Although a number of big-money free agent contracts were completed earlier this summer, the two most lucrative deals signed by players so far in 2026/27 have been contract extensions. Both of those extensions have been maximum-salary deals.
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[RELATED: 2026/27 NBA Contract Extension Tracker]**
Because those extensions won’t go into effect until the 2027/28 season and the NBA won’t finalize its ’27/28 salary cap until next summer, we can only ballpark what many of year’s maximum-salary contracts will look like based on the league’s latest cap estimates.
The NBA’s most recent projection for ’27/28 called for a cap of $174MM, which is the number we’ll use to project next season’s maximum salaries.
Listed below are the early maximum-salary projections for 2027/28. The first chart shows the maximum salaries for a player re-signing with his own team — a player’s previous club can offer five years instead of four, and 8% annual raises instead of 5% raises. The second chart shows the maximum salaries for a player signing with a new team.
A player’s maximum salary is generally determined by his years of NBA experience, so there’s a wide gap between potential earnings for younger and older players. Unless they qualify for a more lucrative extension by meeting certain performance criteria, players with no more than six years of NBA experience are limited to a starting salary worth up to 25% of the cap. For players with seven to nine years of experience, that number is 30%. For players with 10 or more years of experience, it’s 35%.
Here are the the early max-salary projections for 2027/28:
A player re-signing with his own team (8% annual raises, up to five years):
Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2027/28 $43,500,000 $52,200,000 $60,900,000
2028/29 $46,980,000 $56,376,000 $65,772,000
2029/30 $50,460,000 $60,552,000 $70,644,000
2030/31 $53,940,000 $64,728,000 $75,516,000
2031/32 $57,420,000 $68,904,000 $80,388,000
Total $252,300,000 $302,760,000 $353,220,000
The “6 years or less” column here is what Victor Wembanyama‘s extension with the Spurs will look like. It will also be the maximum salary for any other player from Wembanyama’s draft class who signs a rookie scale extension this offseason or a free agent contract in 2027.
Wembanyama could have added “Rose rule” language to his extension, making him eligible for a starting salary worth 30% of the cap if he earns an All-NBA spot in 2027, but he opted not to do so. If his deal did include that language, the “7-9 years” column would have applied to him, so he could end up sacrificing more than $50MM over the life of his next deal.
The 30% max column will also apply to players who reach the free agent market next summer with between seven and nine years of NBA experience under their belts.
The third column (35%) will apply to a player who has 10+ years of NBA service and whose next contract could go into effect in 2027/28, such as Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, and Karl-Anthony Towns. It’s also the column that applies to Donovan Mitchell‘s new extension with the Cavaliers, though Mitchell’s deal will cover four years rather than five and will therefore be worth a projected $272.8MM rather than $353.2MM.
A player signing with a new team (5% annual raises, up to four years):
Year 6 years or less 7-9 years 10+ years
2027/28 $43,500,000 $52,200,000 $60,900,000
2028/29 $45,675,000 $54,810,000 $63,945,000
2029/30 $47,850,000 $57,420,000 $66,990,000
2030/31 $50,025,000 $60,030,000 $70,035,000
Total $187,050,000 $224,460,000 $261,870,000
If a player changes teams as a free agent, he doesn’t have access to a fifth year or 8% raises. So if someone like Brandon Miller or Amen Thompson were to sign with a new team next summer, his maximum contract would be a four-year deal projected to be worth a little over $187MM.
If a veteran free agent with between seven and nine years of NBA experience wants to change teams in 2027, he would be able to sign a four-year contract worth up to a projected $224.5MM.
A veteran with 10+ years of experience would be able to earn nearly $262MM across four years if he changes teams as a free agent in 2026. Although it happened with Paul George during the 2024 offseason, it has become quite rare for a player with that many years of experience to sign a four-year, maximum-salary contract with a new team, especially since many of those older stars are subject to the Over-38 rule.