How much do bbl basketball players get paid

How Much Do Overseas Basketball Players Make?

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When it comes to a basketball league, we think of the NBA. This professional basketball tournament attracts the attention of spectators around the world thanks to its sublime matches.

It is every player’s dream to be here. Part of the reason is thanks to the salary and benefits for NBA players. However, overseas basketball leagues are also gradually proving their potential and more and more players are joining here.

How much do overseas basketball players make? Overseas basketball players can receive an average wage from zero to $4 million a year. 

There are many factors that affect the salary and amount an overseas basketball player can receive. If you still want to learn more, continue reading this article by Scott Fujita.

Overseas basketball salaries 

Contents

While the number of players specified for NBA teams is limited, playing basketball overseas is optimal for players to find opportunities for themselves. Each country has its own rules and ways of paying its professional basketball players.

Many countries in Europe pay average salaries between $60k and $500k per season for a player playing in the top tier. Some Asian countries like Korea or Japan are also willing to pay a similar amount from $120k to $400k a season.

View more: How much do NBA players make

China has the most generous payouts, ranging from $1 million to $3 million a season. The rest of the world pays more modest salaries, ranging from $2k to $20k.

Remember, these numbers are only valid when you enter a top professional basketball division.

Through our research, we have identified two main factors that influence the payment ability of players in overseas basketball leagues. These include:

• The economic potential of the country.
• The growth and popularity of basketball for that country.

To learn more about salaries at most overseas basketball leagues, check out this video.

The good news for those who want to play basketball professionally overseas is that you won’t need to pay taxes on your earnings. It is the most apparent difference between the contract of an NBA player and an overseas player.

The basketball player’s team is the unit responsible for paying tax on that individual’s income. The salary you see on the contract is roughly what you can expect. Meanwhile, NBA players often have to spend half of their salary to pay related expenses and taxes.

The salary of a professional basketball player in different leagues will fluctuate significantly. Not only that, but the leagues also present an income gap between the average player and the highest-paid player. To learn more about league-specific salaries, follow the next section.

Chinese Basketball Association 

The 2020-21 season marks the agreement on a new salary cap by the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Basketball clubs at CBA can pay between 20-40 million yuan ($3-6.72 million) for Chinese players born in the country. Each team can have up to four foreign players and limit their salaries to no more than $7 million.

Related: Charles barkley net worth

Salary ranges are marked from A to E, with D being the maximum salary. Usually, overseas players will receive compensation of between 1 and 3 million dollars per year.

The season at the CBA also has a shorter playing time of just six months. Compared to the marathon race that lasts from 8 to 9 months in the European seasons, the competition conditions are good.

All of the above reasons have made CBA, apart from the NBA, one of the world’s most attractive overseas basketball leagues.

EuroLeague 

The EuroLeague is the dream destination of any professional basketball player overseas thanks to its premium remuneration. The average European basketball salaries are pretty impressive, ranging from $500k – $800k per season. The best players can achieve a max salary of up to 4 million dollars per season.

FC Barcelona’s Nikola Mirotic leads the list of the highest-paid basketball players at the EuroLeague, receiving $4 million per year. Following him is Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes, with $3.7 million per year.

Related: How much do NBA refs make

The sponsor for this sports tournament is Turkish Airlines EuroLeague. The tournament features 16 teams. They include Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich, Anadolu Efes, Olympiacos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Valencia Basket, Baskonia, Zalgiris, Zenit Saint Petersburg, among others.

The EuroLeague schedule starts in October and ends in May every year.

Liga ACB 

Liga ACB is the premier professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. It consists of 18 teams. The most prestigious tournament teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​or Kirolbet Baskonia also compete in the EuroLeague. They are also the teams that pay the best for basketball players.

The average salary that a basketball player can receive at ACB is from $250k to $500k per season. The highest-paid European basketball players are Walter Tavares and Sergio Llull. Each pocketed more than $2 million per season.

Many ACB teams have one or more NBA players on their roster.

Basketball Super League

Turkey’s top professional men’s basketball league is the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL). Top BSL contenders such as Fenerbahçe Beko and Anadolu Efes also competed in the EuroLeague.

Each BSL team can recruit up to eight overseas basketball players and use up to six players per match.

Salaries for foreign, non-Turkish players at BSL are typically between $250k and $450k per season. The highest-paid player is Anadolu Efes’ Shane Larkin, with a $2.6 million salary excluding taxes.

