The 2019/20 NBA average player pay in the sports business per league. The NBA is the professional sports league with the highest player salary in the world, with each player earning a magnificent 8.32 million US dollars each year. It is also the most popular sport in America. An NFL game costs on average 100 times more to attend than an NBA game. However, the average salary of an NBA player is 10 times higher than that of an NFL player. In fact, the average salary of an NBA player is so high because there are very few players who make a marginal living from basketball. Most athletes in the NBA are paid well above their actual playing time because they also work as managers, agents, or coaches and they need to be able to afford such services. In addition, some role players who don't score or pass much but help their teams win sometimes get paid quite well because there are only a limited number of positions in a team's roster. For example, a center who can shoot free throws well is in great demand because he can come in at any time and provide a spark for his team. As for other major sports leagues, the MLB comes next with an average salary of 7.14 million dollars, followed by the NHL with 5.26 million dollars and the NFL with 3.94 million dollars.