The NBA’s new media deal was expected to be big, but no one anticipated just how enormous the financial benefits for the league would be. Wall Street Journal report The 11-year, $76 billion deal with NBC, ESPN and Amazon would shatter even the high end of expectations.
That averaged out to just over $6.9 billion per year, a 265 percent increase over what the NBA was getting from Warner Bros. Discovery, ESPN, and ABC. TNT’s parent company and Disney were paying a combined $2.6 billion per year to air NBA games. The Warner Bros. Discovery deal was part of an uninterrupted agreement inked with TNT in 1988, when cable television was in its infancy. The new deal marks the first time the NBA has moved to a new network in nearly 40 years, but as fans lament, it also marks the end of a legendary NBA. Behind the scenes of the NBA Because the talent already has a contract with Warner Bros. Discovery.
Warner had hoped it could find a way to keep its NBA programming, but the price tag ended up being too high: The three biggest US conglomerates vying for the rights — Comcast (NBC), Disney (ESPN) and Amazon — all have deep pockets that Warner Bros. Discovery can’t possibly match.
At this time, it’s unclear how the matches will be split or what agreements each proposed interested party has to broadcast the games. Additionally, it’s still unclear how the business element of the NBA will work. NBA League Pass Or local market games will be governed under the new agreement, but one thing is clear: the player is about to benefit in a way he’s never seen before.
Players should receive 50% of media contracts The collective bargaining agreement with the NBPA is valid through the 2029-30 season.Notably, the money from the new television deal won’t count against the salary cap until the 2025-26 season, at which point it will increase by 10 percent each year of the contract.
This means that next season’s salary cap is already set at $141 million, but will balloon to $170 million three years from now, and $206 million two years after that. This has a big impact on contracts, especially the NBA’s supermax contracts, which are the most common way for superstar players to stay with their current teams. One of the most notable recent supermax contracts is the NBA’s Jaylen Brown. CelticsAnd here’s how his contract compares to contracts signed after those salary cap increases.
- Jaylen Brown: 5 years, $304 million
- 2028-29 free agency: Five years, $419 million
This number will continue to rise. Sean Marks The Brooklyn Nets general manager told the New York Post. He projects that by 2032, those supermax contracts will be worth more than $100 million per year thanks to new media rights deals — a figure that would easily exceed the $70 million Shohei Ohtani averages per year. Dodgersand far surpasses Joe Burrow’s contract, the largest in the NFL at an average annual salary of $55 million.
While estimates are currently on the low side, the NBA’s unprecedented popularity internationally means new global rights deals are likely to push salaries even higher.
Who will be the NBA’s first $100 million man? It’s still early, but I’d put Victor Wembanyama on the list. Wembanyama’s rookie contract runs through 2026-27, at which point he’ll likely sign a five-year supermax contract. That contract is set to extend beyond 2032-33, right when he’s expected to hit the magic number.
The future of the NBA is incredibly bright, with players destined to become some of the highest-paid athletes in NBA history.
