With less than ten spots remaining in total on the 30 NBA rosters, we can do the math for the offseason, with franchises having again dropped hundreds of millions of dollars to pick up free agents or extend their own players.
With the increase in the salary cap, boosted by the arrival of the new TV contract, salaries in the Major League continue to climb… but with the new collective agreement, which is more punitive, we are seeing a sort of “double market”, with fewer and fewer (big) players changing teams in the off-season, and more extending their contracts, even if it means being used more as a bargaining chip in future transfers.
In terms of total valuethat's how it is Jayson Tatum (Boston) who signed the biggest contract of the summer, with quite simply the biggest deal in the history of the league: $314 million over five years! This will start from the 2025/26 season.
Just like those players who were reaching the end of their rookie contracts and who were extended to the maximum ($224 million) by their respective clubs: Franz Wagner (Orlando), Cade Cunningham (Detroit), Evan Mobley (Cleveland) and Scottie Barnes (Toronto).
On the side of pure “free agents”, that is to say players at the end of their contract, who have signed a new lease for the 2024/2025 season, it is OG Anunoby which got the biggest lease by signing up in New York for $213 million over five years. Just ahead Paul George (Philadelphia), and its 212 million over four years.
