The first NBA players to reach each salary milestone
Let's take a journey through NBA history to find out the first players who reached major salary milestones.
Starting in the 1965-66 season, we'll explore the first NBA player to earn $100,000, $250,000, $500,000, $1 million, and so on, up to the most recent milestone of $55 million in 2024-25.
You're about to see a lot of legends on this list, though there are a couple of very fun blast-from-the-past surprises.
$100,000: Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlian (1965-66)
We lead off with the first NBA players to earn $100,000 in a single season: Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain. This story is an entertaining one because, as was written in John Taylor's book The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball, when Russell found out Chamberlain was going to become the first player to earn $100,000 in a single season in 1965, he demanded of Red Auerbach that he earn $100,001.
So two of the most important players in early NBA history wound up breaking the $100,000 salary milestone together.
Adding to the drama, Chamberlain's Philadephia 76ers faced Russell's Boston Celtics in the 1966 NBA Eastern Division Finals that season, with Boston winning the series four games to one. So that was twice in 1965-66 that Russell came out ahead of Chamberlain.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $973,151
$250,000: Wilt Chamberlain (LA Lakers, 1968-69)
In the summer of 1968, the 76ers agreed to trade the reigning league MVP, Chamberlain, to the Los Angeles Lakers. In his first season with the team, Los Angeles gave the superstar big man what was considered an enormous contract at the time, a deal that would pay him $250,000 after taxes in 1968-69.
Chamberlain responded by earning All-Star honors in '69 while leading the league in rebounding at 21.2 per game, to go with 20.5 nightly points and 4.5 assists. But his lack of leadership hurt the Lakers that season, as did the team's lack of complementary backcourt play alongside Jerry West following the departure of Hall-of-Famer Gail Goodrich to the Phoenix Suns in the expansion draft that year.
As such, despite being favorites in the '69 Finals over the aging Celtics, Russell and Co. took down Chamberlain and West in seven games, with Game 7 taking place in Los Angeles, which had to feel oh so sweet for Boston.
Chamberlain would go on to help the Lakers win one championship, in '72, at least.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $2,147,826
$500,000: Ernie DiGregorio (Buffalo, 1973-74)
The No. 3 pick in the 1973 NBA Draft, Ernie DiGregorio was a flash in the pan as a professional player who at first hit the ground running. DiGregorio won Rookie of the Year in 1973-74, a season in which he also became the first player in NBA history to earn $500,000 in a single campaign (via Time):
Bird would end up earning All-Star honors for his final season, 1991-92, though he missed the first round of the playoffs as Boston defeated the Indiana Pacers in three games. Bird did play four games in the Celtics’ second-round defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers but didn’t remotely resemble his prime self as Boston would falter in three of those games and ultimately lose the series in seven.
Despite it being clear Bird’s body was starting to fail him, Boston still offered him a two-year, $10 million contract, which Bird turned down before retiring. That was a huge amount of money at the time and would have made Bird the second-highest-paid player in 1992-93 and the third-highest-paid player in 1993-94 (if it had been split up to $5 million over each season), but Bird turned it down nonetheless.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $16,366,946
$14 million: Magic Johnson (LA Lakers, 1994-95)
In 1994-95, one of the greatest point guards of all time, Magic Johnson, became the first player to earn over $14 million in a single season. That salary stemmed from a 1992 contract Johnson signed with the Lakers as part of his return to the NBA after his HIV diagnosis (via the Los Angeles Times):
Jordan earned over twice as much as the next closest player that season, Horace Grant ($14.9 million). And it paid off about as well as it could have for both parties, as Chicago went 69-13 that year and won the championship while Jordan led the league in scoring, finished second in the MVP vote and achieved All-Star and 1st Team All-NBA honors.
Part of the reason the Bulls were so happy to give Jordan that monstrous sum was due to it being a one-year deal. That's because there was a lot of yearly scuttle back then about when Jordan might retire. Had the five-time league MVP been set on getting a two-year deal from Chicago but retired after the first season of the deal, Chicago would have stayed on the hook for the remaining salary and been forced to pay him the rest of the contract anyway, which owner Jerry Reinsdorf was opposed to.
Instead, Jordan's willingness to sign a one-year deal made paying him that salary, worth nearly $60 million today when accounting for inflation, more palatable for Reinsdorf.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $59,209,795
$33 million: Michael Jordan (Chicago, 1997-98)
In his final season with Chicago, Jordan broke his own single-season salary record by earning $33.14 million for 1997-98, the first time an NBA player had ever earned that much for a single campaign, a record that wouldn’t be eclipsed for 20 years in 2017-18 by the player coming up next on our list.
When news of the deal first came out, reports said the deal could have reached up to $40 million with incentives, though the number wound up being just over $33 million, still an unfathomable sum for the time (via the Washington Post):
Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls reached an agreement on a one-year contract yesterday that gives the NBA's star attraction a shot at his sixth league championship this decade and could be worth $40 million including incentive clauses, sources said.