VTB United 

The VTB United is the leading national basketball league in Russia. They offer an excellent average salary between $200k and $450k per year. Depending on the player’s status, an overseas basketball player’s maximum pay is $4 million.

In fact, Europe’s highest-paid stars now mostly come from Russia. Alexey Shved, Nikola Milutinov, and Mike James all make $2.5 million per season.

It is worth noting that Alexey Shved played in the NBA for three years before returning to Russia. Brooklyn Nets currently hire Mike James as a free agent.

Given their stature and fame, we can easily see why the average Euro basketball salaries are so high.

Basketball Bundesliga 

The German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) is another foreign league that pays players well. They have 18 teams with budgets as low as $10 million. Bayern Munich is the team with the most significant budget, $25 million.

Playing overseas at BBL will bring in an average salary of $100K to $350K per season. NBA first-round superstars like Greg Monroe can pocket around $1 million per season.

Lega Basket Serie A 

Basketball, surprisingly, is quite a popular sport in Italy. The Lega Basket Serie A (Serie A) is the biggest tournament with the participation of 17 teams. Each team offers an average salary ranging from $180K to $350K per year for an overseas basketball player.

For players with superstar status, he will be offered a higher salary. The highest-paid basketball player in Serie A is Sergio Rodriguez. He gets $2 million a year, the highest salary in the league.

LNB Pro A 

Founded in 1921 with 18 teams, the LNB Pro A is still France’s most prestigious basketball tournament today. The defending champion ASVEL is also the most successful team in the game.

An overseas basketball player can earn an average salary at LNB between $80k and $200k per season. A.J Slaughter of ASVEL was the highest-paid basketball player of the 2019-20 season with $300k.

Many successful NBA players, such as Ian Mahinmi and Tony Parker, have emerged from the club over the past 15 seasons. This league is considered one of the financially safe places to play professional basketball abroad.

With an average NBA salary of $6.2 million per year, the NBA league is a mecca for professional basketball players. However, they can still find attractive opportunities at overseas teams as basketball becomes more and more popular. When receiving an attractive salary, they are also subject to many expectations and pressure from the team and the fans.

Whether you want to become the highest-paid NBA player or an overseas player, the prerequisite is that you have a stable form and continuous learning.

Thank you for reading!

British Basketball League Salary (2022)

Home / British Basketball League (BBL) / British Basketball League Salary (2022)

Trying to find out exactly what the British Basketball League (BBL) average salary is, is one of the most frequently researched topics around the UK game. So…

How much are British basketball players paid?

If you want to cut straight to the chase without the background info, based on the British Basketball League salary cap being £250,000 (net), divide that by 12 players and you have an average of £20,833 per year British Basketball League salary.

However, there are other things to take into consideration.

Firstly, though the salary cap is £250,000, it excludes the salaries of the top two British earners on each roster in an effort to retain more British players.

This means, say for the 2019-20 season, on the London Lions, both two-time MVP Justin Robinson and star Ovie Soko’s salaries – two of the highest paid players in the league – will not have counted towards the Lions’ salary cap total.

In theory, that should bring the average BBL player salary up from the stated £20,833, considerably, as some teams will have a payroll of over £250,000.

Additionally, lot of BBL contracts (especially for non-British players) are not 12 months, they are 8-10 (based on the season running from October until May), and along with that BBL player contracts generally include other benefits in kind; such as free accommodation, and a vehicle.

Along with this, of course, not all players are worth the same; some teams will invest considerably more money in the player salary of a star, whilst others will aim to be more balanced across the field.

In a 2020 interview with Hoopsfix, BBL Director and owner of the Sheffield Sharks Yuri Matischen said the average BBL salary is anywhere from £1,000 to £3,000 per month (net after tax), plus of course, benefits in kind such as a house and vehicle.

At the higher end of the scale, Matischen said some players can earn over £50,000 salary in the British Basketball League.

British Basketball League Minimum Salary

There is currently no minimum salary in the British Basketball League.

That allows teams to play young British players should they wish without having to pay them and therefore avoiding potentially costing them NCAA eligibility as a lot of players want to go to the US and play college basketball.

Why is the British Basketball League salary so low?

So why is the salary in the UK basketball league not as high as you would have hoped?

Ultimately, it is because that is all teams can afford.

Though £3,000 plus a car and a house may not seem a lot when compared to the multi-million dollar player salaries in the NBA, that is a good wage to earn a living solely from playing basketball!

