Incentives are built into many contracts, but what do those bonuses look like for the 2017-18 season?
Here's how certain players can earn extra money, including multiple All-Stars, and what that means for their teams.
In 2017-18, 34 players have potential bonuses in their contract, including 14 who signed a contract in the offseason or are in their first year of a rookie extension.
These 34 players do not include a player who has a trade kicker or a rookie who could earn a bonus for playing in summer league.
The Utah Jazz currently have six players with incentive bonuses, the most in the NBA.
All-Star | Defense | Games or minutes played | Games played plus postseason | Statistical bonuses | The cost of injury | The hard cap and bonuses
All-Star
There is a significant financial impact this season for players either voted as an All-Star starter by the media, fans and players or selected as an All-Star reserve by the head coach in their conference.
Twelve players have over $5 million in bonuses built into their contract for earning an All-Star berth, including Jrue Holiday, Dennis Schroder, Paul Millsap, Kyle Lowry and Rudy Gobert.
New Denver Nuggets PF Paul Millsap's $500,000 bonus is deemed likely as a result of playing in the All-Star Game last season as a member of the Atlanta Hawks. Millsap would earn the bonus this season if he is selected as a frontcourt player in the loaded West.
Toronto Raptors PG Lowry's $200K All-Star bonus is considered unlikely even with the point guard appearing in the All-Star Game last season. Lowry must appear in 65 games and play more than 25 minutes per game for the bonus to trigger. Last season, Lowry played in only 60 games. The same minutes and games criteria are also in place for All-NBA and All-Defense, if the Raptors reach the conference finals and NBA Finals and if they win the championship.
In total, Lowry could earn an extra $2M if he earns the above honors along with the Raptors' having a strong playoff run.
One player who is likely to be snubbed because of the position he plays and the rules for how a player selected is Gobert, the Utah Jazz center.
Gobert has a $1M bonus if he is named a starter or reserve (not as a replacement player) in the All-Star Game. Gobert's chances have been made more difficult since the starting center position for All-Star voting was eliminated in 2012. Now centers are combined with small forwards and power forwards.
If Gobert has an All-Star-type season, he will likely be overshadowed in voting by Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and either Anthony Davis or Draymond Green as a starter in the frontcourt. Gobert would have to rely on the head coaches' vote to be selected.
Other players with All-Star bonuses
• Kenneth Faried, DEN: $500K
• Thaddeus Young, IND: $250K
• John Henson, MIL: $250K
• Omer Asik, NOP: $250K
• Evan Fournier, ORL: $500K
• Nikola Vucevic, ORL: $500K
• Tyson Chandler, PHX: $500K
• Derrick Favors, UTA: $200K (no bonus if named as a replacement)
Defense
Sometimes, timing is everything when it comes to bonuses. Take into account Gobert.
He signed a four-year, $90M rookie extension last October that was laden with bonus incentives that would not start until the 2017-18 season. Although Gobert met the criteria for achieving All-Defense and statistical benchmarks for rebounding in 2016-17, there was no financial reward because the extension didn't begin until the next season. Gobert instead would have an additional $750K cap hit ($500K for All-Defense and $250K for rebounding criteria) because of the bonuses deemed likely for this season.
Gobert could also earn $250K if he has a defensive rating of less than 100. Last season, the Jazz had a defensive rating of 100.6 when Gobert was on the floor.
Gobert's teammate Joe Ingles also has the same $250K bonus in his contract if his defensive rating is below 100 this season (he must also play in 65 games). Ingles' defensive rating last season was 104.6, and in 2015-16 season, the Jazz had a defensive rating of 101.8 when Ingles was on the floor.
Other players with bonuses for defense criteria
• Dennis Schroder, ATL: $500K (at least 65 games played, plus All-Defense 1st or 2nd team)
• Will Barton, DEN: $250K (DPOY), $250K (All-Defense 1st team), $200K (All-Defense 2nd team)
• Paul Millsap, DEN: $250K (All-Defense 1st team); $150K (All-Defense 2nd team); $150 (at least 65 games played, plus at least 7 defensive rebounds per 36 minutes)
• Thaddeus Young, IND: $400K (DPOY), $300K (All-Defense 1st team), $200K (All-Defense 2nd team)
• Tony Snell, MIL: $500K (DPOY), $250K (All-Defense 1st team), $150K (All
• John Henson, MIL: $500K (DPOY), $350K (All-Defense 1st team), $250K (All-Defense 2nd team)
• Bismack Biyombo, ORL: $500K (DPOY)
• Tyson Chandler, PHX: $500K (DPOY), $250K (All-Defense 1st team)
• Derrick Favors, UTA: $500K (DPOY), $200K (All-Defense 1st team), $100K (at least 67 games played, plus individual defensive rating equal to or less than 100)
Games or minutes played
There is a $1.1M incentive for Miami Heat SG Dion Waiters to stay healthy.
Waiters, who missed 36 games last season with ankle and groin injuries, will earn $1.1M if he plays in more than 70 games this season. Before an injury-riddled 2016-17, Waiters had played in 70, 80 and 78 games in the previous three seasons. The bonus is deemed unlikely based on his injuries from 2016-17, but the cap hit for Waiters next season would increase from $11.5M to $12.6M if the criterion is met.
Waiters' new teammate Kelly Olynyk also has a $1M bonus if he plays more than 1,700 minutes. A role player the previous four seasons in Boston, Olynyk's high for total minutes played was in 2016-17 at 1,538.