Jordan lived up to the contract, winning MVP, finishing 1st Team All-NBA and an All-Star, and bringing home the sixth championship of his career.
Adjusted for inflation, these two seasons for Jordan were the highest-paying single seasons for an NBA player ever. We'd say that's well-deserved considering how many championships Jordan won and how many eyeballs worldwide he brought to the sport.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $64,104,755
$34 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2017-18)
As part of the 2017 Collective Bargaining Agreement, the Designated Veteran Extension rule came into effect, allowing players who fit specific criteria to earn an even larger share of the salary cap, up to 35 percent of it on the first year of the players’ new contract. That rule applies as long as the player has between seven and nine years of experience and either was named All-NBA in the most recent season or two of the last three seasons, or was named NBA MVP in any of the three most recent seasons, or if he was named Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season or two of the last three seasons.
To be clear, a player has to fit just one of those three accolade-related criteria to be eligible for these new super-max contracts.
The first player to sign such a deal was Stephen Curry, meaning he set a lot of salary-related milestones, as you’re about to find out. The Designated Veteran Extension made Curry the first player to earn $34 million, $37 million, $40 million, $43 million, $45 million, $48 million, $51 million and $55 million for a single season.
Curry signed this monumental contract in the summer of ‘17, a five-year, $201.2 million deal, the biggest contract in league history at the time. (With the way the salary cap is blowing up, though, Curry’s deal might look like chump change in 10 years, but we digress.)
In the first year of Curry’s deal, 2017-18, Curry lived up to his side of the bargain, finishing the season as an All-Star and 3rd Team All-NBAer while winning the third championship of his career.
Can’t ask for much more than that if you’re the Warriors.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $43,548,936
$37 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2018-19)
The next season, 2018-19, Curry made $37.5 million, the first NBA player to earn that much for a single season. Curry had an even better individual campaign that year, averaging a 27/5/5 stat line on nearly 44 percent shooting from three while earning All-Star and 1st Team All-NBA honors. Golden State failed to win the championship that year, though, falling in six games to the Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $46,195,794.03
$40 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2019-20)
2019-20 was a wash for Curry and the Warriors. Kevin Durant left to join the Brooklyn Nets. Klay Thompson was out for the season due to a knee injury. And Curry broke his hand in the fourth game of the campaign, sat out until March, returned for one game and then had to sit out two more before COVID-19 forced the NBA to shut down until the Bubble later that summer.
Basically, Curry earned his then-record $40.2 million for 139 minutes of service. That’s $289,437 per minute, for those doing the math at home.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $49,013,038
$43 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2020-21)
Of course, Curry would bounce back in a huge way in 2020-21, at least individually. That year, Curry, while becoming the first player to earn at least $43 million in a single season, averaged a league-leading 32.0 points to go with 5.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists on 42.1 percent shooting from three. The former Davidson standout finished third in the MVP that season while earning All-Star and 1st Team All-NBA distinction.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $50,042,251
$45 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2021-22)
2021-22 was an even bigger bounce-back for both Curry and the Warriors. The season Curry became the first player to earn $45 million in a single campaign (he earned $45.78 million that year to be exact) saw Curry finish eighth in the MVP vote, be an All-Star and 2nd Team All-NBAer and, most important of all, win a legacy-defining fourth championship, one without Durant and one in which he finally earned the final piece of hardware he was missing (besides Olympic gold, which he won a couple of years later anyway): Finals MVP.
Excellent ROI for Golden State that season.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $49,323,552
$48 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2022-23)
2022-23 wasn’t quite as glorious for Curry and the Warriors, even despite the two-time league MVP becoming the first player ever to earn at least $48 million in a season. The team did make the playoffs that year and Curry did earn his usual accolades (Top 10 in the MVP vote, 2nd Team All-NBA and All-Star) but Golden State failed to repeat, falling to the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs that season.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $49,742,120
$51 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2023-24)
Curry remained one of the best players in the world in 2023-24, a point that was really driven home during the Olympics, particularly during Team USA’s must-win games against Serbia and host nation France in the medal round. But the Warriors didn’t benefit as much for paying Curry a then-record $51.92 million, as Golden State fell in their first game of the Play-In Tournament and failed to reach the playoffs in 2023-24. Curry individually was great that season, though, as he was named an All-Star, as well as a 3rd Team All-NBAer, and even Clutch Player of the Year.
Salary adjusted for inflation: $53,721,489
$55 million: Stephen Curry (Golden State, 2024-25)
This season, Curry becomes the first player in NBA history to earn at least $55 million, with the league’s all-time leading three-point shooter making $55.76 million for 2024-25. The future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer is also set to earn a record $59.61 million in 2025-26 and $62.59 million in 2026-27.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: The first NBA players to reach each salary milestone
