How Much Money Have Tony Bennett-Era UVA Basketball Players Made in the NBA?

Matt Newton | Aug 10, 2024

De'Andre Hunter is the third-highest NBA earner among former Virginia men's basketball players from the Tony Bennett era. / Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Last month, former Virginia basketball star Sam Hauser agreed to a four-year, $45 million contract extension to remain with the Boston Celtics through the 2028-2029 season. It's a massive payday for Hauser, who initially went undrafted in 2021 but who has proven to be a lethal sharpshooter through the first three years of his NBA career. After making a total of $4,185,360 through those first three years - not bad, but nothing compared to some of the lucrative contracts getting dished out to NBA players these days - Hauser will begin to make more than $10 million per season starting in 2025-2026.

Hauser's contract extension, which will multiply his career NBA earnings by a factor of 10 by the time it's completed, inspired us to take a look at some of the other Virginia men's basketball players of the Tony Bennett era who have gone on to make big money in the NBA.

Because after all, the realization of a lifelong dream to play in the National Basketball Association is a reward in and of itself, but getting paid millions of dollars to do it is pretty good too.

Let's start with the Tony Bennett-era Cavalier who has made the most money in the NBA and go from there.

Despite being a three-time First-Team All-ACC selection, two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year, and ACC Player of the Year and consensus First-Team All-American in 2016, Malcolm Brogdon fell to the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft, where the Milwaukee Bucks selected him with the 36th overall pick. Brogdon, who signed a three-year rookie contract worth a little less than $3 million, proved to be much more valuable than that right away, becoming the first second-round pick in NBA history to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Despite joining the illustrious 50-40-90 club in 2018-2019, Brogdon was dealt to the Indiana Pacers as part of a sign-and-trade that put him on a brand new four-year $85 million contract. He then signed a two-year, $45 million extension in October of 2021, but was traded to the Boston Celtics ahead of the 2022-2023 season, a campaign in which he was named the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year.

Brogdon will play for his third different team in as many seasons this year, going from the Celtics to the Portland Trail Blazers and then finally to the Washington Wizards, where he will reunite with former UVA teammate Anthony Gill. Brogdon is set to make $22,500,000 next year before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2025.

Not including next year, Malcolm Brogdon's total earnings in the NBA amount to $111,232,562 (per HoopsHype).

The next highest-earner from Tony Bennett's Virginia NBA products is Joe Harris, another second-round pick who has turned out to be much more valuable than that. Originally signing a three-year, $2.7 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers as the 33rd overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Harris didn't get his big break until landing with the Brooklyn Nets, who signed him to three separate multi-year contracts. First, Harris signed a two-year deal worth a little over $2 million in 2016. After showing some signs of consistency as a three-point shooter, he re-signed with the Nets in the 2018 for two years, $16 million. Then came the breakthrough, as Harris won the NBA Three-Point Shooting contest and led the league in three-point shooting percentage at 47.4% in the 2018-2019 season and subsequently received a big four-year, $75 million deal to stay with the Nets before the 2020 season. Unfortunately, things have gone downhill for Joe Harris since then, as inconsistent shooting in the playoffs and mounting injury issues resulted in the Nets trading him in July of 2023 to the Detroit Pistons, who then waived Harris in the middle of the season after he had played in only 16 games. Harris remains an unrestricted free agent as of this posting.

In total, Joe Harris has made $92,234,674 in 10 seasons in the NBA.

Tony Bennett's first and only lottery pick, De'Andre Hunter was drafted fourth overall in the 2019 NBA Draft and has remained with the Atlanta Hawks for each of his five years in the NBA. Hunter's rookie contract was four years, $32 million and then he signed a four-year, $95 million extension in October of 2022. In the 2023-2024 season, Hunter averaged a career-high 15.6 points per game to go along with 3.9 rebounds and1.5 assists while shooting a career-best 38.5% from beyond the arc. Hunter, who is the third-highest paid player on Atlanta's payroll, is set to earn $21,696,429 next season.

Excluding next year, Hunter has made $52,190,927 in his NBA career.

Brogdon, Harris, and Hunter are by far the biggest earners of the Tony Bennett era, combining to make more than $250 million in their NBA careers. Some younger former Wahoos could join them soon, as Sam Hauser already signed a big-time extension and the same could be expected within the next year or two for Trey Murphy III.

We've put together a list of the career NBA earnings for most of the notable names from the Tony Bennett era of Virginia men's basketball who have played at least a couple of seasons at the NBA level. This list is not exhaustive, but should serve as a fairly reasonable depiction of how much money products of the UVA men's basketball program have made in the NBA.

Note: this list does not include next year, so the rookie salaries for Ryan Dunn and Reece Beekman will not be listed.

Career NBA Earnings for Former Virginia Men's Basketball Players
Malcolm Brogdon: $111,232,562
Joe Harris: $92,234,674
De'Andre Hunter: $52,190,927
Mike Scott: $27,064,863
Ty Jerome: $14,077,333
Trey Murphy III: $9,619,560
Justin Anderson: $7,629,475
Anthony Gill: $6,249,619
Sam Hauser: $4,185,360
Mamadi Diakite: $2,617,884
Kyle Guy: $1,000,535
Jay Huff: $902,765
Braxton Key: $889,206

More Virginia Men's Basketball News & Content

Virginia Basketball: Projecting UVA's Starting Five for Next Season

Column: Why the Kyle Guy Hiring is Great for Virginia Basketball

Virginia Basketball Assistant Coach Johnny Carpenter Leaving the Program

Virginia Basketball: Evaluating the Strengths & Weaknesses of UVA's Roster