The NBA is constantly evolving, and so is the money involved with it. The player salaries have grown exponentially. Recently, Anthony Davis signed a $186 Million extension with the Lakers. This led ESPN’s Bobby Marks to compile a report on the 440 contracted NBA players. Surprisingly, 44 of them drew more than 30 Million, which combined for $1,695,746,528(via HoopsHype). Kevin Garnett raised concern over the diminishing mid-level contracts, which Shaquille O’Neal backed up through his Instagram stories.
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If order to see how things have changed, let’s first look at the salary cap: Back in 2013, the NBA set the salary cap at $58.679 Million. In 2023, it was announced that the same had been moved to $136.021 Million. The base cap has grown more than double in a decade. With a bigger salary cap and the changes in the CBA, the max contract values have increased a lot. However, this has hurt the mid-level players.
Shaquille O’Neal backs Kevin Garnett’s concern about ‘mid-level bread’
The NBA is full of talented individuals who are considered the best of the best. However, not every one of them has a max contract potential. In these cases, mid-level contracts justify the player’s earnings, as well as make them feel valued for their work. However, the changes in the CBA have made things very top-heavy.
The data compiled by Bobby Marks about the 440 contracted players in the 2023-24 season shows:
- 44 players are earning 30 Million or more
- 32 players are earning between $20-29 Million
- 79 players are earning between $10-19 Million
- 115 players are earning between $4-10 Million
- 170 players are earning between $1-4 Million
The decreasing number of players between $20-29 Million and $10-19 Million is a sign of concern. Out of 440 players, 285 are earning less than $10 Million. This led Kevin Garnett to raise his concern about the ‘mid-level bread.’
Shaquille O’Neal shared the same on his Instagram story as well.
Clearly, there is a big disparity in the money that players are drawing, and sure, we can justify it by their performances. However, mid-level contracts are also crucial for teams, as it lets them keep the key role players around. If these keep going down, we may end up seeing teams paying most of their money to 2-3 stars and then filling their roster with just minimum contracts.
Austin Rivers voiced concern about mid-level contracts as well
Former Sixers’ Head Coach Doc Rivers’ son, Austin Rivers, also recently spoke about the dying mid-level contracts. On his Off Guard with Austin Rivers podcast, the 11-year NBA veteran spoke out about how the CBA is making the league top-heavy.
“This is why our CBA deal that we just signed, and I don’t even wanna get heavy into that, that thing is, don’t even get me f****** started on that deal that we got going because it’s top heavy. That’s why we’re seeing all these teams right now, you either make $50 million or $2. It’s the most lopsided contract, teams, it’s a joke bro. I can’t tell you how many mid-level guys are signing for the vet minimum around the NBA. It’s a scary dynamic when stars start acting like this. I’m not a big fan of it.”
While the top players getting their due is good, but that doesn’t mean that everyone else should have to suffer for the same. The NBA and the NBPA maybe might want to look into the same better and be prepared with the changes before the next CBA in 2029-30.
