When the Milwaukee Bucks secured their spot in the NBA Cup championship game, many of the team’s younger and lower-paid players were excited in the locker room. Yes, they have a shot at winning a trophy, which is great.
But they also have a chance to earn their biggest paycheck ever. The NBA Cup final — the Bucks vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder — will take place on Tuesday in Las Vegas, and the players on the winning team will each receive an additional $308,983 in prize money.
For the league’s top stars, this amount might be the equivalent of one game’s salary, or maybe half a game’s salary. However, for many players, this is still a huge sum of money.
“I try not to think about the money,” said Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is earning about $48.8 million this season. “No, it’s not accurate what I’m saying. I think about the money — but I think about the money when we talk about the young guys.”
The players on the winning team will receive $514,971 from the league’s Cup prize pool if they are on standard NBA contracts. The players on the losing team will get $205,988 each. Players on two-way contracts will receive half of those amounts.
Thunder two-way player Ajay Mitchell, who currently makes $578,577, usually earns about $7,056 per game. He will make much more than that on Tuesday, regardless of whether his team wins or loses.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of money on the line,” Mitchell said. “But my main focus is just on the win. It’s exciting to know that there’s money on the line, but the main focus is just winning another basketball game.”
The NBA Cup includes a prize pool to encourage players. Teams that lost in the semifinals — Atlanta and Houston — saw their players earn $102,994 each. Teams that lost in the quarterfinals — New York, Orlando, Golden State, and Dallas — saw their players earn $51,497 each.
“I might get a new watch,” said Knicks forward Josh Hart, when asked what he would do with his bonus. His response went viral, though he wasn’t entirely serious. “I don’t really care about the young guys getting money. I only care about me, what I’m going to spend.”
For six players on the Bucks and Thunder — Antetokounmpo, along with Bucks teammates Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez, and Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein — the difference between winning and losing on Tuesday is more than just an average day’s pay. On average, these six players make about $443,300 per game.
For the rest of the players, the trip to Las Vegas will provide a nice financial boost — with some benefiting more than others.
“Not everybody gets the same paycheck in the NBA,” said Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who makes about $4.8 million this season. “We have guys that are on two-way contracts and some guys that are fighting to stay in the league. So, obviously, that money is a bigger deal for some people than others — so we definitely play for that.”
Bucks reserve A.J. Green, who makes about $2.1 million this season, finds the idea of adding $500,000 to his salary for just one game incredible.
“It is crazy,” Green said. “But that shouldn’t make you play any harder. It really shouldn’t.”
Nothing makes Bucks forward Bobby Portis play harder. He treats every game with full effort. Portis is from Little Rock, Arkansas, where the average household income is about $60,000, and about one in six people live in poverty in the city.
He recognizes how fortunate he is.
“It’ll take guys a lifetime to make $500,000 where I’m from,” Portis said. “So, I don’t take any dollar amount lightly.”
Green said he would give part of his bonus to his church, some to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and save the rest. Mitchell plans to save almost all of the money he earns from the NBA Cup.
Antetokounmpo’s NBA contracts — both past and future — total around $460 million, which includes just his on-court deals. He achieved his goal of providing for his family long ago and has built wealth that will last for generations. But he still believes Tuesday is important for everyone.
“It’s life-changing money,” Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously, $500,000, you can put a down payment on a house. You can put the down payment on two houses. … It’s an ongoing joke we have in our locker room. We say we play for the young guys because this money will mean a lot to them. But it really means a lot to everybody — because it’s a lot of money.”