BBL franchise owners openly state they would love to be able to pay more but right now, for where the league is, they are unable to.

BBL Director and Sheffield Sharks owner Yuri Matischen said:

“We have lived through the boom and bust of salary inflationary spirals, we’ve employed John Amaechi in our club, we’ve had ex-NBA players – we’ve been and done it all and what we’re trying to do is be financially affordable.

“If people are looking and questioning it and thinking ‘that’s not a lot of money’ – at the moment that’s where the game is. Would we like to pay more? Yes. But we’ve been boom and bust.

“When we had money, in the period where we were receiving money with the NTL deal, we all went boom with salaries and soon went bust.

“We’ve learnt, this is about more than just what you pay salaries, it’s about creating an affordable business plan.

“…Those are the salaries under which we live, it’s there to protect us as clubs, rather than break the bank and find yourself bust after a year or two.”

Former BBL Chairman and current owner of the Newcastle Eagles Paul Blake added:

“Ultimately we can only spend that additional money if we’ve got it, that means I’ve got to sell more tickets and sell more sponsorship.

“I’ll never forget the day that was explained to me in no uncertain terms at an NBA game at the O2 by Mr David Stern, very eloquently, that what we all need to do is sell more tickets and sell more sponsorships and caveat to that, generate a higher price per ticket to increase the revenue.

“Because we will only have a limited number of seats, we’re never have a situation where we have 40,000 seats, we’re a limited audience event in this country so we’ve just got to generate more income that’s the bottom line.”

How the NBA started making billions of dollars with David Stern

On January 1, David Stern, the former commissioner of the US National Basketball Association (NBA), passed away. He led the NBA for 30 years in a row - from 1984 to 2014.

His marketing talent and business sense helped pull the association almost out of oblivion, and make basketball players the same world stars as football players and millionaires.

Before Stern's appointment as Commissioner, it seemed very real that the NBA would disappear. This basketball association looked very faded against the background of the leagues of American football and baseball. And when Stern retired in 2014, the NBA had annual revenues of $5.5 billion, and its television revenues had grown 40 times over $1 billion in 30 years. The NBA had offices in 15 cities outside the United States. Her games have been broadcast in over 200 countries in over 40 languages. Compare for yourself: how much do you know about American football or baseball, but how much about American basketball?

The attractiveness of the business for investors has also grown. Shortly after Stern's arrival, the Chicago Bulls were sold for $16 million. And after 30 years of his work, the Los Angeles Clippers changed hands for $2 billion. Salaries also increased. The famous basketball player Charles Barkley recalled that in 1984 the average salary of players was $250,000. Now it is almost $9 million. He broke the record of the head of the National Football League, Pete Rozelle, for a year (1960–1989).

From deli to basketball

David Joel Stern was born on September 22, 1942 in Manhattan (New York, USA). His father ran the family's deli, Stern's Deli, where all three of his children worked from childhood. Stern chose a profession far from both trade and sports. First he received a degree in history from the prestigious Rutgers University (New Jersey). Then - a law degree from Columbia University. In 1966 he joined the law firm Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn.

David's parents divorced when he was young. Like his father, he became a fan of the New York Knicks basketball team and often went to games with his dad.

Stern himself played for a while, and played well. His height was not basketball - about 176 cm (although, according to the sports website ESPN, he still turned out to be taller than the leaders of other US national sports leagues). “I played for my law firm's team in the New York Lawyers Basketball League. And it cost me most of the cartilage in my right knee,” Stern joked in an interview with The New York Times (NYT).

Being a basketball player is more profitable than being a football player at the end of the season), writes the author of the blog in Sports.ru. But even, for example, the 51st number in the NBA rating Malcolm Brogdon from the Indiana Pacers (Indianapolis) should receive $ 20 million. That is, he earns more than such football stars as the striker of the English Manchester City and Argentina national team Sergio or the goalkeeper and captain of the German Bayern München and the German national team Manuel Neuer. Brogdon's name doesn't mean much to the average person, and he's not the only one in the NBA: according to the rules of the NBA, based on its projected income, 51 players should receive at least $20 million this season.

His work as a lawyer also turned out to be related to sports. Proskauer, Rose, Goetz & Mendelsohn represented the NBA. Stern has been involved in several high-profile cases, including a 1970 antitrust lawsuit in which NBA player union president Oscar Robertson interfered with the NBA's merger with rival American Basketball Association (ABA). As a result, the merger had to be postponed for six years - the case in court dragged on until 1976. It had other important consequences. For example, before the players were actually serfs of the club: they did not have the right to negotiate a transfer to another team, at the same time they could be fired at any time.

