Do NBA players get paid for being an All-Star? When the All-Star Game was created in 1951, no one thought it would reach the heights it has today. Hundreds of millions of fans in more than 200 countries around the world watch the game in which their favorite players are showcasing their skills.  

The NBA All-Star Game has taken on many formats over the years. For over 65 seasons, it saw the leading vote-getters from the Eastern Conference going toe-to-toe against the Western Conference.

Starting with the 2018 version of the All-Star Game, the player who led their conference in votes became the team captain. Each captain alternated picking players from the pool of All-Stars. This eliminated the traditional East-versus-West format and has become popular with players and fans. Therefore, in the recent editions of the All-Star game, we have seen teams called “Team LeBron” or “Team Giannis”.

Being named an All-Star is an honor for every NBA player who gets recognized as one of the best in the game with such a selection. The 24 players who make the respective teams each year are obviously the best ones who accordingly are also the highest-paid players in the league who may not have a team success but definitely have money in the bank.

Given the fact that NBA players are the highest paid on average of any US sports, none of them lacks money, especially the ones who make the All-Star teams.

The salary caps of the NBA teams and with that, players’ salaries have gone way up since the league signed the last contracts for the TV rights. The average salary of the NBA players in the 2020-21 season was $7.5 million. 

None of the top seven highest-paid players for the upcoming season will earn less than $40 million with Steph Curry leading the way with $45.8 million, followed by John Wall with $44.3 million and Russell Westbrook with $44.2 million. If you were wondering, LeBron James is sixth on this list with a salary of $41.2 million for the 2021-22 season.

Knowing that the views of the All-Star game have dropped in recent years, the league looked for a way to increase the number of fans who are watching it and decided that increasing the competitiveness will give them exactly that.

For that reason in 2019 the league decided to increase the amount of money that the players will receive for their participation in the All-Star game.

With the new rule, NBA players on the winning All-Star team receive $100,000 each, double the previous amount, while the ones from the losing team $25,000 each.

That’s an increase from what the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the NBPA and the NBA originally settled on. The 2017 CBA, which will be in effect until the 2023-2024 season, declared that “for their participation in an All-Star Game, players on the winning team shall each receive $50,000 and players on the losing team shall each receive $25,000.”

These changes were warmly welcomed by the players including the highest-paid among them, Steph Curry.

“That’s significant. For some players, they just want to see the game being worth their time,” said the two-time MVP who has made seven All-Star appearances.

The five-time All-Star Al Horford also thought that the league’s move is a good one.

“I think guys will definitely make the game more seriously,” Horford, said in reaction to the increased payout. “In the last couple of years, the games haven’t been good, and we’re all aware of that. But that’s a big incentive, for sure. We’re going to be diving for loose balls out there.”

Star point guard Kyrie Irving agreed that the $75,000 difference between the winners’ and losers’ earnings is significant.

“That’ll certainly make it more interesting,” said Irving.

A similar opinion has Golden State’s Klay Thompson who has earned more than $146 million in his career so far and has signed a five-year $190 extension despite the fact that he hasn’t played a single game in the past two seasons due to multiple injuries.

“I think it will help, for sure. That’s a lot of money,” said Thompson.

According to the latest rules, each All-Star team picks a charity where donations support local efforts. The NBA contributes $500,000 to the cause with the winning team’s charity receiving a $350,000 donation, and the losing team’s charity $150,000.

Of course, the All-Star weekend includes more than just the main event. There are other contests such as the Slam Dunk Contest, the Skills Challenge, and the 3-Point Shooting Contest that are scheduled for Saturday night.

In 2021, the winner of the Slam Dunk contest Anfernee Simons of the Portland Trail Blazers got $100,000 while the second place Obi Topin of the New York Knicks received $50,000.

For the Skills Challenge, the winner Domantas Sabonis of the Indiana Pacers got $50,000 and the second place Nikola Vucevic of the Chicago Bulls $35,000.

The same amount was given to the 3-Point Shootout winner Steph Curry and the runner-up Mike Conley of the Utah Jazz. The other participants also receive a paycheck starting from $10.000 to $25.000.

Being named an All-Star also makes a huge difference in a players’ resume especially when it comes to signing a new contract. Many players have used that to ink a massive contract, like for example Paul Millsap.

When teams and players are negotiating a new deal, both sides can agree that a certain amount of additional money will be paid to the player if he achieves something in the upcoming season.

Those amounts are known as a performance bonus, which technically is a type of incentive compensation where the player’s or team’s achievement of agreed-upon benchmarks during a season entitles the player to additional compensation.

These benchmarks must be based on numerical measurements, rather than, for example, generally shooting a better free-throw percentage than the prior season, or generally recognized league honors such as NBA MVP, Finals MVP, defensive player of the year, sixth man award, most improved, All-NBA team, all-defensive team or an All-Star team selection.