Announcement of All-NBA teams was a rather low-stakes event for most of NBA history. They lived for posterity and bragging rights. They raised Hall of Fame cases and provided viewers with a brief overview of who counted in a given season.
Now, though? In this brutal pay cap situation, one of the most significant days of the year is For many celebrities, the day decides their eligibility to receive a certain salary. Usually, a player’s max pay relies on their experience. Between four and six year experienced players can begin contracts at 25% of the pay ceiling. Their figure leaps up to 30% when they have between seven and nine years of experience; it peaks at 35% during ten or more seasons.
If a player meets specific requirements, they can essentially leap forward to the next tier, enabling players with less than seven years of experience to start a new contract at 30% and less than 10 and kick off a term at 35%. The difference here can be rather significant when you consider the 8% yearly raises these contracts allow.
MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and the one most often applicable—all-NBA—are the three pertinent standards here. Already given were the first two. Friday the All-NBA teams were chosen. With the awards for this year determined, we can now begin to explore the financial ramifications of the voting. Let us so discuss who lost money this season and who made it.
1. Jared Jackson Jr. anticipating difficult summer
Over the previous few months, several 2026 free agents have missed supermax offers. Until February, when he was moved to the Los Angeles Lakers, Luka Dončič was eligible. Only in the first four years may a player sign a supermax with the team that draughted him or one that trades for him. So the Dallas Mavericks pulled money out of his pocket in addition to dumping him in February. Trae Young didn’t make the cut, but he might have had a supermax on the table with an All-NBA choice (he would have needed one also next year).
2. Big winner is Cade Cunningham.
Jackson has a complex problem. Is not what Cade Cunningham’s is. He signed the typical Derrick Rose Rule maximum contract last offseason, guaranteeing five years starting at 25% of the cap, but climbing to 30% should he make an All-NBA Team. Cunningham made the cut since Friday was a third team pick. On his forthcoming rookie extension, that represents the difference between $224 million and $ 269 million.
Though Cunningham wasn’t the only 2021 draftee impacted. Though he didn’t need All-NBA to do it, Evan Mobley also jumped from $224 million to $269 million.
His trophy for Defensive Player of the Year secured his rise. The Cavaliers, who are unexpectedly high above the second apron, have some major cap concerns as a result, but at least Mobley is worth it.
Rose Rule increases were included into the contracts of two more 2021 draftees, but they never really earned them. Since Scottie Barnes was never a major All-NBA prospect, he settles down at the $224 million 25% max level. For a few months, Franz Wagner indeed had a reasonable shot. He is now stuck at $224 million though a midseason injury sidelined him from the running. Luckily neither will starve at those rates.
3. Good and bad news for Oklahoma County
Using their fourth season performance, Cunningham and Mobley earned such raises ranging from 25% to 30% in their new contracts. Arguably, Jalen Williams performed more spectacularly. In his third season, he just made an All-NBA Team and outpaced the two of them by a year. But the language of the Rose Rule makes Williams ineligible for a Rose Rule boost yet.
A player must make an All-NBA squad in two of the past three seasons or during the season before the new agreement starts to be qualified through All-NBA selection. Williams is qualified to negotiate a rookie extension this summer, but technically the agreement wouldn’t start until the 2026–27 campaign.
4. Anthony Edwards putting himself in position
Anthony Edwards remains four years off free agency. He is not rushing through making contractual decisions. He will, however, be qualified for an extension should he wish one as next summer marks the three-year anniversary of the start of his present contract. Sacracing flexibility for a standard extension most certainly wouldn’t make sense. The financial benefits are most likely worth it, though, if he can bake the supermax rise into one.
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