes Stephen Curry will earn about $17.7MM more than Donovan Mitchell in ’22/23 despite both stars technically being on max deals.
When a player signs a maximum-salary contract, he doesn’t necessarily earn the NBA max for each season of that contract — he earns the max in year one, then gets a series of identical annual raises. In Curry’s case, his 2022/23 salary actually exceeds this year’s maximum, since the annual cap increases since he started earning the max haven’t kept pace with his annual 8% raises.
Listed below, with some help from Spotrac’s salary data, are the top 50 highest-paid NBA players for the 2022/23 season. The players on this list do not necessarily have the contracts with the largest overall value. The list below only considers salaries for ’22/23.
Additionally, 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 have trade bonuses but are already earning the maximum — their salaries for this season can’t increase beyond their maximum.
The cutoff for a spot on this year’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).
Here are the NBA’s 50 highest-paid players for the 2022/23 season:
- Stephen CurryWarriors: $48,070,014
- Russell WestbrookLakers: $47,063,478
- LeBron JamesLakers: $44,474,988
- Kevin DurantNets: $44,119,845
- Note: Durant’s cap hit includes a $42,969,845 base salary and $1,150,000 in likely incentives.
- Bradley BealWizards: $43,279,250
- Giannis AntetokounmpoBucks: $42,492,492 (15% trade kicker)
Kawhi LeonardClippers: $42,492,492 (15% trade kicker)
Paul GeorgeClippers: $42,492,492
Damian LillardTrail Blazers: $42,492,492 - Klay ThompsonWarriors: $40,600,080 (15% trade kicker)
- Rudy GobertTimberwolves: $38,172,414
- Anthony DavisLakers: $37,980,720 (15% trade kicker)
- Chris MiddletonBucks: $37,948,276
- Jimmy ButlerHeat: $37,653,300 (15% trade kicker)
- Tobias HarrisSixers: $37,633,050 (5% trade kicker)
- Luka DoncicMavericks: $37,096,500
Zach LaVineBulls: $37,096,500
Trae YoungHawks: $37,096,500 - Kyrie IrvingNets: $36,934,550 (15% trade kicker)
- Note: Irving’s cap hit includes a $36,503,300 base salary and $431,250 in potential incentives. He also has another $718,750 in unlikely incentives.
- Pascal SiakamRaptors: $35,448,672
Ben SimmonsNets: $35,448,672 - Karl-Anthony TownsTimberwolves: $33,833,400 (15% trade kicker)
Devin BookerSuns: $33,833,400
Kristaps PorzingisWizards: $33,833,400 - Jrue HolidayBucks: $33,665,040
- Note: Holiday’s cap hit includes a $32,544,000 base salary and $1,121,040 in potential incentives. He also has another $4,752,000 in unlikely incentives.
- Joel EmbiidSixers: $33,616,770
Andrew WigginsWarriors: $33,616,770 - CJ McCollumPelicans: $33,333,333
- Nikola JokicNuggets: $33,047,803
- Note: Jokic’s cap hit includes a $32,478,837 base salary and $568,966 in potential incentives. He also has another $568,966 in unlikely incentives.
- James HardenSixers: $33,000,000 (15% trade kicker)
- Brandon IngramPelicans: $31,650,600
Jamal MurrayNuggets: $31,650,600 - D’Angelo RussellTimberwolves: $31,377,750
- Deandre AytonSuns: $30,913,750
Shai Gilgeous-AlexanderThunder: $30,913,750
Michael Porter Jr.Nuggets: $30,913,750 - Donovan MitchellJazz: $30,351,780 (15% trade kicker)
Jayson TatumCeltics: $30,351,780 (15% trade kicker)
Bam AdebayoHeat: $30,351,780
De’Aaron FoxKings: $30,351,780 - Gordon HaywardHornets: $30,075,000 (15% trade kicker)
- Jaren Jackson Jr.Grizzlies: $28,946,605
- Kevin LoveCavaliers: $28,942,830
- Jaylen BrownCeltics: $28,741,071
- Note: Brown’s cap hit includes a $26,669,643 base salary and $2,071,428 in potential incentives. He also has another $1,035,714 in unlikely incentives.
- Chris PaulSuns: $28,400,000
- Kyle LowryHeat: $28,333,334
- Jalen BrunsonKnicks: $27,733,332 (10% trade kicker)
- DeMar DeRozanBulls: $27,300,000
- Al HorfordCeltics: $26,500,000
- Draymond GreenWarriors: $25,806,468 (15% trade kicker)
One player notably missing from this list is the 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 new deal with LA
Wall’s combined cap hits would make him a top-five player on the highest-paid list for 2022/23, so why doesn’t he make the cut? Because he’s not actually earning all that money this season — even if teams don’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.
That means that the Rockets will actually be paying the $40,866,760 they owe Wall across three years instead of just one, which works out to annual payments of approximately $13.62MM. Combining that number with Wall’s new $6,479,000 salary for 2022/23 wouldn’t make him one of the NBA’s top 50 highest-paid players for this season.