How Stern increased the competition

In 1978, Stern was lured to the NBA, where he became general counsel. Then the post of vice president was created for him. In addition to resolving legal issues, he was responsible for marketing, PR, negotiations with television companies and much more.

The NBA star was waning in those years. In the 1980/81 season, out of 23 teams, 16 were unprofitable. The finals of the games were often not live, but recorded, and at an unpopular time - at 23.30. At 1980 a drug scandal erupted. An article in The Los Angeles Times claimed that 40 to 75% of gamblers use cocaine. The press then wrote about the NBA as an association overflowing with black players and drug addicts, Stern recalled in a conversation with ESPN. As vice president, he entered into negotiations with NBA member clubs to introduce anti-drug tests before games. The NBA was the first sports league in North America to implement this innovation.

In 1984, Stern took over the NBA. Other candidates were not even considered. He was number two in the NBA for several years, and his appointment seemed like a no-brainer. One of his first steps was to help small clubs. Restrictions were introduced on the size of the players' pay fund, which was tied to income from basketball activities (BRI, basketball-related income), and, accordingly, it is different every year. The first time it was $3.8 million per team (in the 2018/19 season- $ 109.14 million, according to the Sports.ru blog dedicated to salaries in the NBA). This somewhat equalized rich and poor clubs—the rich could no longer buy up all the stars who needed to be paid a lot—and led to a new round of rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers, which seemed to have faded back in 1969.

Now the system of remuneration of players is arranged according to the principle of soft and hard ceiling, therefore it is permissible to exceed the originally announced limit. But there is an amount starting from which the NBA will have to pay the so-called "luxury tax" - in the 2018/19 seasonthe tax threshold was set at $132.627 million. And finally, there is a hard ceiling that cannot be broken under any pretext: in the season just ended it is $138.928 million. club owners to find a compromise regarding remuneration: basketball players received the right to 53% of the income.

People, not teams

Current NBA commissioner Adam Silver says Stern was among the founders of modern sports marketing - "one of the people who took modern marketing techniques and applied them to the sports league. "

He founded the licensing and sponsorship division of the NBA. Together with its director, he compiled a “dream list” of NBA partners (McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, etc.) and went on a trip around the country to persuade them to cooperate.

While still a vice president, Stern helped launch NBA Entertainment's basketball-related content division. And becoming a commissioner, he expanded the staff, agreed with video game manufacturers, and in the end, with his participation, a hit appeared - a series of sports simulators NBA Jam (the first came out at 1993).

He decided to promote star players rather than whole teams. If in the 1960s the rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers was a battle of clubs, then under Stern it became the confrontation between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. Stern's other star was Michael Jordan, who joined the Chicago Bulls in 1994.

In his first year as commissioner, Stern sold the rights to broadcast NBA games to an Argentinean TV channel for a ridiculous $2,000 a year. Every Sunday in a country where children dreamed of football, they showed that the ball can be dribbled with their hands. And it has borne fruit. When Argentinean Emanuel Ginobili was a child, he looked at Michael Jordan and thought he was from another planet. Since then, Ginobili has won the NBA championship four times with the San Antonio Spurs, although there had not been a single one of his compatriots in the league before.

Women, Greek and Canadian

David Stern added seven new teams to the NBA for a total of 30. The NBA Women's League was born in 1997 and the NBA minor league for the G League farm clubs in 2001. According to Stern, we need to work with young talents so that there are as many boys and girls as possible who “will start to dribble the ball with their hands instead of kicking it.”
The NBA was a purely American league. And now the title of its most valuable player is Giannis Antetokounmpo, a Greek born to Nigerian immigrants, and the NBA champion is the Canadian team Toronto Raptors with players from three continents.

In 1989, Stern waited four hours in Beijing to meet Chinese CCTV representatives, then persuaded them to broadcast the games for free. Now 18 million people watch the NBA games in China, and last year the Chinese Tencent and the NBA announced a five-year contract for $1.5 billion.

NBA - and defeated all rivals. That team was called the dream team, and upon their return they were honored, as Stern told the NYT, as if it were the Bolshoi Theater, the Philharmonic and The Beatles put together. “The dream team ignited interest in basketball around the world,” Stern recalled ESPN last year. – Before the Olympics-92 NBA games were shown in about 80 countries, today - in 215.

