Young NBA Players Getting Paid
By: Noah Mcmillan
Tags: Toronto Raptors, Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown, NBA, Sports Business

Young NBA Players Getting Paid

Teams sign their potential stars to long-term extensions, hoping that they can help take their teams to the next level

Monday marked the deadline for players drafted in 2016 to sign extensions on their rookie contracts. The list of names was highlighted by Jaylen Brown and Buddy Hield, who both signed extensions of four years and over $80 million dollars. Other big names, like Ben Simmons, Jamal Murray, and Pascal Siakam also signed extensions well before Monday.

The large amount of contract extensions are a result of a lackluster free agent class, in comparison to past years. Also, this was a chance for teams to lockup young players long-term, hoping that they blossom into stars similar to Golden State and Stephen Curry. The NBA’s strained relationship with China may impact the salary cap in the future, if the relationship doesn’t improve. Teams with all that in mind, had to make smart decisions when it comes to keeping players long-term.

For teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, they had to re-sign Ben Simmons. Simmons, who signed an extension for five years for $170 million, was an all-star last season where he averaged 17 points, eight rebounds, eight assists per game. The Sixers are showing that they’re all in on Ben Simmons even though he has yet to develop an outside shot. Simmons gets the money and the Sixers have a 6’10 dominant point guard for the next couple of years. He had a near triple double in the Sixers season opener, scoring 24 points, grabbing eight rebounds, and dishing out nine assists.

Jamal Murray also received a five year, $170 million extension from the Denver Nuggets. Murray is entering his 4th year in the NBA and averaged 18 points, four rebounds, and five assists per game. Murray’s extension is surprising, considering Murray has not set himself apart and performed with the top point guards in the league. However, the Nuggets must see something in Murray’s game that they think will bring them a championship. Murray scored just 14 points in the season opener, so it remains to be seen if the Nuggets will get what they paid for, in the future.

Pascal Siakam emerged as a star during the Raptors 2019 championship playoff run. He also won Most Improved Player for the 2018–2019 season. The Raptors and Siakam agreed to a four year, $130 million dollar extension. Looking at the first game, Siakam proved that he’s deserving of it, scoring 34 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. This was a win for both the Raptors, securing one of their rising stars, and Siakam who will be getting paid big money for the rest of his tenure with the Raptors.

The Celtics didn’t finish the season where they wanted to, but they did sign an extension with Jaylen Brown for five years, for $115 million dollars. Brown was chosen as the third overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft and has shown flashes of greatness on both the offensive and defensive end.

However, his production has not matched his seeming potential, as he averaged 13 points per game last season, a 1.5 point drop from the year before. In the season opener, Brown scored eight points and pulled down seven rebounds. The Celtics will have overpaid Brown if he cannot increase his production and turn into the star that they hope he will be.

One of the last big names to sign extensions was sharpshooter Buddy Hield. He signed with the Kings for four years, for $86 million dollars. An interesting part to his extension, was that that number could be bumped up to $106 million dollars based on team-based and individual bonuses. The Kings are not wrong for giving Buddy an extension, as he has continuously gotten better every season, improving his points, rebounds, and assists per game. And Buddy showed flashes of why he got his money, scoring 28 points with six three’s in the season opener.