Now, barring an injury, Olynyk is likely to reach the minutes-played criterion based on an increase of minutes played in Miami. The Olynyk cap hit for 2018-19 would increase from $11.1M to $12.1M if the bonus is achieved.
Staying healthy could also prove to be a financial windfall for New Orleans Pelicans SG Jrue Holiday.
If Holiday appears in 66 games this season and also plays in more than 2,075 minutes, he will earn a bonus of $510K. The bonus is currently deemed likely based on the fact that Holiday reached the criteria last season. Holiday also has an additional $255K in likely bonuses if he appears in 67 games and averages 7.3 assists and 3.15 rebounds per game. Last season, Holiday played in 67 games and averaged 7.31 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game.
The total value of unlikely and likely bonuses for Holiday is $4.7M.
Other players with bonuses for games or minutes played
• Miles Plumlee, ATL: $500K (at least 41 starts or 2,000 total minutes)
• John Henson, MIL: $500K (at least 75 games played) or $250K (at least 60 games played)
Games played plus postseason
There are several players, such as Orlando Magic SG Evan Fournier and Dallas Mavericks SG Devin Harris, who will receive a bonus based on games played and their team's success.
For Harris to reach his $500K bonus, Dallas would need to reach the Western Conference finals in addition to Harris' playing in 70 games.
Fournier must play in at least 60 regular-season games and 75 percent of the postseason, and the Magic must reach the playoffs. There is a financial incentive for Fournier based on each round the Magic reach. The bonus will increase from $150K for playing in the first round to $500K if Orlando wins the NBA Championship.
Orlando is in the midst of a five-year postseason drought, the longest in franchise history.
Other players with bonuses for games played and playing in the postseason
• Dennis Schroder, ATL
• *Paul Millsap, DEN
• *Jon Leuer, DET
• Victor Oladipo, IND
• *Thaddeus Young, IND
• *Kelly Olynyk, MIA
• John Henson, MIL
• Tony Snell, MIL
• Alexis Ajinca, NOP
• Jrue Holiday, NOP
• Omer Asik, NOP
• Bismack Biyombo, ORL
• Nikola Vucevic, ORL
*= Games played are not tied to the postseason.
Statistical bonuses
Portland Trail Blazers SF Maurice Harkless garnered national attention last April.
Harkless is one of many players who had statistical bonuses in his contract. He had a $500K bonus if he ended the 2016-17 season shooting 35 percent from 3 (with 100 attempts). Entering the last three games of the season, Harkless percentage sat at 35.1 percent from 3. A missed shot and Harkless would lose $500K.
Harkless earned the $500k bonus after not attempting a 3 in the last three games.
Dewayne Dedmon, the likely starter at center for Atlanta this season, has bonuses ranging from $300K to $900K for games played. Dedmon will reach the $900K bonus if he plays in at least 41 games and he averages more than 16 combined points, rebounds and assists. For reference, Dedmon averaged a combined 12.2 points, rebounds, and assists last season in 76 games as a role player in San Antonio. Dedmon will likely reach this incentive based on increased minutes in Atlanta.
Other players with statistical bonuses
• Jeremy Lin, BKN
• Thaddeus Young, IND
• Jrue Holiday, NOP
• Patty Mills, SAS
• Derrick Favors, UTA
• Ricky Rubio, UTA
• Alec Burks, UTA
The cost of injury
Getting injured while working out in the offseason cost not only the Pelicans their starting small forward for most of this season, but also Solomon Hill $489K.
Hill signed a four-year, $48M contract with New Orleans in the summer of 2016 and has close to $1M of bonuses tied into his contract, ranging from minutes played to All-Defense first-team honors. Hill reached the mark of 1,000 minutes played in 2016-17 to receive an extra $489K on top of his $11.2M base salary. Because the bonus was deemed likely before the season, New Orleans was charged a $12.2M cap hit (base pay plus likely bonus) for the 2017-18 season.
The minutes-played bonus will be deemed unlikely in 2018-19, and the Pelicans' cap hit will drop from $12.7M to $12.2M.
The hard cap and bonuses
Bonuses, although deemed unlikely, also impact a team's salary cap.
New Orleans and Toronto, both hard-capped at $125.26M, face financial restriction based on a player's unlikely bonus counting against the hard cap. New Orleans has four players, including Holiday, with bonuses in their contracts.
Before the recent salary dump of Quincy Pondexter to the Chicago Bulls, New Orleans had roster restrictions because of $5.4M of unlikely bonuses counting against the Pelicans' hard cap. The bonuses restricted New Orleans to have room to sign only a minimum player. The rule is in place in case a player such as Holiday reaches the unlikely bonus criteria, thus pushing New Orleans past the hard cap.
Toronto, like New Orleans, has unlikely bonuses counting against the hard cap. Kyle Lowry has $2.3M of unlikely bonus that count against the Raptors hard cap. Instead of $5.8M below the hard cap, Toronto, with the Lowry bonuses, is now $3.5M below the hard cap.
Other bonuses:
Body fat or weigh-in
• James Johnson, MIA
• Malcolm Brogdon, MIL
• Thabo Sefolosha, UTA
• Derrick Favors, UTA
• Alec Burks, UTA
• Rudy Gobert, UTA
All-NBA
• Paul Millsap, DEN
• Kenneth Faried, DEN
• Thaddeus Young, IND
• John Henson, MIL
• Jrue Holiday, NOP
• Nikola Vucevic, ORL
• Tyson Chandler, PHX