The following fact testifies to Stern's attitude towards the players. In 1991, Magic Johnson announced that he had HIV and was retiring from playing. The disease in those days caused irrational fear and disgust in society. Some did not want to play on the same site with Johnson, for fear of getting infected through scratches. But Stern launched a whole campaign of tolerant attitude towards HIV patients - doctors came to the players and talked about the disease. He insisted that Johnson not be crossed off the voting lists for the most outstanding player of the season - and he earned the award. The photo of Stern presenting the prize to Johnson was posted by the NBA commissioner in a prominent place in his office. He also pushed for Johnson to be included in the Olympic Dream Team.

Stern soft and hard

Stern liked to call himself Easy Dave, which can be translated as "easy Dave" and "easily inferior Dave." But among those around him, he earned a reputation as a tyrant. In 2005, Stern became concerned about the image of the players and introduced a dress code. At official NBA events, they were ordered to stick to business attire, abandoning shorts, wide pants, massive chains, bandanas and other attributes of gangsters and hip-hop fans.

This sparked strong protests from players, fans and even African American rights activists. The dress code was clearly infringing on the style that black players were used to. However, it brought a positive effect, Sports.ru noted: basketball players thought about their appearance, hired stylists, and developed their own clothing style. And, as a result, articles about their life outside the basketball court began to appear more often in the media.

Dress code - yes, it has entered the life of the players. But in another important issue, Stern did not succeed in insisting on his own. In the 2006/07 season, he introduced synthetic turf balls into the game, despite the dissatisfaction of the players: after test drives, they complained that the ball bounced off the floor differently. Already in December 2006, it was necessary to announce that the NBA was returning to the good old leather balls.

Stern was not soft on the guilty. Latrell Sprewell was suspended for the entire season-19 for assaulting a coach during training.97/98 - 82 games. In court, Sprewell's lawyer managed to reduce this period to 68 games, for which the NBA legal counsel received a severe scolding from Stern.

In 2004, during a match, the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers teams fought - first with each other, and then with the audience. Nine players were suspended for a total of over 100 matches without pay, which resulted in a loss of about $11 million. “We couldn't let the barrier between players and fans break down. This would deprive us of the most accessible game in the world, where you could literally sit on the edge of the court and almost touch the players running past, ”Stern explained. But at the same time, he visited the family of Indiana Pacers player Ron Artest, who was suspended for as many as 86 games at his insistence, and helped his sick relatives get the necessary medical care.

He also interfered in the affairs of teams. In 2011, he banned New Orleans from trading players. For many years, Stern explained this decision briefly in all interviews: “It was in the interests of basketball.” And only two years ago, already retired, he condescended to details: “I offered the best option <. ..> But [Dell, who was in charge at that time of New Orleans] Demps, turned out to be a lousy general manager” (quoted from Championat.com). What is a lockout? . The first lockout began in the summer of 1995 and stretched out for two months, but ended before the start of the season. Only the summer fees suffered. The second lockout lasted only three hours in 1996. The third lasted from July 1998 to January 1999, due to which the start of the season had to be postponed and the number of games in it was reduced from 82 to 50. The last one was from July to December 2011 ., due to which the season was reduced to 66 games.

Player income was the key issue. For example, during the 1996 three-hour lockout, basketball players demanded more TV revenue, and the NBA agreed to increase payouts by a compromise amount.

Stern represented club owners during the lockouts who wanted to save money on players, but played more of an intermediary role. Reviews about him were mixed. Stern threatened the players. “I know where the bodies are buried in the NBA — I personally buried some there,” he said, appearing in the locker room of the basketball players during Star Weekend. True, the cases of his revenge were unknown to anyone, ESPN assures: he was an explosive person, but quick-witted.

"You can't be too nice a guy"

In 1986, just two years after his appointment as commissioner, David Stern interviewed former basketball player Rod Thorne for the position of vice president in charge of discipline. "They say you're a nice guy," Stern said thoughtfully. “Well, at our job, you can’t be too nice a guy.” “There was nothing soft about him,” recalled Thorne, who was hired and served as vice president of the NBA for 14 years. He expected you to do your job. And if not, he will not hesitate to tell you about it. From time to time I listened to similar things, sometimes in very harsh terms. But most of the time [Stern] was right." Stern loved to arrange mini-exams: ask his subordinates questions, the answers to which he knew, and if they found it difficult to answer, he gave them a dressing down.
One of the top managers of the NBA admitted that many times he left his job with the thought of quitting. But at 10 p.m., Stern called, talking about new goals and how great it would be when they were achieved: “And I was ready to go through walls for Stern.”

