How Much Do NBA Rookies Make? Breaking Down NBA Draft Pick Salary

What does the NBA rookie salary scale look like for the 2024 draft? Including live updates as the draft progresses.
Jun 22, 2023; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Victor Wembanyama poses for photos with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first by the San Antonio Spurs
Jun 22, 2023; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Victor Wembanyama poses for photos with NBA commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first by the San Antonio Spurs / Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

The 2024 NBA draft will commence on Wednesday, June 26 at 8 p.m. ET. Much has been made of this draft's lack of top-end talent, but the perceived lack of upside does not change any of the details. The draft will happen, somebody will be fortunate enough to get selected first overall, and the landscape of the league will be forever altered. Perhaps not dramatically, but with an influx of 60-plus new faces, altered nonetheless.

Another immutable detail of the draft is how much the players selected will be paid. The salaries of rookies in the NBA, similar to other sports, is set in stone as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. It does not matter if the future No. 1 pick is the greatest or worst player of all time— they'll be paid the same amount.

How does it all work? How do the salaries change based on where a player is drafted? Let's get into it.

How Much Do NBA Rookies Make?

How much rookies make over the duration of their first NBA contracts is determined by the CBA. Specifically, the mechanism that determines their salary is called the "rookie wage scale."

What is the rookie wage scale?

Glad you asked! The rookie wage scale assigns a limit on how much rookies can get paid before they step foot on a professional court for the first time. The mechanism was introduced in 1995 because longtime NBA vets were getting upset that unproven rookies were negotiating contracts richer than what they might receive from their own teams after years of service.

The peak example, and the one that led to changes in the CBA, came in 1994. Glenn Robinson was selected first overall and signed a 10-year deal worth a whopping $68 million. Contracts of that length were just as unheard-of then as they are now, and it's a huge amount of money for a rookie. The hammer was brought down swiftly and Joe Smith, the No. 1 pick in the 1995 draft, signed a three-year contract worth $8.3 million in total.

The salary numbers have increased dramatically since then, but the concept remains the same. Rookies across the league, no matter what team they're drafted to, have their salaries predetermined with no wiggle room. The higher they are picked, the more that predetermined salary is. The salaries for each year are determined by the overall salary cap; the wage scale ties the value of all rookie contracts to a percentage of the salary cap for the upcoming season.

How Much Does the No. 1 Pick Make?

The natural next question is how much that rookie wage scale is in 2024. According to Spotrac, the first overall pick in the 2024 draft is expected to sign a contract worth $57 million over four years. Their rookie season, the player is expected to make $12.6 million.

As a reference point, that puts the No. 1 pick in the same range as Toronto Raptors journeyman Kelly Olynyk ($12.1 million salary) and sturdy Dallas Mavericks center Daniel Gafford ($12.4 million).

NBA Draft Pick Salary

After the No. 1 overall pick, the salaries and overall value begin to slide. The top pick, as mentioned, will make about $12.6 million in the 2024-'25 season; the last pick will make about $2.5 million. It's quite a dramatic difference and only emphasizes how much changes for these young prospects on a pick-by-pick basis.

Below you'll find a table outlining how much each draft slot will make in 2024-'25.

PICK

ROOKIE SALARY

PLAYER

TEAM

1

$12.6 million

Zaccharie Risacher

Atlanta Hawks

2

$11.3 million

Alex Sarr

Washington Wizards

3

$10.1 million

Reed Sheppard

Houston Rockets

4

$9.1 million

Stephon Castle

San Antonio Spurs

5

$8.3 million

Ron Holland II

Detroit Pistons

6

$7.5 million

Tidjane Salaun

Charlotte Hornets

7

$6.9 million

Donovan Clingan

Portland Trail Blazers

8

$6.3 million

Rob Dillingham

Minnesota Timberwolves (traded by Spurs)

