NBA Stars’ Take Home Pay After Taxes And Agent Fees Are Only A Fraction Of Their Contract Numbers

NBA players have the highest salaries in professional sports thanks to an escalated salary cap due to skyrocketing television revenue. It’s why guys like Mike Conley could sign the biggest contract in NBA history with a deal totaling $153 million. But these outlandish numbers aren’t actually the players’ take home pay, as they are drilled with taxes and fees that the common man may have never known existed.

The folks over at ESPN partnered with sports tax expert Robert Raiola to analyze the salaries of the league’s highest paid players. The players gross salary is deducted by federal, state, and city taxes, agent fees (3 percent), and a maximum 401K contribution of $18,000. States like Florida, Texas, and Tennessee–all states with no-income-tax–are hit with something called a “Jock Tax” from playing in other states.

What’s more, as ESPN points out, is that players get back the 10 percent of their salary that was held in escrow from last season, after it is taxed. They lose 10 percent to escrow for this year, but will be refunded as long as the owners pay the players the agreed upon 51 percent of Basketball Related Income. Every player will also receive a surplus this year of $355,449, before taxes, because after the 10 percent escrow was given back, there was a shortfall of $163.5 million in total, that needed to be given back to reach that 51 percent. Convoluted stuff.

Here are the top 5 gross earner in the league. Note the below paychecks don’t include additional revenue, such as endorsements. 

Curry’s salary of $34.8 million this season tops the previous high of $33.1 million by Michael Jordan in 1998. If you adjust for inflation, however, that top MJ salary is $50 million in today’s dollars.

LeBron James grosses $33.2 million this season. He can re-sign with the Cavaliers for about $207 million for the next five years next summer. Or he can max out with another team in a four-year deal that will pay him about $54 million less. James signed a lifetime deal with Nike that will add another $1 billion to his fortune.

Paul Millsap has the greatest rise in salary from his rookie season to today. As a 2006 second-round draft pick of the Utah Jazz, Millsap made $2.1 million for his first three seasons. Now, in his 12th season in the league, he’s making more than 15 times that.

 

Gordon Hayward signed a four-year, $128 million max deal in his move from Utah to Boston. But Hayward’s move to Massachusetts comes at a tough time. A proposed amendment could raise state taxes on earners above $1 million from 5 percent to 9 percent, beginning in January.

Despite injuries and one high-profile fight, Blake Griffin was re-signed by the Clippers to a five-year deal worth $171 million. The 13.3 percent California state tax takes a huge haircut off his earnings.

I guess this makes me feel a little better about getting sodomized by New York City taxes. Not really though.

[h/t ESPN]