Giannis Antetokounmpo starts the season priced at $18.5M.
NBA basketball will be played this month. For the first time since April, that means Salary Cap players are back in the game.
Starting salaries are now available for stars, journeymen and newcomers alike, allowing players to begin scheming for their respective drafts as training camp across the league begins this week.
Here are the top players in salary for Front Court and Back Court positions:
Front Court
Nikola Jokić, $22.0M
There’s no fantasy star quite like the Joker, and that reflects in his eye-popping salary. He’s the only player in the game to cost upwards of $20M following a season in which he had a staggering 4501.4 total fantasy points (TFP) – over 350 more than the next-best tally.
Jokić’s ability to score, pass and rebound at a high level is singular. In 2024-25, he became only the third different player in league history to average a triple-double. The seven-time All-NBA talent is a sure bet for 30 fantasy points on any given night, and can easily produce many more.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, $18.5M
No player managed 100 fantasy points in a single game last season, but Antetokounmpo got closer than anyone. His 98.3 effort via 59 points, 14 rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and two steals on Nov. 13, 2024, was the season’s best showing.
The Greek Freak remains a potent threat in the front court even as he enters Year 13 in the league. His 3845.1 TFP ranked as the best mark among forwards, and for the seventh consecutive season, he was named to the All-NBA First Team.
Victor Wembanyama
, $18.5M
The former NBA Rookie of the Year set an All-NBA pace before deep vein thrombosis derailed his sophomore effort. En route to his first-ever All-Star selection, he averaged 24.3 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.8 blocks to offer further proof of his game-changing presence.
Wembanyama’s not quite the scorer the three players priced above him are, but he’s already established himself as the league’s finest shotblocker at just 21 years old. The French phenom was responsible for 2510.2 TFP by late February, and his development is far from over.
Domantas Sabonis, $17M
Entering his 10th year in the league, Sabonis is a bona fide beast on the boards. No other player could match his 13.9 rebounds per game in 2024-25, and for the third straight season, he led the Association in double-doubles with 61 across 70 regular-season appearances.
Sabonis’ knack for hitting double figures in both scoring and rebounding bodes well for fantasy players in search of a steady source of production. He turned in 3157.9 TFP while averaging 45.1 fantasy points per game (FPPG) as one of the more consistent options in the game.
Back Court
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
, $18.5M
The 2024-25 season is one Gilgeous-Alexander will never forget – MVP, NBA champion and Finals MVP, among other honors. He’s entered the league’s inner circle of super-stardom, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be leaving it anytime soon.
His 54.0 FPPG was a back-court best, and among all players, ranked fourth. That translated to 4107.3 TFP when all was said and done, making him one of just two – alongside Jokić – to pass the 4000-point threshold. The only question is how Gilgeous-Alexander can top what he just did.
Luka Dončić, $18.0M
The Slovenian superstar provided a smaller sample size than usual in 2024-25, but now that he’s comfortable in the purple and gold, he can focus on dominating the game like he so often has. There’s a reason he became an All-NBA talent in just his second year with the Association.
Dončić is a pure scorer in every sense of the word, and with strong rebound and assist numbers to complement, he clocks in as the game’s second-most expensive guard. Fittingly, the five-time All-Star’s 52.5 FPPG last year ranked second among back court players.
Trae Young/Cade Cunningham, $17.0M
The Pistons’ 180-degree turn shifted the spotlight to Cunningham, but Young quietly put together one of the most complete seasons of his career. The 27-year-old averaged a league-high 11.6 assists to go with 24.2 points per game, putting up 3398.2 TFP in all.
Cunningham fired on all cylinders en route to career-best averages of 26.1 points and 9.1 assists per contest, resulting in 48.0 FPPG. The fifth-year guard figures to be in the driver’s seat for years to come in Detroit, and if the team’s trend continues, a big individual season may be ahead.
James Harden/Anthony Edwards, $16.5M
As an elder statesman, James Harden produced more than some premier young talents a season ago with 3557.7 TFP. Staying on the court was crucial – playing 79 games for the first time since 2016-17 – and his scoring average rose from 16.6 to 22.8 as he now embarks on Year 17.
Edwards was committed to improving his 3-point shooting in 2024-25, and that paid dividends. He wound up as one of six players to tally 3400-plus TFP while setting a new career-high of 27.6 points per game. At just 24 years old, he’s primed for some big fantasy numbers.
