The NBA minimum salary for the 2025-26 season is $1,361,969. Under the NBA collective bargaining agreement, a player on a new full-year contract cannot be paid less than that.
Players who sign a 10-day contract are guaranteed a prorated version of the minimum.
Players with at least one year of experience are eligible for a higher minimum salary. Minimum pay increases with each year of experience, and each band of minimum pay goes up every season.
These rates only apply to players who sign contracts this season. For example, a player who signed a two-year minimum contract last year would enter this year expecting to make the 2024-25 minimum for a player with one year of experience.
Check out the chart below for more details.
NBA Minimum Salary, 2026-27
| Years of Experience | Minimum Salary, 2026-27 | Minimum Salary, 2027-28 |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | $1,358,084 | $1,425,988 |
| 1 | $2,185,633 | $2,294,915 |
| 2 | $2,450,000 | $2,572,500 |
| 3 | $2,538,126 | $2,666,032 |
| 4 | $2,626,248 | $2,757,560 |
| 5 | $2,846,555 | $2,988,883 |
| 6 | $3,066,868 | $3,220,211 |
| 7 | $3,287,176 | $3,451,535 |
| 8 | $3,507,488 | $3,682,862 |
| 9 | $3,524,948 | $3,701,195 |
| 10+ | $3,887,445 | $4,071,317 |
What’s the NBA Salary Cap In 2025-26?
The NBA salary cap for 2026-27 is $165 million.
Confusingly, this isn’t really the true cap – at least not since the implementation of the second apron. The second apron, which kicks in at $222 million in total payroll, is the true hard cap that severely penalizes any team that’s over the line. The $165 million “salary cap” functions more like a guideline.
Under the current rules, teams that exceed $209 million cross over the first apron and begin suffering penalties. At $222 million, they’re over the second apron and hard-capped.
If you’re a little unsure how the NBA second apron rules work, I wrote an explainer to break it all down. The short version: If your team is over the second apron, it’s not great for their NBA odds.
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