What is a max contract in the NBA?
Stephen Curry recently signed a max contract extension worth $215 million for four years with the Golden State Warriors, making him the only player in NBA history to sign a $200 million deal twice in one's career. He is one of only 6 NBA players to sign a Supermax contract, a deal only the league's most elite players are rewarded with.
The NBA's max contract explained
The max contract is essentially the most money a team is allowed to spend on a player under the rules of the NBA's salary cap structure. A "Designated Rookie Scale Player Extension" adds five years to a rookie's current contract, and the player qualifying for this rule must be a qualified veteran free agent at the end of his rookie deal.
Players signed under this rule get paid 25% of their team's salary cap. The 25% salary rule states that a player who has played six years or less in the NBA can be paid the greater of either 25% of the salary cap or 105% of the player’s salary for the prior season.
Another max contract is the one that guarantees a player 30% of the team's salary cap. Also known as the "Derrick Rose rule", under the new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) guidelines from 2017, a rookie-scale extension can be worth 30% of the team's salary cap, instead of 25%, if the player satisfies certain criteria. The requirements are:
1) An All-NBA team selection (any of the three teams) in the player's fourth season, or in two of the three seasons between his second and fourth seasons.
2) A Defensive Player of the Year selection in the player's fourth season, or in two of the three seasons between his second and fourth seasons.
3) An MVP selection in any season from the player's second year onward.
As one can see, only elite players with accolades qualify for the 30% rule. Similar to the 25% rule, a player may take 25% of the salary cap or 105% of his previous year's salary. Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks comes under this rule and he is expected to sign a massive deal very soon.
And finally, the largest salaried contract in the NBA is the "Supermax deal" which allows teams that drafted a player (or traded for his rookie deal) to re-sign him for a whopping 35% of the team's salary cap.
Officially known as the "Designated Veteran Player Exception", this rule allows teams to re-sign qualified players to maximum five-year contracts worth up to 35% of the salary cap with an 8% escalation in each subsequent year.
In order to qualify for this elite club, a player must fulfill certain criteria, such as:
1) He must be entering his eighth or ninth season in the NBA
2) He must have made the All-NBA team (any of the three teams) in either the season immediately before signing the extension, or two of the three previous seasons
3) He must have been named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in either the season immediately before signing the extension, or two of the three previous seasons
4) He must have been named NBA MVP at least once in the previous three seasons
Only a handful of players have qualified for this "Supermax" deal as achieving these accolades isn't easy. Once signed to a Supermax, the player cannot be traded for a one-year period.
Also Read: What is a trade exception in the NBA?