Nuggets Signs 1st NBA Magnificent $419 Million Contract which could…

According to Bryan Toporek of Bleacher Report, Nikola Jokić, a standout player for the Denver Nuggets, may earn the first $400 million contract in NBA history in 2028. The wage cap will increase in the upcoming years due to the NBA’s new television deals.

These TV arrangements have a significant effect on the salary cap and player contracts. Denver’s good news is that there is still some time until Jokić’s cost increases. Jokić agreed to a $276 million, five-year contract that expires in 2027–2028. For the 2027–28 season, the MVP has a player-option, so Jokić may become a free agent as early as 2027.

According to Tom Friend of the Sports Business Journal, the NBA is close to agreeing to a $2.8 billion contract with ESPN, a $2.5 million pact to rejoin NBC, and a $1.8 billion deal with Amazon. With all of this, the NBA is expected to sign media deals worth a total of over $7 billion. “Friend detailed in a May 22, 2024 story titled, “NBA formalising deals with Disney, Amazon, NBC,” “industry sources believe ESPN will ultimately pay $2.8B annually — though other industry sources insist it is still an earlier reported $2.6B — for the league’s ‘A’ package, which includes the NBA Finals, a conference final, weekly primetime games, the WNBA, and likely shared international rights.”

“Amazon’s deal is estimated to be worth between $1.8 billion and $2 billion, and it would probably include international rights, the WNBA, the Emirates In-Season Tournament, and the SoFi Play-In Tournament.” We’re also going to see a much higher pay cap given the surge in revenue from the league’s television deals. Keith Smith of Spotrac deconstructed the expected figures for the salary cap starting in the 2025–2026 season, which is when the new media deals start.

“Some fun numbers! The NBA getting $7B per year for media rights will likely lock in 10% cap growth (that is the max the cap can go up) per season starting in 2025-26,” Smith detailed in a May 22 message on X. “If so, the cap will top $200M in the 2028-29 season. A 35% max salary that year projects to be $72M. The fifth-year salary on that max deal? $95M. Total value of that max deal? Five years, $419M.”