Average NBA Salaries Historic Breakdown (1980-2025)
The average NBA salary has increased 10x in last 35 years starting from $870,000/year in 1991/92 season to $10.5 million/year in 2025. It shows rapid trajectory of NBA's transformation from a modest professional competition into a global commercial powerhouse.
Similarly salary of highest paid player in each year also increased at similar rate. Larry Bird, made $7.07 million in 1991/92 season while current highest paid player Stephen Curry salary in 2025 is $59.6 million.
What is Average NBA Salary?
Multiple datasets on historic NBA player salaries are publicly available at sites like (Kaggle). For this analysis, we reviewed over 10,000 individual NBA player contracts dating back to 1980 to calculate the league’s average salary. The average NBA salary represents the total amount paid to all NBA players in a given season divided by the number of players under contract.
Earnings at the top end of the league significantly exceed the average. In 2025/26 season, the league-wide average salary stands at $10.5 million/year, while at least 26 players earn between $40 million to $59.6 million.
Why 1980 Is a Meaningful Starting Point:
Using 1980 as a baseline provides a clear view of how dramatically the NBA’s financial model evolved thanks to influence of Magic Mike and Bird making NBA big money sport in the US.
Early 1980s NBA had fundamentally different financial scope with smaller revenues, very few international players, limited broadcast exposure, and not much commercial value. Measuring average salary growth from this era highlights how the NBA's financial scope changed over the new decades.
With the table below we construct a timeline of NBA Average salary and highest paid player in each of the last 35 seasons.
| Year | Average Salary | Highest-Paid Player |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | $175,000 | Julius Erving, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Walton ($1m) |
| 1981 | $200,000 | Julius Erving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ($1m) |
| 1982 | $225,000 | Moses Malone ($2.2m) |
| 1983 | $250,000 | Moses Malone ($2.2m) |
| Magic Mike and Bird Era (First big growth) | ||
| 1984 | $300,000 | Magic Johnson ($2.5m) |
| 1985 | $300,000 | Magic Johnson ($2.5m) |
| 1986 | $350,000 | Magic Johnson ($2.5m) |
| 1987 | $425,000 | Patrick Ewing ($2.7m) |
| 1988 | $500,000 | Patrick Ewing ($3.25m) |
| 1989 | $500,000 | Patrick Ewing ($3.75m) |
| 1990 | $600,000 | Patrick Ewing ($4.7m) |
| 1991 | $870,000 | Larry Bird ($7.07m) |
| 1992 | $950,000 | David Robinson ($5.72m) |
| 1993 | $1.00m | David Robinson ($5.74m) |
| 1994 | $1.25m | Magic Johnson ($14.66m) |
| Jordan Era & First Salary Explosion (1995/1999) | ||
| 1995 | $1.45m | Patrick Ewing ($18.72m) |
| 1996 | $1.70m | Michael Jordan ($30.14m) |
| 1997 | $1.90m | Michael Jordan ($33.14m) |
| Max Contract Era (1998/2009) | ||
| 1998 | $2.30m | Patrick Ewing ($18.50m) |
| 1999 | $2.60m | Shaquille O'Neal ($17.14m) |
| 2000 | $2.92m | Kevin Garnett ($19.60m) |
| 2001 | $3.30m | Kevin Garnett ($22.40m) |
| 2002 | $3.40m | Kevin Garnett ($25.20m) |
| 2003 | $3.30m | Kevin Garnett ($28.00m) |
| 2004 | $3.50m | Shaquille O'Neal ($27.70m) |
| 2005 | $3.89m | Shaquille O'Neal ($20.00m) |
| 2006 | $4.00m | Kevin Garnett ($21.00m) |
| 2007 | $4.15m | Kevin Garnett ($23.75m) |
| 2008 | $4.30m | Kevin Garnett ($24.75m) |
| 2009 | $4.70m | Kobe Bryant ($23.03m) |
| Kobe-LeBron Era (Pre-TV Boom) (2010-15) | ||
| 2010 | $4.65m | Kobe Bryant ($24.81m) |
| 2011 | $4.50m | Kobe Bryant ($25.24m) |
| 2012 | $4.60m | Kobe Bryant ($30.45m) |
| 2013 | $4.75m | Kobe Bryant ($30.45m) |
| 2014 | $4.75m | Kobe Bryant ($23.50m) |
| 2015 | $4.50m | Kobe Bryant ($25.00m) |
| New TV Deal Boom & Modern NBA Economy (2016/2025) | ||
| 2016 | $5.90m | LeBron James ($30.96m) |
| 2017 | $6.50m | Stephen Curry ($34.68m) |
| 2018 | $6.75m | Stephen Curry ($37.46m) |
| 2019 | $7.25m | Stephen Curry ($40.23m) |
| 2020 | $7.80m | Stephen Curry ($43.01m) |
| 2021 | $8.25m | Stephen Curry ($45.78m) |
| 2022 | $8.50m | Stephen Curry ($48.07m) |
| 2023 | $9.75m | Stephen Curry ($51.92m) |
| 2024 | $10.00m | Stephen Curry ($55.76m) |
| 2025 | $10.50m | Stephen Curry ($59.61m) |
New TV Deal trigger massive increase in average salaries starting from 2016:
NBA average salaries and elite stars salaries increased steadily since 1980 but 2016-17 saw the biggest turning point with league’s new television rights agreement coming into play. Average salaries increased dramatically in 2016/17 season with league's average jumping to $5.9 million/year. This moment fundamentally changed contract sizes, free agency dynamics, and long-term salary expectations across the NBA.
Where does the NBA's current average salary stands?
Current average salary in NBA is around $10.5 million which is higher then any sport in the world thanks to one of the biggest TV rights deal worth $77 billion. There is pattern in each roster salaries. The 2-3 elite players in each team are earning around $30 to $60 million/year. While the middle level players are on contracts worth $15 to $30 million. A typical rookie deal is not worth atleast $2 million/year.
Methodology & Notes- Average salary data has been compiled from datasets of all player contracts from 1980 to 2025. These datasets are available on open dataset sites like Kaggle.
- All salaries above reflect only on-court earnings (no endorsements or off-court income)
- Highest-paid player figures represent the top single-season salary for each year.