Kevin Durant‘s base salary for the 2021-22 season is $40,918,900 — which comes out to a little less than $500K for each of the Nets’ 82 regular-season games. The 2022 NBA All-Star Game in Cleveland will be much more lucrative for Durant.
When he was voted in as a starter, Durant earned a $1.1 million bonus, which he gets whether he plays in the game or not (Durant is currently out with a sprained MCL and is not expected to return until after the All-Star break).
However, the Brooklyn Nets star isn’t the only player set to cash in on a trip to Cleveland on Feb. 20. Four other players are in line for big All-Star bonuses if they are named to the team when the reserves are revealed Thursday night. Here’s a look at that quartet, along with the long-term financial ramifications that All-NBA voting will have for Devin Booker, Zach LaVine, Karl-Anthony Towns, Trae Young and Ja Morant.
We also take a midseason look at where players like Nets guard Kyrie Irving stand in regards to the statistical bonuses in their contracts.
The All-Star bonus
Last season, more than $5.2 million in All-Star bonus money was awarded to Durant, Jaylen Brown, Domantas Sabonis, Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert. Of those five, only Durant — who has already been named an All-Star — is a lock to reach the All-Star criteria in his contract.
Gobert, in fact, is guaranteed to NOT get a bonus, even if he’s on the team. The three-time Defensive Player of the Year is in the first year of a $205 million supermax extension signed in 2020 and does not have All-Star language in his new contract.
As for Brown, Sabonis, Randle and Jrue Holiday the 15 head coaches in the Eastern Conference once again control the financial stakes for each player.
Unlike the starters — who are selected by a combination of fans (50%), media (25%) and fellow players (25%) — the reserves are chosen solely by the head coaches in each conference. They are at the controls when selecting the seven players who will fill out the roster (2 guards, 3 frontcourt and 2 wild cards).
Brown has a $1.4 million bonus he would receive and despite ranking in the top 20 in scoring, the Boston Celtics guard is far from a guarantee of being selected for a second straight season. The pool of players in the Eastern Conference is strong, and has been made even deeper by the emergence of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The former perennial lottery team could have two players, Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen, selected to play in front of the hometown fans.
That would leave only five reserve spots available and Brown would face stiff competition at both the guard and forward spots from Sabonis, Holiday, James Harden, Jimmy Butler, Miles Bridges, LaMelo Ball, Bradley Beal, Zach LaVine, Fred VanVleet and teammate Jayson Tatum.
Also, unlike Sabonis (who would earn his $1 million bonus outright if selected) Brown must appear in 65 regular-season games to collect on his All-Star bonus. If Brown were to miss an additional four games this season, the bonus would be voided even if he was selected to the All-Star game. Brown also has a standalone bonus of $482,143 if he plays in 65 regular season games.
Brown’s All-Star status could put the Celtics in a tricky situation headed into the trade deadline. Boston is currently $2.75 million above the luxury tax line, but that includes the All-Star and games played bonuses for Brown. If he doesn’t hit those, Boston is just $850K above the luxury tax threshold and one minor trade (moving a player like Bruno Fernando and cash) away from going under.
However, Brown failing to make the team as a reserve on Thursday night isn’t enough to ensure the Celtics won’t have to worry about his bonus. Because the All-Star Game itself isn’t until Feb. 20, 10 days after the trade deadline, there’s always the possibility that Brown is selected as an injury reserve after the deadline passes. Because of that, the Celtics will have to operate as if they need to shed at least $2.8 million in salary at the deadline to duck the tax.
As for Sabonis, you could make the argument that he is having a more productive season (19 points, 11.9 rebounds and 4.9 assists) than a year ago when he was selected as a replacement player. However, in addition to competing against a strong field of potential reserves, Sabonis is playing for an Indiana Pacers team that is 17-31 and headed toward the lottery. Head coaches tend to prefer voting for reserves who are on winning teams.