The permanent commissar was forgiven a lot for his ability to ignite people, and for his ability to foresee the future of sports, and for the fact that he gushed with ideas. For example, in the 1990s a subordinate gave him the idea of ​​holding a press conference about a new deal with Coca-Cola, showing clips on video screens. Stern immediately ordered to figure out how to organize an event in a cinema: on a huge screen, the commercials would look unbelievably better. “You walk into his office thinking you've thought of everything,” the subordinate concluded. “And he says something that didn’t occur to you - and, damn it, he’s right!”

Sociologist Harry Edwards, who studies the characteristics of African American athletes, assured that Stern's reputation among the players only strengthened as a result of negotiations. But HBO sportswriter Bryant Gumbel called him egocentric and compared his negotiating tactics to the diplomacy of a plantation overseer. Stern himself, many years later, having already retired from the NBA commissioners, publicly responded to Gumbel: he called him an “idiot” in an interview with The Washington Post - another touch to his harsh character.

Season 19 lockout98/99 ended with the victory of the owners of the clubs, who set the maximum salary cap they needed for players, mainly due to Stern's actions, wrote the NYT. He sowed distrust between the players and agents, so that the athletes no longer knew who to listen to.

During the 2011 lockout, club owners were able to increase their share from 43% to 50% of revenues.

But even Stern's opponents recognized his merits. “Stern realized that the game is about the players, and raised their market appeal to such heights as never before,” said lawyer Jeff Kessler, who represented the union in numerous battles with Stern. “He was a worthy adversary and sometimes a pain in the ass, but I loved him despite all the difficulties.”

Commissioner farewell

As NBA commissioner, Stern made about $9 million a year, according to ESPN. In February 2014, he retired and could have lived an idle and comfortable life. But he is a natural workaholic. He actively advised his successor, taking the post of honorary commissioner of the NBA. He has served as an advisor to investment bank PJT Partners, venture capital firm Greycroft Partners, consulting business PricewaterhouseCoopers, and a number of other smaller firms.

Last November, Thorne, a former NBA vice president, and his wife dined with Stern and his wife. He was in good health and in excellent spirits. But on December 12, Stern suffered a stroke and emergency surgery, which, unfortunately, could not save his life. On January 1, he died at the age of 78. Shortly before his death, he was asked what he would have done differently in the NBA if he had had a chance to work those 30 years as commissioner again. “I don’t regret anything,” was the reply. “At the same time, I am aware of how crazy such a statement sounds.”

How much do foreign basketball players earn? - 1Sport

When we talk about the basketball league, we mean the NBA. This professional basketball tournament attracts the attention of spectators from all over the world with its great matches.

Every player dreams of visiting here. This is partly due to salaries and benefits for NBA players. However, overseas basketball leagues are also slowly proving their potential, with more and more players joining.

How much do foreign basketball players earn ? Foreign basketball players can receive an average salary from zero to $4 million per year.

There are many factors that affect the salary and amount that a foreign basketball player can receive. If you still want to know more, keep reading this article by Scott Fujita .

Salary of a basketball player abroad

Although the number of players listed for NBA teams is limited, playing basketball abroad is the best way for players to find opportunities for themselves. Each country has its own rules and methods of remuneration for professional basketball players.

In many European countries, the average salary for a top-level player is between $60,000 and $500,000 per season. Some Asian countries such as Korea or Japan are also willing to pay a similar amount of $120,000 to $400,000 per season.

Read more: How much do NBA players earn

The most generous payouts in China: from $1 million to $3 million per season. In the rest of the world, salaries are more modest: from 2,000 to 20,000 dollars.

Remember that these numbers are only valid if you are in the top professional basketball division.

In the course of our research, we have identified two main factors affecting the solvency of players in foreign basketball leagues. These include:

• Economic potential of the country.
• The growth and popularity of basketball in this country.

To learn more about salaries in most foreign basketball leagues, watch this video.

Do foreign basketball players pay taxes?

The good news for those who want to play professional basketball abroad is that you don't have to pay taxes on your income. This is the most obvious difference between an NBA player contract and an overseas player.

