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The NBA Has Turned Max Contracts Into An Endangered Species

adminSeptember 23, 20264 Mins read2

During the 2026 NBA offseason, only two players have received maximum contracts. And even that comes with a caveat.

In early July, Cleveland Cavaliers signed Donovan Mitchell to a four-year max extension that will begin at 35% of the 2027-28 salary cap, per ESPN’s Shams Charania. A few days later, the San Antonio Spurs also signed Victor Wembanyama to a five-year max extension that will begin at 25% of the 2027-28 salary cap. However, he could have included language in his contract that would have allowed it to begin at 30% had he won MVP or Defensive Player of the Year or been named to an All-NBA team this coming season.

Wembanyama was both named to an All-NBA team and won DPOY this past season. If he plays the required 65 games, he’s a virtual lock to be on the All-NBA team again this coming year. His willingness to eschew a chance at a 30% max deal is emblematic of the financial era that the NBA currently finds itself in.

The introduction of the second apron in the 2023 collective bargaining agreement completely overhauled team-building. The penalties for crossing the second apron are so severe that no team has stayed above it for two consecutive seasons since it went fully into effect ahead of the 2024-25 season.

The NBA technically doesn’t have a hard salary cap, but most teams are treating the second apron as a de facto hard cap. That’s had a trickle-down effect on how teams negotiate new extensions and free-agent contracts.

That was on full display with the two-year, $115 million extension that Kawhi Leonard agreed to with the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, according to Charania. His deal is just the latest example of the new NBA when it comes to negotiating contracts.

Where Did All The Max Deals Go?

Based on the NBA’s updated $176 million projection for the 2027-28 salary cap, Leonard was eligible to sign a two-year, $126.3 million extension. According to Charania, he both took $11 million less than his maximum salary and waived his $7.45 million trade kicker to give the Raptors additional financial flexibility.

Leonard isn’t the only star who went that route this offseason.

Trae Young declined his $49.0 million player option in mid-June and re-signed with the Washington Wizards on a four-year, $212.8 million deal. Young could have received a five-year, $287.0 million contract or a four-year, $221.7 million deal from the Wizards, but he instead took a deal that was “equal to the max he could have signed for elsewhere,” as Charania reported at the time.

Young was eligible for 8% annual raises, but he instead took only a 2% raise in 2027-28, which affected how much he was able to receive in 2028-29 and 2029-30 as well. That should give the Wizards additional financial flexibility before they need to begin re-signing some of their recent lottery picks next summer and beyond.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves did the exact same thing with his new contract. While Charania originally reported that Reaves planned to sign a four-year, $184.75 million max deal, he wound up settling for $180 million instead. According to Lakers reporter Jovan Buha, Reaves agreed to do so “to give Los Angeles more future flexibility.” (Like Young, he took a well-below 8% raise in the second year of his deal.)

Teams aren’t just handing blank checks to their young players coming off their rookie-scale deals, either. They’ve begun to play a bit more hardball with those contracts, too.

Houston Rockets wing Amen Thompson (five years, $208 million), Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George (five years, $155 million) and Detroit Pistons wing Ausar Thompson (five years, $155 million) all got well below their respective five-year, $255.2 million max extensions. Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons have offered restricted free agent center Jalen Duren a fully guaranteed five-year, $200 million deal, per Sam Amick and Hunter Patterson of The Athletic, although he has yet to accept it.

George’s deal increases by only 4% every year instead of the maximum 8% annual raises he could have received, which is another example of how detail-oriented teams have become while negotiating these deals. According to Shreyas Laddha of the Salt Lake Tribune, the Jazz wanted to keep George’s raises in the ballpark of how much the salary cap has been increasing in recent years.

Will Max Contracts Make Their Return?

While max contracts have become an increasingly endangered species thanks to the latest CBA, they aren’t entirely extinct, as Wembanyama and Mitchell proved this offseason. The Miami Heat very well might give Giannis Antetokounmpo a max deal as soon as he’s eligible to receive one in January—six months from the date of his trade—and ESPN’s Anthony Slater reported in early September that the Golden State Warriors have given Stephen Curry a “menu” of options for his next extension.

“They’re not like negotiating with Steph Curry right now,” Slater said on the Hoop Collective podcast. “They are saying, ‘You can do this, you can do this, you can do this. If you want the one-year max, if you want the two-year max, if you want to wait, here’s your menu. Pick off your menu.”

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić also eschewed an extension this offseason, which was believed to be “financially motivated,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. He could have received the same four-year, $276 million extension that Mitchell signed, but by waiting until next summer, he’ll be eligible for a five-year, $357.3 million deal.

Granted, there’s no guarantee that Antetokounmpo, Curry and/or Jokić all take the full boat. Much like Wembanyama, Leonard and other stars, they might realize that the CBA disincentivizes players from taking their full max salaries by making it that much more difficult to build championship-caliber supporting casts around them.

Ten years ago, teams were handing out max contracts left and right because of an unprecedented one-time salary-cap spike. That was under a far different CBA, though—one that was far less punitive for teams that went well above the luxury-tax threshold.

Thanks to the introduction of the second apron, max contracts are becoming far more exclusive in the NBA. The soaring salary cap means players are still able to secure generational wealth even on sub-max deals, but max deals are no longer the status symbols they once were.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM. All odds via FanDuel Sportsbook.