The periodic rise of the average NBA salary growth has seen players benefit the most, and now 39 of them have raked in $30 million in 2023.
Per Boardroom’s latest, “The average NBA salary grew from $5.2M in 2016 to about $9.5M in 7 years. ” To provide a fair idea of just how massive this is, not a single player made $30 million in during the 2016 season.
The likes of Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal are some of the names whose salary this season goes over $40 million, becoming some of the highest-paid NBA players this season.
According to ESPN, Kyrie Irving, Rudy Gobert, Anthony Davis, and Jimmy Butler vault over the $30 million mark. The rise in salary cap means teams are more than capable of paying their players the needed sum to acquire their services. Add to this their endorsements and sponsorship deals, these players rake in quite the moolah.
Related: The 20 Highest-Paid NBA Players Of All Time
NBA Fans React To NBA’s Average Salary Growth
The fans had their two cents on the league’s average salary growth that saw the spike in some of the players’ salaries.
In responding to Boardroom’s post on Instagram, some of them had their say. [Please note that some of the comments have been edited for clarity]
“This is incredible.”
“These brothers are doing very well for themselves and their families, they are handsomely compensated for their hard work and talent.”
“Now put up the average games played per player for those years.”
“And federal minimum wage still $7.25, unchanged since 2009.”
“Only 10 players played 82 games in 2023. That’s the real stat.”
“Criticize Adam Silver but this is what he is hired to do. Grow the game. Bring in the money.”
“Add in load management & the price per game is going to slowly cause another lockout. Shorten the season. Let them earn it in the post season.”
“You’d think you’d see more philanthropy and changes occurring with all this new extreme wealth.”
“Now put up the average games played per player for those years.”
“And how much have ticket prices gone up?”
Clearly, the bump in pay over the years suggests the growing popularity of the sport, coupled with how some of the players in the league deserve what’s coming in terms of money. All said it shouldn’t be a surprise if the next seven years will see a sharp rise again.
Source: fadeawayworld