How big are NBA contracts, as a share of the cap?
Standard roster contracts, 2017-18 to 2025-26 (no two-way or 10-day deals). Search a name, move the salary cursor, or pick a player to follow their share of the cap.
Opening night is estimated, not recorded. It is the season-end payroll without late signees, plus players who played in the first month, signed a standard contract by opening night and were gone by season end (their salary comes from the contract record). It still misses players cut before playing and all two-way deals, so it runs a little high; about 14 players per team against 15 on the season-end payroll. See the three bases compared.
Selected player
Typical contract
Median salary, as a share of the cap
All three roster bases. The estimated opening night sits inside the shaded gap between the season-end roster and the roster without late signees.
Where contracts sit
Share of players in each salary band
On the roster basis chosen above.
By season
Distribution summary
Definitions and thresholds
Free agency and extensions, offseason by offseason
Every contract signed between the day negotiations opened and opening night, 2018 to 2025. New-team signings, re-signs, extensions and rookie-scale deals are kept apart.
Volume
Signings with reported terms, per offseason
Deals with a reported length and value. Unreported camp and minimum deals are left out here because how many were logged changes a lot from year to year (hover for the full count).
Price
Median average annual value, share of the cap
Priced deals only. The floor near 2.35% is the 10-year minimum.
Breakdown
Offseason calendar
When each cycle ran
Every signing
Contracts
Definitions and limits
How do winning teams spend?
Payroll shape, age and rookie-scale share for playoff teams, repeat playoff teams, deep runs and champions, 2017-18 to 2025-26. For the same question by tier of player, see who wins, and how they spend in Team depth.
The typical team
Median team-season in each group; the whisker spans the middle half of teams.
Age
Who is on the roster
Players grouped by age in the season.
Salary distribution
Every player on these teams, as a share of the cap
Winning and payroll
Every team-season