Falling a few spots in the NBA draft could cost players millions.
AJ Dybantsa, formerly of the BYU Cougars, was the top pick in the 2026 NBA draft by the Washington Wizards.
The first round of the NBA draft was held on Tuesday night, and the young players who have honed their basketball skills for years were rewarded handsomely. There was a lot of money at stake for the 2026 draft class - which means there was a lot to lose too.
The earlier a player is selected in the draft, the more money he stands to earn, thanks to the NBA's rookie wage scale. This system predetermines a player's compensation based on their draft position. So being selected early isn't just about bragging rights - it's also a major financial windfall that can determine a player's earnings for the next several years.
Salaries for this draft class are at record levels, as the top three picks - BYU's AJ Dybantsa, Kansas's Darryn Peterson and Duke's Cameron Boozer - will each be eligible to sign deals worth $69 million, $61 million and $55 million, respectively, over four years.
Dybantsa was asked after he was drafted what he'll do with his first NBA paycheck: "I don't know. My little sister just got her permit. So if she get her license on time she might get a car... maybe."
Compare those contracts to just what the top NBA draft pick, Ben Simmons, made 10 years ago: $26 million over four years. The huge increase is mainly due to the NBA's rising salary cap, the allotted fund used to pay players on each team, which was $70 million 10 years ago and is now $165 million.
Last year's No. 1 overall pick, Cooper Flagg of the Dallas Mavericks, signed for $62.7 million over four years.
The NBA's media-rights deals - including its current 11-year deal with Amazon (AMZN), Disney $(DIS)$ and NBC $(CMCSA)$, worth $76 billion - have been driving that salary-cap growth year over year. The NBA was able to sell broadcast rights to its games to new TV partners like Amazon and NBC parent Comcast under the deal, further raising the league's revenues and subsequently the salary cap for players.
The NBA's exploding media revenue will also soon push elite veteran salaries past a staggering milestone. Veteran superstars like Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum and Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander already own extensions that top $70 million per season. And if the NBA salary cap maintains its current growth pace, top-tier stars will clear the $100 million-per-season threshold before the decade ends.
Still, dropping even a few spots in the draft can drastically change how much a player earns.
The difference in total contract value for the No. 1 overall pick ($69 million) and the No. 8 overall pick ($34.4 million) is more than twofold, while a player who falls from a projected top-four pick ($50 million) down to pick No. 20 ($19.5 million) sees their potential earnings drop by more than $30 million.
One example of a draft faller was Alabama's Labaron Philon Jr. He slipped from a projected late lottery selection to pick No. 22 - picked by the Philadelphia 76ers - lowering his total contract value by roughly $7 million, per Spotrac. Luckily for other top prospects in 2026, there were almost no players who slipped below their draft-day projections by a large margin.
But bigger draft day fallers have happened in previous seasons. In 2023, then-prospect Cam Whitmore was projected to be picked in the top seven of the NBA draft, but eventually fell to the Houston Rockets at No. 20 - leading him to miss out on about $20 million in total contract value.
First-round picks in the NBA draft will receive four-year guaranteed contracts, with an optional fifth season. Rookies selected in the first round are awarded a four-year contract with their new team, but only the first two years are fully guaranteed. That said, most rookies selected early in the draft typically play out all four years of their deal, and therefore get every dollar owed to them on their contracts.
Here's what every first-round NBA draft pick will make on their rookie contracts, according to contract-monitoring site Spotrac.
Pick Number Player Selected Total Contract Value (4 Years) Pick 1 AJ Dybantsa $69,003,336 Pick 2 Darryn Peterson $61,754,203 Pick 3 Cameron Boozer $55,482,355 Pick 4 Caleb Wilson $50,035,729 Pick 5 Keaton Wagler $45,330,803 Pick 6 Mikel Brown Jr. $41,183,243 Pick 7 Darius Acuff Jr. $37,612,922 Pick 8 Kingston Flemings $34,474,684 Pick 9 Morez Johnson Jr. $31,704,992 Pick 10 Brayden Burries $30,125,362 Pick 11 Yaxel Lendeborg $28,980,481 Pick 12 Aday Mara $27,867,300 Pick 13 Nate Ament $26,791,235 Pick 14 Hannes Steinbach $25,761,857 Pick 15 Dailyn Swain $24,763,972 Pick 16 Bennett Stirtz $23,532,928 Pick 17 Ebuka Okorie $22,364,820 Pick 18 Christian Anderson $21,257,017 Pick 19 Allen Graves $20,310,173 Pick 20 Jayden Quaintance $19,503,712 Pick 21 Karim Lopez $18,942,247 Pick 22 Labaron Philon Jr. $18,396,395 Pick 23 Zuby Ejiofor $17,864,614 Pick 24 Cameron Carr $17,346,830 Pick 25 Sergio De Larrea $16,839,371 Pick 26 Tarris Reed Jr. $16,287,511 Pick 27 Chris Cenac Jr. $15,822,480 Pick 28 Joshua Jefferson $15,727,868 Pick 29 Alex Karaban $15,613,602 Pick 30 Koa Peat $15,500,706
The first round of the 2026 NBA draft is over, but the second and final round will be broadcast on ABC and ESPN at 8 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.
-Weston Blasi
This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 24, 2026 10:44 ET (14:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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