Pick the position, grade the player against his positional peers, and enter the deal. The ladder shows what teams have historically paid for each tier at that position. Bands show what teams paid, not what a player is worth.
Each season's tier comes from how he played in the two seasons before it, ranked against his position. Salaries run through 2026-27, with signed future years through 2031-32 marked as projected.
| Player | Season | Cap share | Played like (at his position) |
|---|
Every veteran salary from 2014-15 through 2026-27 is labeled by how the player performed before that season, never by what he earned. Performance is value over replacement: LEBRON plus 2, times minutes, taking the better of the prior two seasons (the older one discounted 10%). Each player is ranked twice against the 500-minute players of the previous season: once against the whole league and once against others at his position (PG, SG, SF, PF or C). His tier comes from the average of the two percentiles, which credits both outright quality and standing at his position. Cutoffs follow league-wide counts: franchise is about the top 10 players, core to about 45, high-end starter to 90, starter / key reserve to 180, rotation to 270, and roster / depth the rest of the 500-minute pool. Veterans with no 500-minute season in either prior year are outside rotation / developmental; those earning more than 5% of the cap are left out, since missed time, not development, usually explains the gap. The dashed slate tick on each band is the median for that tier across all positions, so you can see where a position carries a premium or a discount.
Rookie-scale years for first-round picks are left out because their pay is set by draft slot, as are partial salaries under 0.8% of the cap. 2026-27 uses the league's announced cap of $164.961M. Future seasons (2027-28 on) use projected caps.
Salaries come from Spotrac, with Basketball-Reference filling gaps. Player value and positions come from LEBRON season data.
Each dot is a player's cap share. The shaded band behind it is the middle 50% of what teams have paid players at his position and tier, with the median marked. The number on the right is how far he sits from that median, in points of cap.
| Tier | Players | League avg | Cap share |
|---|
Committed salary by season as a share of each year's cap (projected after 2026-27). Terracotta is the part paid above tier medians, judged on how each player has played most recently. Vertical lines mark the cap, tax and apron levels.
Each player's tier comes from how he played over the two most recent seasons (LEBRON above replacement times minutes, the better of the two seasons with the older one discounted 10%), ranked only against players at his listed position. Tiers keep the same league-wide proportions as the Contract Ladder: franchise is roughly the top 3% at a position, core to about 13%, high-end starter to 25%, starter / key reserve to 50%, rotation to 75%, roster / depth the rest of the 500-minute players, and outside rotation / developmental for players without a 500-minute season in either year.
Bands are the middle 50% of veteran salaries for that position and tier from 2014-15 through 2026-27. Rookie-scale contracts are graded and shown against their tier band like everyone else. Because draft slot sets their pay, they are left out of the above, below and net figures by default; the toggle counts them in, which credits teams for cheap production from their draft picks. Non-guaranteed deals are listed at the bottom of the payroll but left out of every total until they become guaranteed. Waived players are listed last; guaranteed money still owed counts toward payroll as dead money but not toward tiers or the net. Future seasons use projected caps and the player's most recent evaluation, so they show what is committed, not how a player will age into it.