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

What does the NBA rookie salary scale look like for the 2025 draft? Including live updates as the draft progresses.

Flagg was picked first by the Dallas Mavericks in the 2025 NBA draft / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

The 2025 NBA draft will commence on Wednesday, June 25 at 8 p.m. ET. This year makes for a very exciting affair, as elite Duke prospect Cooper Flagg will officially enter the NBA with all the hype in the world surrounding him; the Dallas Mavericks will have the privilege of taking him No. 1. There are plenty of other exciting prospects in this year's affair, too, and the wild array of trades executed in the lead-up to draft night suggests there could be plenty of fireworks even outside the prospects themselves.

As always, the NBA draft often leaves fans with the question of 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 2025. According to Spotrac, the first overall pick in the 2025 draft is expected to sign a contract worth $62 million over four years. Their rookie season, the player is expected to make $13.8 million.

As a reference point, that puts the No. 1 pick in the same range as Los Angeles Lakers forward Dorian Finney-Smith ($13.8 million salary).

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 $13.8 million in the 2025-26 season; the last pick of the first round will make about $2.7 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 next season.

PICK	ROOKIE SALARY	PLAYER	TEAM
1	$13.8 million	Cooper Flagg	Dallas Mavericks
2	$12.4 million	Dylan Harper	San Antonio Spurs
3	$11.1 million	VJ Edgecombe	Philadelphia 76ers
4	$10 million	Kon Knueppel	Charlotte Hornets
5	$9.1 million	Ace Bailey	Utah Jazz
6	$8.2 million	Tre Johnson	Washington Wizards
7	$7.5 million	Jeremiah Fears	New Orleans Pelicans
8	$6.9 million	Egor Demin	Brooklyn Nets
9	$6.3 million	Collin Murray-Boyles	Toronto Raptors
10	$6.1 million	Khaman Maluach	Phoenix Suns
11	$5.7 million	Cedric Cowherd	Memphis Grizzlies (traded by Trail Blazers)
12	$5.4 million	Noa Essengue	Chicago Bulls
13	$5.2 million	Derik Queen	New Orleans Pelicans (traded by Hawks)
14	$4.9 million	Carter Bryant	San Antonio Spurs (traded by Hawks)
15	$4.7 million	Thomas Sorber	Oklahoma City Thunder (traded by Heat)
16	$4.4 million	Hansen Yang	Portland Trail Blazers (traded by Grizzlies)
17	$4.2 million	Joan Beringer	Minnesota Timberwolves (traded by Pistons)
18	$3.9 million	Walter Clayton Jr.	Utah Jazz (traded by Wizards)
19	$3.8 million	Nolan Traoré	Brooklyn Nets (traded by Bucks)
20	$3.7 million	Kasparas Jakučionis	Miami Heat (traded by Nets)
21	$3.5 million	Will Riley	Washington Wizards (traded by Jazz)
22	$3.4 million	Drake Powell	Brooklyn Nets (traded by Hawks)
23	$3.2 million	Asa Newell	Atlanta Hawks (traded by New Orleans Pelicans)
24	$3.1 million	Nique Clifford	Sacramento Kings (traded by Thunder)
25	$2.9 million	Jase Richardson	Orlando Magic (traded by Nuggets)
26	$2.88 million	Ben Saraf	Brooklyn Nets (traded by Knicks)
27	$2.8 million	Danny Wolf	Brooklyn Nets (traded by Rockets)
28	$2.78 million	Hugo Gonzalez	Boston Celtics
29	$2.76 million	Liam McNeeley	Charlotte Hornets (traded by Suns)
30	$2.74 million	Yanic Konan Niederhauser	Los Angeles Clippers (traded by Thunder)

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.

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
Zaccharie Risacher	Atlanta Hawks	2024	$12.6 million
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