Who Are the Highest Paid Point Guards in the NBA and How Much Do They Earn?

As I was watching the Golden State Warriors game last night, seeing Stephen Curry drain another impossible three-pointer, it struck me just how dramatically the financial landscape for point guards has transformed over the past decade. I've been following the NBA for over twenty years, and I can tell you that the era of the point guard being merely a facilitator is long gone. Today, the league's top floor generals aren't just playmakers; they are franchise cornerstones, global icons, and, consequently, among the highest-paid athletes on the planet. It reminds me of a comment I once heard from Sean Gibbons, president of MP Promotions, in a different sporting context. He was talking about a boxer's potential, saying, "A win here puts him in the stratosphere that he's bigger than anybody in boxing and a lot of sports in the world. This isn't a Las Vegas story. This is a worldwide story." That sentiment perfectly captures the current status of the NBA's elite point guards. Their influence and earning power have exploded into a global phenomenon, transcending the basketball court and entering that rare financial stratosphere.

Let's dive right into the numbers, because frankly, they are staggering. At the very pinnacle sits Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors. His current contract is a four-year, $215 million extension that kicked in for the 2022-23 season. This translates to an average annual value of nearly $54 million, with his salary for the 2023-24 season sitting at a cool $51.9 million. I remember when Kevin Garnett's $28 million per year seemed like an unfathomable sum; Curry has nearly doubled that. He's not just a player; he's an institution. His impact on the game's style, his unparalleled shooting, and his central role in building a dynasty have justified every single penny. He set the market, and the rest of the league has been scrambling to catch up ever since. Right behind him is Damian Lillard of the Milwaukee Bucks. After his supermax extension, Lillard is earning approximately $45.6 million this season, and his deal will peak at a mind-boggling $63.2 million in the 2026-27 season. That is a number that, even a few years ago, would have been dismissed as pure fantasy. It signals a fundamental shift: teams are willing to bet the farm on a singular, offensive engine who can sell tickets and deliver in clutch moments.

The list continues with other luminaries like Chris Paul, though his contract is now more of a high-value short-term deal, and Kyrie Irving, who secured a $126 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks. What's fascinating to me, from my perspective as someone who analyzes both the sport and its business, is how these contracts are no longer just about on-court production. They are investments in a brand. When Gibbons talked about a "worldwide story," he was spot on. A player like Curry has a global footprint that includes massive endorsement deals with Under Armour, FTX, and countless others, multiplying his on-court earnings several times over. Lillard's "Dame Time" persona and his signature shoe line with Adidas have made him a household name far beyond Portland or Milwaukee. These players drive international media rights deals, sell jerseys across continents, and bring a level of visibility to their franchises that is simply incalculable. The salary cap is a mechanism for distributing basketball-related income, and these point guards are primary drivers of that very income.

Now, I have to admit, I sometimes wrestle with the sheer scale of these figures. Is any athlete truly "worth" sixty million dollars a year? From a pure business standpoint, when you consider the revenue they generate, the answer is often a resounding yes. The modern point guard is the team's quarterback, the primary decision-maker with the ball in their hands in the most critical moments. They are expected to score, create for others, and be leaders. This versatility makes them uniquely valuable. However, this financial arms race does create a tricky salary cap situation for team general managers. Handing out a supermax contract to your star point guard can hamstring your ability to build a deep, competitive roster around him. We've seen it with Washington after they gave Bradley Beal his supermax—it becomes incredibly difficult to maneuver. It's a high-stakes gamble. You're betting that the transcendent talent of one individual can overcome the inherent lack of financial flexibility. For a player like Curry, it has worked. For others, it remains a precarious balancing act.

Looking ahead, this trend shows no signs of slowing down. The upcoming media rights deals are expected to trigger another significant jump in the salary cap, which will, in turn, inflate player salaries even further. The next generation of point guards, like Luka Dončić and Trae Young, who are already on massive rookie-scale extensions, will likely see their earnings shatter the records set by Curry and Lillard today. Dončić's five-year, $215 million extension with the Dallas Mavericks is just the starting point. If he wins an MVP or a championship, his next contract could be truly historic, potentially approaching $70 million per year. The globalization of the NBA means that these players aren't just competing for championships; they are competing for a place in that worldwide cultural stratosphere. Their earnings are a direct reflection of their success in that endeavor. So, while we marvel at the astronomical numbers on their paychecks, it's crucial to understand that we are witnessing a new era where the point guard is not just the engine of the team on the court, but a global business empire off it. Their financial rewards are simply the most quantifiable measure of their immense and far-reaching value.