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Patrick Mahomes just earned a 10-year, $503 million extension. How does that compare to the highest-paid NBA players?
As NFL insider Ian Rapoport reported on Monday, Patrick Mahomes has agreed to a 10-year, $503 million extension with the Kansas City Chiefs, $477 million of which is tied to guarantee mechanisms. It surpasses MLB’s Mike Trout as the largest contract in sports history, and in the wake of such jaw-dropping numbers, it’s only natural to wonder how such a gargantuan NFL contract compares to some of the NBA‘s highest-paid stars.
Taking a look at each league’s salary cap is a good place to start. The NBA salary cap for the 2019-20 season was $109.1 million, with teams being allowed to go over the cap to re-sign their own players. The luxury tax threshold was set at $132.6 million, and for next season, the projected salary cap and luxury tax lines are $115 million and $141 million, respectively.
The NFL salary cap for the upcoming 2020 season is nearly double the NBA’s cap, at $198.2 million. There is no luxury tax line, since the league uses a hard salary cap.
Another helpful note for this kind of comparison: Given that their contracts are guaranteed, NBA players can only sign four- or five-year contracts at most. Contract extensions can extend beyond that, however, as a few recent max deals have shown.
James Harden of the Houston Rockets, who is currently playing on a four-year, $171.1 million contract, agreed to an extension that will pay out $228 million in total over six years, making it the largest deal in NBA history. Stephen Curry became the first $200 million player in league history when the Golden State Warriors locked him in with a five-year, $201.2 million max extension.
Back when he was with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Russell Westbrook received a five-year, $206.8 million max. Klay Thompson ($190 million), Tobias Harris ($180 million), Khris Middleton ($178 million), Blake Griffin ($171 million) and John Wall ($171 million) were all handsomely rewarded with five-year extensions, and even on four-year deals from new teams, guys like Kevin Durant ($164 million), Chris Paul ($160 million) and LeBron James ($153.3 million) have been handsomely rewarded. The same goes for Damian Lillard, who accepted a four-year, $196 million super-max extension from the Portland Trail Blazers.
None of these figures comes close to touching Mahomes’ half-billion deal, but given that it’s spread out over 10 years in a league where the salary cap is nearly double, annual salary might be the most helpful number to examine. Assuming Mahomes avoids injury and remains a star for the next decade to earn the full $503 million, comparing his annual earnings shows that while he’s still worth more per year than pretty much every NBA player’s extension, the gap isn’t as wide as one would think:
- Patrick Mahomes: $50.3 million
- Damian Lillard: $49 million
- Russell Westbrook: $41.4 million
- Kevin Durant: $41 million
- Stephen Curry: $40.2 million
- Chris Paul: $40 million
- LeBron James: $38.3 million
- James Harden: $38 million
- Klay Thompson: $38 million
- Tobias Harris: $36 million
In fact, considering how much higher the NFL’s salary cap is, that staggering half-billion amount is almost something of a bargain — assuming he stays healthy for a decade, of course, which comes with more inherent risk in a much more violent sport where career-altering injuries are common.
Obviously, these are two different sports leagues with highly different salary cap structures and limits. Many NBA deals are either frontloaded or backloaded, meaning guys like LeBron, Harden, Curry and Lillard will approach or even surpass that $50 million annual salary in their highest-paying seasons.
However, the only players who have ever a signed super-max contract are Curry, Harden, Lillard, Westbrook and John Wall, so aside from this rare kind of extension, the NBA still has a long way to go financially before the salary cap increases enough to justify contracts with an annual salary in that $50 million a season range. Ten-year contracts aren’t happening when deals are typically guaranteed, since no player or team would want to lock themselves in to that kind of long-term commitment in the event of injury or repeated front office failures. It’s quite different compared to an NFL quarterback with the ability to carry a team to multiple Super Bowls.
As these NBA comparisons show, this is a mammoth financial and time commitment the Chiefs are making to Mahomes, even if the annual salary isn’t quite as far displaced from those in the NBA. He’s probably well worth it though.