The basketball team is the entity responsible for paying tax on that individual's income. The salary you see in the contract is roughly what you can expect. Meanwhile, NBA players often have to spend half their paychecks on related expenses and taxes.

The salary of a professional basketball player in different leagues will fluctuate significantly. Not only that, the leagues also show a gap in earnings between the average player and the highest paid player. To learn more about league salaries, see the next section.

#1. Chinese Basketball Association

Chinese Basketball Association

2020-2021 season Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). Basketball clubs in the CBA can pay 20 million to 40 million yuan ($3 million to $6.72 million) for Chinese-born players. Each team can have up to four foreign players, and their salary cannot exceed $7 million.

Related: Charles Barclay's estate

Wage ranges are marked A to E, where D is the maximum wage. Typically, foreign players receive compensation ranging from $1 million to $3 million a year.

The CBA season also has a shorter playing time of just six months. Compared to the marathon race, which lasts 8 to 9 months in European seasons, the competition conditions are good.

All of the above reasons have made the CBA, apart from the NBA, one of the most attractive foreign basketball leagues in the world.

Euroleague

Euroleague is a place that any professional basketball player abroad dreams of, thanks to high remuneration. The average salary of a European basketball player is quite impressive: from 500 thousand dollars to 500 thousand dollars. 800 thousand dollars per season. Top players can earn a maximum salary of up to $4 million per season.

Barcelona's Nikola Mirotic tops the list of the highest paid Euroleague basketball players, earning $4 million a year. He is followed by Shane Larkin of Anadolu Efes with $3.7 million a year.

Related: How much do NBA referees make

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This sports tournament is sponsored by the Turkish Airlines Euroleague. 16 teams take part in the tournament. These include Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich, Anadolu Efes, Olympiacos, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Valencia Basket, Baskonia, Zalgiris, Zenith St. Petersburg" and others.

The Euroleague schedule starts in October and ends in May each year.

#3. Spain Liga ACB

League ACB

Liga ACB is the leading professional basketball division of the Spanish Basketball League System. It consists of 18 teams. The most prestigious tournament teams such as Real Madrid, Barcelona or Quirolbet Baskonia also participate in the Euroleague. These are also the teams that pay the most for basketball players.

The average salary a basketball player can earn at ACB is between $250,000 and $500,000 per season. The highest paid European basketball players are Walter Tavares and Sergio Lull. Each earned over $2 million in a season.

Many ACB teams have one or more NBA players on their roster.

#4. Turkish Basketball Super League

Super League Basketball

The main professional men's basketball league in Turkey is the Turkish Basketball Super League (BSL). Top BSL contenders such as Fenerbahçe Beko and Anadolu Efes also competed in the Euroleague.

Each BSL team can recruit up to eight foreign players and use up to six players per match.

The salary of foreign non-Turkish BSL players is usually between $250k and $450k per season. The highest paid player is Anadolu Efes' Shane Larkin with a salary of $2.6 million before taxes.

#5. Russia VTB United

VTB United

VTB United is the leading national basketball league in Russia. They offer an excellent average salary of $200K to $450K per year. Depending on the status of the player, the maximum salary for a foreign basketball player is $4 million.

In fact, the highest paid stars in Europe now mostly come from Russia. Alexey Shved, Nikola Milutinov and Mike James each earn $2.5 million a season.

It is worth noting that Alexey Shved played in the NBA for three years before returning to Russia. The Brooklyn Nets are currently hiring Mike James as a free agent.

Considering their status and fame, we can easily understand why the average salaries of basketball players in Europe are so high.

#6. Germany Basketball Bundesliga

Basketball Bundesliga

The German Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) is another foreign league that pays players well. They have 18 teams with a budget of just $10 million. Bayern Munich is the team with the most significant budget, $25 million.

Playing abroad in BBL will bring an average salary of 100 to 350 thousand dollars per season. First-round NBA superstars like Greg Monroe can earn around $1 million in a season.

#7. Italian Basketball League. Series A

Lega Basket Serie A

Basketball, oddly enough, is quite a popular sport in Italy. Lega Basket Serie A (Series A) is the largest tournament in which 17 teams take part. Each team offers a foreign basketball player an average salary of $180,000 to $350,000 per year.

For players with superstar status, he will be offered a higher salary. Sergio Rodriguez is the highest paid Serie A basketball player. He receives $2 million a year, the highest salary in the league.

#8. France LNB Pro A

LNB Pro A

Founded in 1921, Pro A is still the most prestigious basketball tournament in France.

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