The average NBA salary heading into the 2024-25 season and how much its changed

As the NBA salary cap continues to rise, the average salary in the league has also increased over the last few years.

As the NBA brand continues to grow through its revenues, TV deals, and on the global stage, it's only natural for that trickle effect to reach the players. And over the last few years, that's exactly what we've seen as salaries across the league continue to balloon. If other professional leagues are any indication, this is a trend that we can't expect to stop. It could curve at a certain point, but in today's age and in the player empowerment movement, salaries are going to continue to rise.

While we can argue day and night whether that is a good or bad thing for the league, the bottom line is that as the salary cap in the league continues to grow, so will the individual salaries. In fact, over the last few years, the average salary in the league has grown to $11.8 million heading into the 2024-25 NBA season - those numbers are courtesy of Basketball Reference. To put that number into context, the average salary in the NBA five years ago was slightly above $8 million.

Of note, the highest salary for this season is Stephen Curry who is on the books for $55.7 million this year. The other names that round out the top 5 in salary for this season are Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal.

None of those names are all that surprising, perhaps with the exception of Beal but you have to credit his agent for hammering out that great deal (for him) back in 2022. But back to that $11.8 million for this season, that's the average salary in the league. We touched on what the minimum salary is for this season earlier, but you can't help but wonder which players are exactly at a league average number (for salary) heading into this season.

What players fall into league average for salary?

A few notable players who are around that average salary for the season, who aren't on rookie deals, are Terance Mann, Donte DiVincenzo, PJ Tucker, Ivica Zubac, and Wendell Carter Jr. Quite frankly, that sounds about right. Each of those players could be considered valuable contributors to their teams while also not exactly meeting the requirements for a "star" player.

Those players are probably considered right in the middle of what an average player might look like in the NBA, or slightly above average.