README.md

metadata

license: other
language:
  - en
tags:
  - nba
  - basketball
  - salary-cap
  - sports-analytics
  - finance
  - contracts
pretty_name: NBA Salary Cap & Contracts 2016-2026
size_categories:
  - 1K<n<10K

NBA Salary Cap & Contracts, 2016-2026

An analysis-ready dataset of NBA salaries, payrolls and the salary-cap system over ten seasons (2015-16 baseline through 2025-26, plus a mechanical 2026-27 to 2031-32 projection). It combines player-salary snapshots with the institutional thresholds that govern them: cap, luxury tax, aprons, minimums and the rookie scale.

Published by MrBridge. It backs the study NBA Salaries and Contracts, 2016-2026 on mr-bridge.com.

Files

Fifteen relational tables, as CSV, plus a single combined JSON (nba-salary-cap-contracts-2016-2026.json).

File	Rows	What it holds
player_salaries.csv	7,288	One row per player per season: salary, team, option flags, two-way and terminated flags
salary_benchmarks.csv	12	Per season: player count, total, mean, median, percentiles and the top-1 salary
team_payrolls.csv	360	Per team per season: total payroll and player count
payroll_by_roster_rank.csv	360	Per team per season: share of payroll held by the top 1/3/5/10 salaries
payrolls.csv	12	League payroll, reported and estimated luxury tax, top-payroll team, champion payroll
champion_payrolls.csv	12	Champion payroll versus the cap, as a share of the cap
cap_tax_aprons.csv	12	Salary cap, luxury tax line, first and second apron per season
max_salaries.csv	36	Maximum salary at the 25/30/35% cap tiers
min_salaries.csv	12	Rookie and 10-year veteran minimums
two_way.csv	12	Two-way base salary, slots per team, activity limits
rookie_scale.csv	12	No. 1 pick rookie scale at 100% and 120%
top_contracts.csv	11	Largest contract signed per season, with total, AAV, length and type
french_players.csv	26	French NBA players in the 2025-26 and 2026-27 snapshots
cap_projections.csv	5	Mechanical cap path 2027-28 to 2031-32 under the 10% growth ceiling
figures_to_reverify.csv	5	Transparency: figures flagged for a final cross-check

Notes

• Sources: player salaries and contracts come from HoopsHype's public salaries data (snapshot dated 2026-07-07). The cap, luxury tax, apron, minimum and rookie-scale thresholds come from the 2017 and 2023 NBA and NBPA collective bargaining agreements, NBA cap releases and Larry Coon's CBA FAQ, cross-checked against Basketball-Reference and Spotrac. Underlying rights to the source data belong to their respective owners.
• Snapshots, not final accounting: player salaries and payrolls are contract and cap-hit snapshots. They can differ from the NBA's final end-of-season accounting (dead money, incentives, cap holds, final taxes, converted contracts).
• Derived values: maximums (25/30/35% of the cap), the mechanical cap projection and the standard non-repeater tax estimates are computed by formula and labelled as such. See figures_to_reverify.csv for figures flagged for a final cross-check.
• Use: provided for research and educational use.

More from MrBridge

Explore MrBridge's data tools on Apify, and browse more open datasets and studies.

Attribution: MrBridge (mr-bridge.com).