Who Are The 5 Highest Paid Players In The NBA This Season?
The 2022-23 NBA season is over halfway finished, and the All-Star Game is taking place this weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Over the years, the NBA has become very popular for all its transactions (trades, free agents, contract buyouts, etc.).
One thing that is interesting for fans to look at is the salaries of players because the compensation doesn't always match up with the player's level of production.
Sometimes players are being vastly underpaid, while others have lucrative contracts and aren't performing at a high level.
Who are the five highest-paid players for the 2022-23 season?
(The salaries are provided via Spotrac).
- Steph Curry (Golden State Warriors) $48,070,014
- Russell Westbrook (Utah Jazz) $47,063,478
- LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers) $44,474,988
- Kevin Durant (Phoenix Suns) $44,124,845
- Bradley Beal (Washington Wizards) $43,279,250
Contracts in the NBA can be confusing because of how the salary cap works.
No one thinks that Beal is a top-five player, but based on when he got his extension, he was able to sign a Supermax contract worth over $250 million.
Even if a better player were in the same position on the Wizards, he would only be able to get the same deal that Beal got due to the NBA having maximum contracts.
Meanwhile, Westbrook initially signed his extension when he was coming off an MVP season.
Now that he is in the last year of his contract, he is still a good player but not the superstar he once was.
As for Curry, James and Durant, all three players are technically underpaid when considering the things they do for a franchise (on and off the court).