US$12 million per capita! The logic of money after the sky-high contract of the NBA, the business empire of accumulated gold and yuan

Curry's wrist trembled, and the basketball drew an arc and entered the net. Just as the crisp sound of brushing the net sounded, his account instantly increased by $200,000. This money is enough to buy a good house in full in second- and third-tier cities in China. This is not a dream but Curry's daily life. When ordinary fans are still stunning the contracts that players often have hundreds of millions of yuan, the huge and sophisticated machine of the basketball economy is running at high speed behind the scenes, continuously transporting real money.

Although the NBA's ratings have declined this year, the foundation of this "Golden and Yuan Empire" is still stable and even bigger in the tide of global expansion. Broadcasters around the world are rushing to spend a lot of money just to buy valuable game broadcast rights; stadium ticket prices have been rising year by year, but tickets are still hard to come by; peripheral products such as jerseys and sneakers with the star logo are covered with shopping mall shelves all over the world; advertising fees from major sponsors are pouring into the league's vaults like a tide. It is this efficient and interlocking commercial machine that supports the players' shocking sky-high contracts.

The entire NBA league has only more than 500 player seats, but it carries the passionate eyes of billions of fans around the world. Scarcity has become the core driving force for the surge in players' value. When Thunder rookie Homgren showed amazing defensive talent on the court, what the team management had planned was the price of his future maximum salary contract. The team's "big bet" comes from this - the Philadelphia 76ers presented Tobias Harris with a super contract worth 248 million. The bet is not only his scoring ability, but also the huge business potential behind him: the rush to buy playoff tickets, the soaring ratings and the subsequent financial resources. Looking back at 1999, Kevin Garnett signed the $126 million contract that shocked the league at the time, like a bombshell. However, time has changed. Today, this "astronomical number" that once shocked the entire league can even be difficult to meet the three-year contract of a player on the brink of All-Stars. As the league's salary cap continues to rise, the former "Mr. Billion yuan" is no longer strange and has become everywhere. As of 2025, the top 15 players in the NBA's historical salary rankings have all exceeded the $400 million mark in total career income.

LeBron James topped the list with a huge salary of nearly $600 million, while Stephen Curry followed closely behind with more than $500 million. When it was reported that Giannis Antetokounmpo (Antetokounmpo) is very likely to sign a three-year contract renewal worth $200 million in the future, people suddenly realized that the train of players' salary expansion has already started and is heading towards an unpredictable future at an astonishing speed.

In the smoke of this salary explosion, those sky-high contracts are not only an inevitable product of the operation of the "invisible hand" of market laws, but also accurately measure the cruel nature of professional sports. The players fought hard in the spotlight, exchanging the dazzling medal of wealth at the cost of deformed joints and premature aging knees. And every ticket and every jersey they buy is like a vote of support for this grand business feast. When Jaylen Brown signed the unprecedented $300 million contract, what weighed on him was not only the Boston Celtics' deep desire for the championship, but also a vivid proof of the rising commercial value of the entire NBA league. Ultimately, on the glamorous stage of professional sports, the ultimate code that supports its ever-expanding expansion is always the real money that is gathered from box office, broadcast fees and endorsement fees.