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The Biggest Contracts in NBA History: Total Value vs. Annual Pay

NBA.com’s July 2026 comparison puts Jayson Tatum first by total reported contract value and Donovan Mitchell first by annual value, with an option caveat.
From TheFinanceBase Team3 min to read
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By total reported value, Jayson Tatum’s contract leads the latest comparison: NBA.com’s July 10, 2026 report lists it at $314 million. By average annual value (AAV), Donovan Mitchell’s extension leads that report at just over $68 million per year, assuming he exercises a player option. Those are different ways to measure “biggest,” and neither ranking is a ranking of fully guaranteed money.

What counts as the biggest NBA contract?

There are three distinct measures worth separating:

  • Total reported value is the aggregate amount reported for the full contract term. This is the measure behind most headlines about the largest deal.
  • Average annual value (AAV) divides the reported total by the number of contract years. It can produce a different leader from the total-value ranking.
  • Guaranteed money is the amount a player is assured of receiving under the contract’s guarantee terms. The available reports do not provide a complete, like-for-like all-time ranking by guaranteed dollars.

Contract lists can change as new deals are signed and options are exercised. The figures below reflect NBA.com’s comparison updated July 10, 2026, not a guarantee that the order remains the same after that date.

Largest NBA contracts by total reported value

NBA.com’s July 2026 comparison gives this order by total reported value:

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Rank Player Reported total Context
1 Jayson Tatum $314 million Five-year extension; announced in 2024 as worth up to $315 million.
2 Jaylen Brown $285 million Five-year extension; NBA.com described it in 2024 as worth up to $304 million.
3 Nikola Jokić $276 million Five-year supermax extension signed in 2022.
4 Donovan Mitchell $273 million Four-year extension; total assumes exercise of a 2030–31 player option.

The ranking’s figures should be read as the amounts in that 2026 comparison, not as a claim that every dollar is guaranteed. Tatum’s extension was reported at announcement as “up to $315 million”; the later comparison lists $314 million. Brown’s deal was described in the 2024 Tatum report as worth up to $304 million, while the 2026 comparison lists $285 million. Those reports use different dated figures, so they should not be treated as interchangeable without noting the source and date.

Who has the highest NBA contract by annual value?

Mitchell’s Cleveland extension has the highest AAV in the cited July 2026 report: just over $68 million per year. The report says that is narrowly above Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s reported $67.9 million AAV. Mitchell’s total and AAV comparison assume that he exercises a player option worth nearly $76 million for 2030–31. If he does not exercise that option, the reported totals used for this comparison would not apply as stated.

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How the record changed

Nikola Jokić held the record in 2022

When Jokić signed his five-year, $264 million supermax extension with Denver in July 2022, NBA.com described it as the largest contract in NBA history. It began in 2023–24 and ran through 2027–28, with the final season subject to a player option. That was the record at the time, not the current total-value record.

Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum reset the reported totals

Brown’s five-year extension was reported by NBA.com in 2024 as worth up to $304 million. The following year, Tatum agreed to a five-year extension reported as worth up to $315 million, beginning in 2025–26 and keeping him in Boston through 2029–30. NBA.com said Tatum’s deal surpassed Brown’s and became the largest in NBA history at announcement. Tatum’s reported terms included a player option and a trade kicker.

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Mitchell’s deal stands out on annual value

NBA.com’s July 2026 report places Mitchell fourth by total value but first by AAV. This shows why a single “biggest contract” label can be misleading: a deal can rank lower in total dollars while leading on the average amount per year.

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How large are these deals relative to the salary cap?

For scale, the NBA announced a $154.647 million salary cap for the 2025–26 season. That is a season-specific figure, not the 2026–27 cap. It provides context for the size of current-era contracts, but it does not make the figures directly comparable across different years or eras. The contract amounts above are nominal reported values, not inflation-adjusted figures.

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Sources and dates

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.

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