9

$5.8 million

Zach Edey

Memphis Grizzlies

10

$5.5 million

Cody Williams

Utah Jazz

11

$5.2 million

Matas Buzelis

Chicago Bulls

12

$4.9 million

Nikola Topic

OKC Thunder

13

$4.7 million

Devin Carter

Sacramento Kings

14

$4.5 million

Bub Carrington

Washington Wizards (traded by Blazers)

15

$4.2 million

Kel'el Ware

Miami Heat

16

$4 million

Jared McCain

Philadelphia 76ers

17

$3.8 million

Dalton Knecht

Los Angeles Lakers

18

$3.6 million

Tristan da Silva

Orlando Magic

19

$3.5 million

Ja'Kobe Walter

Toronto Raptors

20

$3.3 million

Jaylon Tyson

Cleveland Cavaliers

21

$3.2 million

Yves Missi

New Orleans Pelicans

22

$3.1 million

DaRon Holmes II

Denver Nuggets (traded by Suns)

23

$2.9 million

AJ Johnson

Milwaukee Bucks

24

$2.8 million

Kyshawn George

New York Knicks

25

$2.7 million

Pacome Dadiet

New York Knicks

26

$2.6 million

Dillon Jones

OKC Thunder (traded by Wizards)

27

$2.55 million

Terrence Shannon

Minnesota Timberwolves

28

$2.53 million

Ryan Dunn

Phoenix Suns

29

$2.52 million

Isaiah Collier

Utah Jazz

30

$2.5 million

Baylor Scheierman

Boston Celtics

How Much Do Second-Round Picks Make?

As your keen eye undoubtedly observed, the above table only concerns the first round of the NBA draft. What about those who go in the second round?

The rookie wage scale does not apply to players picked outside the first 30 selections. Once Pick 31 is on the clock, teams are permitted to sign these players to whatever contracts they'd like. Since the players who go in the second round are not seen as assured NBA-caliber talents the way their first round brethern are, that means second round picks receive contracts far less favorable.

Usually second round picks sign contracts that contain little or no guaranteed money. Many will sign two-way contracts that allow their teams to split their time between the NBA and the G League.

For example, Jalen Pickett was picked No. 32 overall in the 2023 NBA draft and signed a four-year $8.2 million contract with the Denver Nuggets that came with $5.8 million guaranteed. Denver clearly thought highly of him. Conversely, the last pick in the second round of last year's draft, Chris Livingston, got a four-year deal from the Milwaukee Bucks worth $7.6 million in total and included $3.01 million guaranteed.

No. 1 Pick Salary History

One of the many interesting ways to examine how much the NBA has grown over the years is looking at the salary of the first pick in each draft. Here's what the past 10 years have looked like on that front.

PLAYER

TEAM

DRAFT

ROOKIE SALARY

Victor Wembanyama

San Antonio Spurs

2023

$12.2 million

Paolo Banchero

Orlando Magic

2022

$11.1 million

Cade Cunningham

Detroit Pistons

2021

$10.1 million

Anthony Edwards

Minnesota Timberwolves

2020

$9.8 million

Zion Williamson

New Orleans Pelicans

2019

$8.1 million

Deandre Ayton

Phoenix Suns

2018

$6.8 million

Markelle Fultz

Philadelphia 76ers

2017

$5.9 million

Ben Simmons

Philadelphia 76ers

2016

$4.9 million

Karl-Anthony Towns

Minnesota Timberwolves

2015

$4.8 million

Andrew Wiggins

Cleveland Cavaliers

2014

$4.6 million


Published |Modified
Liam McKeone
LIAM MCKEONE

Liam McKeone is a senior writer for the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in the industry as a content creator since 2017, and prior to joining SI in May 2024, McKeone worked for NBC Sports Boston and The Big Lead. In addition to his work as a writer, he has hosted the Press Pass Podcast covering sports media and The Big Stream covering pop culture. A graduate of Fordham University, he is always up for a good debate and enjoys loudly arguing about sports, rap music, books and video games. McKeone has been a member of the National Sports Media Association since 2020.