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Stephen Curry has the NBA’s highest 2025–26 salary-cap hit: $59.61 million. Golden State teammate Jimmy Butler is tied for fifth at $54.13 million. This ranking measures one season’s cap hit—not endorsement income, career earnings, average annual value (AAV), or the full value of a multiyear contract. The Sporting News published the list on July 1, 2025; because five players tie for fifth, its top 10 rank positions include 11 players.
Who is the highest-paid NBA player in 2025–26?
By 2025–26 cap hit, Curry of the Golden State Warriors ranks first at $59.61 million. Joel Embiid of the Philadelphia 76ers and Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets are tied for second at $55.22 million. Kevin Durant, listed with the Houston Rockets, ranks fourth at $54.71 million. These figures are rounded to two decimal places in the Sporting News ranking published July 1, 2025.
Top NBA player cap hits for 2025–26
The table follows the ranking’s cap-hit measure and team listings. Rank ties mean that the first ten rank positions cover eleven players.
| Rank | Player | Team in July 1, 2025 list | 2025–26 cap hit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Curry | Golden State Warriors | $59.61 million |
| 2 (tie) | Joel Embiid | Philadelphia 76ers | $55.22 million |
| 2 (tie) | Nikola Jokic | Denver Nuggets | $55.22 million |
| 4 | Kevin Durant | Houston Rockets | $54.71 million |
| 5 (tie) | Jayson Tatum | Boston Celtics | $54.13 million |
| 5 (tie) | Jimmy Butler | Golden State Warriors | $54.13 million |
| 5 (tie) | Anthony Davis | Dallas Mavericks | $54.13 million |
| 5 (tie) | Giannis Antetokounmpo | Milwaukee Bucks | $54.13 million |
| 5 (tie) | Damian Lillard | Milwaukee Bucks | $54.13 million |
| 10 | Bradley Beal | Phoenix Suns | $53.66 million |
Source: The Sporting News’ July 1, 2025 cap-hit ranking. Team names reflect that list’s publication context.
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Why does the list say “top 10” but show 11 players?
Rankings count positions, not necessarily people. Five players share fifth place at $54.13 million, and the next listed position is tenth. Including everyone tied at fifth therefore produces eleven names across the first ten positions.
How the NBA salary cap puts these figures in context
The NBA set the 2025–26 team salary cap at $154.647 million, the tax level at $187.895 million, and the minimum team salary at $139.182 million. These are team-level league thresholds, not a player’s pay or cap hit. The league said the cap and tax level took effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on July 1, 2025. See the NBA’s official 2025–26 salary-cap announcement.
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Cap hit is not the same as AAV or total contract value
A cap hit is the amount attributed to a player for a particular season in a salary-cap ranking. AAV is a contract’s average annual value, while total contract value adds up the stated value across multiple seasons. Those measures answer different questions and can produce different leaders.
For example, Front Office Sports’ ranking, updated March 18, 2026 and compiled using Spotrac data, lists Jayson Tatum first by AAV at $62.8 million while showing his 2025–26 cap hit as $54.13 million. That comparison is not a contradiction: one figure is an average-contract measure and the other is a single-season cap hit. See Front Office Sports’ ranking and its stated measures.
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So “highest-paid” needs a defined metric. This article’s list is a dated 2025–26 cap-hit ranking, not a ranking of take-home pay, endorsements, career earnings, or contract totals. The Sporting News also presents contract value separately from cap hit.
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What to check when comparing NBA salary rankings
- Metric: Confirm whether a list ranks season cap hit, AAV, total contract value, or income that includes endorsements.
- Time frame: Check the season and the ranking’s publication or update date.
- Rounding: These amounts are shown in millions rounded to two decimal places; exact-dollar listings may differ slightly in appearance.
- Ties: Determine whether “top 10” means ten rank positions or exactly ten players.
- Roster context: Team names here reproduce the July 1, 2025 ranking and should not be treated as a current roster update.
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