The NBA’s basketball-related income (BRI) for the 2024/25 season landed at $10.247 billion, according to a report from Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report and expanded coverage by Kurt Badenhausen of Sportico. That figure came in lower than league projections, leading to a significant reduction in player compensation, roughly $484 million collectively.
Under the terms of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), players are entitled to receive 51% of the league’s BRI annually. To ensure this revenue split is balanced, the league withholds a portion of player salaries in an escrow fund. For 2024/25, the NBA held back 10% of all player salaries, but 91% of that escrow money was ultimately returned to the teams. Only 9% went back to the players.
This financial breakdown means players ended up receiving just 90.9% of their stated salaries this season. For example, Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, who had the league’s highest salary cap figure at $55.76 million, saw his actual take-home pay drop by nearly $5 million.
Badenhausen attributes the league’s revenue dip to several contributing factors, including instability around local media rights deals. Additionally, deep playoff runs by small-market franchises like the Indiana Pacers and eventual champions Oklahoma City Thunder may have impacted playoff gate revenues, which tend to be lower for teams outside major TV markets.
Although players were affected by the escrow imbalance this year, it hasn’t always worked against them. Between 2014 and 2017, league revenues exceeded expectations, resulting in full escrow refunds to players along with additional payments to meet the agreed-upon 51% revenue share.
On the flip side, the NBA increased escrow withholdings during the pandemic-shortened seasons due to steep revenue losses.
Looking ahead, Badenhausen reports that player earnings are expected to rebound in the 2025/26 season. The league’s new media rights agreements—worth more than $76 billion over 11 years are set to begin this year. Those deals will generate approximately $7 billion annually from ESPN/ABC (Disney), NBC, and Amazon. By comparison, the league’s previous contract with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery (TNT) brought in just $2.7 billion per year.
