Highest-paid NBA players by season
Player Salary Team
Patrick Ewing $ 18,724,000 New York Knicks
Clyde Drexler $ 9,810,000 Houston Rockets
David Robinson $ 7,700,000 San Antonio Spurs
Chris Webber $ 7,000,000 Washington Bullets
Joe Dumars $ 6,881,000 Detroit Pistons
Danny Manning $ 6,833,000 Phoenix Suns
A.C. Green $ 6,473,000 Phoenix Suns
Shaquille O'Neal $ 5,700,000 Orlando Magic
Derrick Coleman $ 5,476,000 Philadelphia 76ers
Sean Elliott $ 5,333,000 San Antonio Spurs
1995-1996
The highest-paid NBA players by season has recently eclipsed $40 million. Larry Bird was the first player to earn $5 million or more with a salary of $7,070,000 in the 1991-92 season. Magic Johnson became the first player to earn $10 million or more in the 94-95 season with a salary of $14,660,000. Patrick Ewing became the first player to earn $15 million or more in the 95-96 season with a salary of $18,724,000. Michael Jordan was the first NBA player to sign a contract worth over $20 million and in fact it exceeded $30 million as well in a season; this was a record he had held for 15 years. During the 1997-98 season, Jordan earned $33,140,000, which still stands as the most any NBA player has earned on a 1-year contract. Jordan also holds the record for the second largest 1-year contract at $30,140,000 in the 1996-97 season. Kobe Bryant become just the second player to reach this milestone when the 2013-14 season began. LeBron James became the third in the 2016-17 season. Stephen Curry became the first player to eclipse $40 million per year when he signed a record 5-year contract worth $201 million in 2017, starting with $34,682,550 in the 2017-18 season and ending with the largest earnings in the 2021-22 season with a record payout of $45,780,966. Beginning in the 1984-85 NBA season, the NBA's first salary cap was introduced. The NBA salary cap is the maximum dollar amount each NBA team can spend on its players for the season.