Hard reverse for NBA players. After closing the 2024-2025 season with a deficit in income related to basketball (BRI), set at 10,250 million dollars, the best league in the world has made a drastic decision: apply salary cuts for a total of almost 500 million dollars. As he revealed Sporty, Players must give up more than 480 million dollars from the guarantee fund, part of the mechanism established in the collective agreement between the NBA and the players union
Why are salaries cut?
Each year, the NBA calculates how much money earned in total thanks to basketball (tickets, television, sponsorships, etc.). That number serves to know how much the players can win. According to Sporty, This season the league won 10,250 million dollarsbut as it was not enough and They had to adjust the salaries of his players.
The NBA keeps a part of each player's salary in case the income does not reach. This time, the income was lower than expected, so the players will not recover all that money saved. In total, they will lose more than 480 million dollars of that reserve.
One of the main reasons could be that Some local television channels have had economic problemswhich affects the NBA because it earns a lot of money selling transmission rights.
Stephen Curry, the biggest victim
The player most affected by the cuts is Stephen CurryStar of Golden State Warriorswho was the best paid last season with a salary of 55.8 million dollars. Curry must give up 5.1 million dollars. Despite the adjustment, its financial situation remains solid thanks to its income out of trackwhich reach approximately 100 million dollars.
Other players also lose millions
The salary cut not only affects Stephen Curry, since several of the most important NBA players will also see significant reductions in their salaries. Joel Embiidstar of the philadelphia 76ers, will lose 4.7 million dollarsthe same amount that Nikola Jokic. Bradley Bealof the Phoenix Suns, you will see your salary in 4.6 million dollarswhile Kevin Durantwill stop charging 4.5 million dollars. They are just some examples of these adjustments that show how the drop in the revenue of the league is even affecting the big stars
Since 1999 there is this savings savings system to balance the accounts. In some past seasons, when the NBA earned a lot of money, The players received all the money saved and even extra bonds. But this year, the situation has not been so good.
Despite these cuts, The players will keep 90.9% of their salary. For example, if a player had a contract of 20 million dollarsit will end up charging 18.2 million.