If Brown, Sabonis and Randle ($990K bonus and close to a lock of not being named), do not get selected, their bonuses will not count against the luxury tax this season, and will change from likely to unlikely in future years.
For example, Randle signed a four-year $106.4 million extension last offseason. The first year salary had a cap hit of $26.1 million because of the likely bonuses for All-Star and the Knicks reaching the first round of the playoffs. If neither are reached, his salary for trade purposes in 2022-23 is $23.8 million.
Holiday was not selected to the All-Star team last year but was the big winner when it came to bonus money. Because of the Bucks playoff success and various statistical achievements, the Milwaukee guard earned an additional $1.9 million on top of his $25.1 million salary. If selected to the All-Star game this year, Holiday would receive $300K.
All-NBA and the supermax
We are still months away from All-NBA announcements but if the All-Star voting process is an indicator, we could be headed toward a historic offseason as it relates to the supermax.
Last year’s MVP Nikola Jokic has already met the criteria. Three other players — Zach LaVine, Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns — could be eligible for a supermax contract if they are selected to one of the three All-NBA teams.
However, it’s also possible that each player of those three players makes the All-Star team but gets pushed off the All-NBA list because of a crowded, competitive field. That is what happened in 2021 when LaVine and Booker were both selected to play in the All-Star game but failed to see their name on any of the three All-NBA teams.
More All-NBA notes:
- The Hawks Trae Young signed a five-year $173 million rookie max extension in the offseason. Young would receive an additional $30 million if he is named to any of the All-NBA teams.
- The Grizzlies’ Ja Morant is rookie extension eligible and can sign a five-year, $182 million max contract this summer. Because Morant was not an All-NBA selection a year ago, he’d need to earn All-NBA honors both this season and next season to bump that contract up to the 30% max (five years, $217 million).
Incentive bonuses
Outside of the five players with All-Star bonuses, there are an additional 38 players who have incentives in their contracts that are triggered by reaching certain statistical or team milestones.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Tyus Jones became the first player to meet the bonus criteria when the Grizzlies won their 33rd game of the season, earning him an additional $776,286 on top of his $7.6 million base salary.
Despite being a part-time player, Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving is still eligible to receive $687,500 in bonus money. His extended absence to start the season (and his part-time status) meant he fell short of any bonuses tied to games played, but he can still receive $137,500 each for hitting marks for 3-pointers per game (greater than 2.8), personal fouls per game (less than 2.1), free throw percentage (greater than 88.5%), defensive rating (less than 106) and offensive rating (greater than 114).
Irving is on pace to reach the free throw percentage and offensive rating bonus.
More bonus notes:
- Besides the $300K All-Star bonus, Holiday has $2.3 million of likely bonuses in his contract. However, Holiday has missed 13 games this season and is in danger of missing a $306K bonus for games played (66), minutes (2,075) and rebounds per game (3.15).
- Chicago Bulls guard Lonzo Ball will miss out on earning an additional $1 million. Ball had nine sets of bonuses in his contract that were tied into playing 62 games. The Chicago guard is out 6-8 weeks after undergoing knee surgery.
- San Antonio Spurs big man Thaddeus Young will not get his $400K playoff bonus even if he is traded to a playoff team. As part of the bonus structure, Young was required to play in 64 regular-season games.
- The Atlanta Hawks are $2.4 million below the luxury tax but that counts $1.5 million in bonuses for Clint Capela. Although each bonus (reaching the conference finals and defensive rebounding percentage) were considered likely before the season, it is unlikely they will be met. Capela is on pace to have a defensive rebound percentage of 28% but is currently not on pace to play in 2,000 minutes.
- Washington Wizards guard Spencer Dinwiddie is on pace to play in 50 games this season. Dinwiddie would earn $1.5 million if he meets the games criteria. Because the bonus was considered unlikely before the season, Washington projects to be $185K below the luxury tax when factoring in the bonus.
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