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First round draft picks will be eligible to sign a rookie scale contract worth up to 120% of the determined rookie scale baseline or as low as 80% of the designated rookie scale baseline (which is very rare). 

 

Breakdown Details

  • Year 1 of the 120% Baseline scale will represent a Cap Hold immediately upon being drafted by a team. 
  • Years 1 and 2 are guaranteed upon signing.
  • Years 3 and 4 are guaranteed Club Options. Club Options must be exercised or declined by Oct 31st of the year preceding (i.e. if a Club Option is in 2024-25, a team must decide on that option by Oct 31, 2023). If a team does decline either option, that value will remain as a Cap Hold for that value’s year and the player becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent.
  • If Years 3 and 4 options are both exercised, a team has the option to extend a Qualifying Offer making the player a Restricted Free Agent in the offseason following Year 4. Qualifying Offer amounts can be lower based on the amount of (or lack thereof) starts those players have over the last two years of the contract.

 

Logistic Details

  • Drafted players can be used in trades. However, their “value” in the trade would count for $0 as far as salary matching is concerned. 
  • Players cannot be traded for 30 days upon signing their rookie scale contract.

 

Example:

A key example of the last two bulleted items is with the 2014 NBA Draft when Andrew Wiggins was drafted #1 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, which happened to be the year that LeBron James returned to Cleveland in Free Agency on July 12th. Andrew Wiggins had signed his rookie scale contract on July 24th and 30 days after that signing on July 23rd he was traded to Minnesota for Kevin Love as part of a three-team trade. 

Wiggins had to sign his rookie contract when he did and Cleveland had to wait the 30 days because they needed Wiggins’ first year salary to be a part of the salary matching process. Otherwise, Wiggins’ “value” to the trade would have accounted for $0 when matching all of the salaries for the salary matching rules. 



2022-23 120% of Rookie Scale Baseline

Pick

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Total

1

$10,907,040

$11,452,680

$11,997,960

$15,129,428

$49,487,108

2

$9,759,000

$10,246,800

$10,735,080

$13,547,671

$44,288,551

3

$8,763,720

$9,201,720

$9,640,200

$12,185,213

$39,790,853

4

$7,901,280

$8,296,560

$8,691,480

$10,994,722

$35,884,042

5

$7,155,240

$7,512,720

$7,870,560

$9,972,000

$32,510,520

6

$6,498,600

$6,823,320

$7,148,760

$9,064,628

$29,535,308

7

$5,932,440

$6,229,320

$6,525,360

$8,287,207

$26,974,327

8

$5,434,800

$5,706,600

$5,978,400

$7,604,525

$24,724,325

9

$4,995,840

$5,245,680

$5,495,520

$7,001,292

$22,738,332

10

$4,746,000

$4,983,480

$5,220,360

$6,655,959

$21,605,799

11

$4,508,640

$4,734,120

$4,959,720

$6,581,548

$20,784,028

12

$4,283,280

$4,497,720

$4,711,800

$6,492,860

$19,985,660

13

$4,069,200

$4,272,600

$4,475,880

$6,396,033

$19,213,713

14

$3,865,800

$4,059,000

$4,252,560

$6,298,041

$18,475,401

15

$3,672,120

$3,855,840

$4,039,320

$6,192,278

$17,759,558

16

$3,488,760

$3,663,240

$3,837,960

$5,887,431

$16,877,391

17

$3,314,160

$3,480,000

$3,645,720

$5,599,826

$16,039,706

18

$3,148,560

$3,305,880

$3,463,320

$5,326,586

$15,244,346

19

$3,006,720

$3,157,200

$3,307,560

$5,093,642

$14,565,122

20

$2,886,240

$3,030,600

$3,174,840

$4,895,603

$13,987,283

21

$2,770,800

$2,909,640

$3,048,120

$4,855,655

$13,584,215

22

$2,660,040

$2,793,120

$2,926,200

$4,813,599

$13,192,959

23

$2,553,960

$2,681,880

$2,809,080

$4,767,009

$12,811,929

24

$2,451,840

$2,574,360

$2,697,120

$4,717,263

$12,440,583

25

$2,353,680

$2,471,160

$2,589,120

$4,663,005

$12,076,965

26

$2,275,680

$2,389,080

$2,502,960

$4,512,837

$11,680,557

27

$2,209,920

$2,320,440

$2,430,960

$4,385,452

$11,346,772

28

$2,196,360

$2,306,400

$2,416,200

$4,361,241

$11,280,201

29

$2,180,280

$2,289,120

$2,398,560

$4,329,401

$11,197,361

30

$2,164,560

$2,272,800

$2,381,280

$4,298,210

$11,116,850

 

2022-23 Rookie Scale Baseline

Pick

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

Total

1

$9,089,200

$9,543,900

$9,998,300

$12,607,856

$41,239,256

2

$8,132,500

$8,539,000

$8,945,900

$11,289,726

$36,907,126

3

$7,303,100

$7,668,100

$8,033,500

$10,154,344

$33,159,044

4

$6,584,400

$6,913,800

$7,242,900

$9,162,269

$29,903,369

5

$5,962,700

$6,260,600

$6,558,800

$8,310,000

$27,092,100

6

$5,415,500

$5,686,100

$5,957,300

$7,553,856

$24,612,756

7

$4,943,700

$5,191,100

$5,437,800

$6,906,006

$22,478,606

8

$4,529,000

$4,755,500

$4,982,000

$6,337,104

$20,603,604

9

$4,163,200

$4,371,400

$4,579,600

$5,834,410

$18,948,610

10

$3,955,000

$4,152,900

$4,350,300

$5,546,633

$18,004,833

11

$3,757,200

$3,945,100

$4,133,100

$5,484,624

$17,320,024

12

$3,569,400

$3,748,100

$3,926,500

$5,410,717

$16,654,717

13

$3,391,000

$3,560,500

$3,729,900

$5,330,027

$16,011,427

14

$3,221,500

$3,382,500

$3,543,800

$5,248,368

$15,396,168

15

$3,060,100

$3,213,200

$3,366,100

$5,160,231

$14,799,631

16

$2,907,300

$3,052,700

$3,198,300

$4,906,192

$14,064,492

17

$2,761,800

$2,900,000

$3,038,100

$4,666,522

$13,366,422

18

$2,623,800

$2,754,900

$2,886,100

$4,438,822

$12,703,622

19

$2,505,600

$2,631,000

$2,756,300

$4,244,702

$12,137,602

20

$2,405,200

$2,525,500

$2,645,700

$4,079,669

$11,656,069

21

$2,309,000

$2,424,700

$2,540,100

$4,046,379

$11,320,179

22

$2,216,700

$2,327,600

$2,438,500

$4,011,333

$10,994,133

23

$2,128,300

$2,234,900

$2,340,900

$3,972,507

$10,676,607

24

$2,043,200

$2,145,300

$2,247,600

$3,931,052

$10,367,152

25

$1,961,400

$2,059,300

$2,157,600

$3,885,838

$10,064,138

26

$1,896,400

$1,990,900

$2,085,800

$3,760,697

$9,733,797

27

$1,841,600

$1,933,700

$2,025,800

$3,654,543

$9,455,643

28

$1,830,300

$1,922,000

$2,013,500

$3,634,368

$9,400,168

29

$1,816,900

$1,907,600

$1,998,800

$3,607,834

$9,331,134

30

$1,803,800

$1,894,000

$1,984,400

$3,581,842

$9,264,042




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