Victor Wembanyama, who begins his second NBA regular season on Thursday night, is only the fifth highest paid player on his team. But his remuneration is still up compared to his rookie year.
More than six months later, Victor Wembanyama will play an official NBA match again. While his rookie year ended on April 13 against the Denver Nuggets, the French interior of the San Antonio Spurs will begin his second regular season on the night of Thursday to Friday, against the Dallas Mavericks (1:30 a.m. French time).
For this season which must be that of confirmation, Wembanyama’s salary is increasing. As indicated by the specialized site Hoopshypea reference in the field, he will be paid up to 12.7 million dollars (11.7 million euros) in 2024-2025. This is around 600,000 dollars (553,000 euros) more than in 2023-2024, an increase of 5%. In 2022-2023, during his last season in France, at Boulogne-Levallois, he earned around 20,000 euros per month.
Far behind Devin Vassell
The French phenomenon, however, is only the fifth highest paid player on the San Antonio Spurs, behind Devin Vassell ($29.3 million), Keldon Johnson ($19 million), Harrison Barnes ($18 million) and Zach Collins ($16.7 million). Wembanyama is also the 129th highest paid player in the entire NBA this season.
This level of remuneration is the consequence of the “rookie scale”, the salary scale which defines what players receive when they arrive in the NBA. Wembanyama having been selected in the first position of his draft, he receives the maximum salary expected for a rookie. All NBA franchises are subject to a salary cap (a payroll not to be exceeded) and what the players earn is very regulated. The maximum level of remuneration therefore depends on the number of years spent in the league.
A salary that will continue to rise
Wembanyama’s salary will continue to rise until 2028 and the end of his rookie contract: $13.3 million in 2025-2026, $16.8 million in 2026-2027 and 23.6 million euros in 2027-2028. For the last two seasons, it will be up to Spurs to lift a clause.
For comparison, the three highest-paid players in the league in 2024-25 are Stephen Curry ($55.7 million), Nikola Jokic ($51.4 million) and Joel Embiid ($51.4 million). ). Rudy Gobert is the Frenchman who receives the highest salary, with 43.8 million dollars for the coming season.
