What is the NBA minimum salary?

The NBA’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement increased the league’s minimum salary. To what exactly?

The NBA and its salary cap structure are unique and provide teams with a variety of ways to build their rosters — the draft, rookie deals, max contracts, exception contracts, and more.

One way teams tend to fill out their roster, especially at this point in the off-season is with league-minimum contracts.

How much are minimums worth? Well, it depends. There is no hard and fast value on minimum contracts. Instead, they operate on a scale based on years of experience in the league.

What is the NBA minimum salary?

0 years of experience — $1,119,563
1 year — $1,801,769
2 years — $2,019,706
3 years — $2,092,354
4 years — $2,165,000
5 years — $2,346,614
6 years — $2,528,233
7 years — $2,709,849
8 years — $2,891,467
9 years — $2,905,861
10+ years — $3,196,448

However, even these numbers are not hard and fast in regards to how much they cost teams. The NBA does actually reward teams for signing veteran players with 10-plus years of experience to one-year deals by eating a portion of the cost.

For example, the Sixers signed 11-year veteran Patrick Beverley this off-season. Beverley will make $3,196,448 but the Sixers will only pay $2,019,706 of that — and that’s also the only amount that will count against the cap and be taxable. The league will pay the rest. This structure applies to any player with more than two years of experience in the league.

How many NBA minimum contract players can a team sign?

In a sense, there is no limit. At least compared to other contract structures such as maximum contracts, bi-annual exceptions, and mid-level exceptions.

Minimum contracts exist to ensure teams almost always have options to fill out their roster.

How did the Phoenix Suns fill out their roster this summer with Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Deandre Ayton on their books? Minimums!

Are NBA minimum contracts only allowed to be one season?

No, most minimum deals are one-season deals since veterans want flexibility in the event they have a good season to go pursue more money the next summer. However, younger players will occasionally sign multi-year minimum deals to get their foot in the door.

Minimum contracts are primarily used to fill out NBA rosters and for the occasional upside swing on a prospect. They do offer teams the ability to find value, and potentially provide key supporting roles to their maximum contract players.

It’s one of many levers available to teams to try to find an edge, and those who use them wisely usually have successful seasons.