Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic is one of the best players in the NBA (and world), but is he on the path to becoming the highest-paid athlete in the Association?
On a recent episode of The Hoop Collective podcast, ESPN's Brian Windhorst, Tim MacMahon, and Bobby Marks turned their attention to the rapidly escalating salary landscape in the NBA and discussed some of the players most likely to push it into unprecedented territory. Doncic was one of the names that came up, but there were others.
As Windy and Co. mapped out the massive numbers already circulating for stars like Nikola Jokic ($121.9 million over the next two seasons), the conversation landed on a striking point: they once assumed Doncic would become the league’s first $100 million average annual value (AAV) player.
NBA analysts once thought that Luka Doncic would be the league's first $100 million AAV player
“I just thought it was going to be Luka,” MacMahon said, with Windhorst noting he had eyed Victor Wembanyama for that distinction. Wemby turned heads this offseason by taking a team-friendly extension -- don't expect him to break AAV records in the future.
Nonetheless, the Hoop Collective's broader point was that the $100 million AAV threshold is no longer a distant fantasy in the NBA. While Doncic's excellence at such a young age had positioned him to be the league's highest-paid player, it's only a matter of time before the next big thing picks up the torch and lands a $100 million AAV deal.
Doncic getting shockingly traded in February '25 reset his contract path. The three-year extension he signed with the Lakers gave him some legit security but also sat well below his originally-conceived salary ceiling.
But what are players like Luka Doncic and LeBron James actually worth?
There's a ton of debate to be had when discussing the real value of guys like Luka or LeBron ... in terms of how much revenue they generate for their franchises that can't be readily taken into account.
For example, it's wild that LeBron will be earning less than $4 million next season for the Philadelphia 76ers, given how much economic impact he'll have on the city of Philadelphia and the 76ers franchise during that time span.
The brightest and most globally-attractive stars in the NBA aren't ever properly compensated -- even when they're on supermax deals -- and you can loop Luka into that category.
Lakers will eventually have to pay Luka Doncic another massive deal
Luka is still only 27 years old, and he'll be 29 at the time of his next player option with the Lakers. This means that we're not that far off from the Lakers potentially having to pay Luka a gargantuan sum in free agency. Will it reach the $100 million AAV that the Hoop Collective was discussing? Probably not quite, but depending on whether or not Luka reaches MVP-level of play over the next couple of seasons, it might be closer than you think.
The elephant in the room amid all of this are the NBA's second-apron restrictions, which could prevent a team like the Lakers from building a sufficient contender around Luka as he becomes more and more expensive as an individual asset.
Then again, perhaps the NBA is becoming a league wherein teams must throw all their eggs into the basket of one central superstar and live with the rest of the roster. If that's the case, the Lakers have to be happy about having Luka in their central role. He's arguably the best offensive player in the sport, and he certainly generates fan intrigue that will keep Lakers fans locked in for years to come.
Add us as a preferred source on Google