How much prize money do NBA Cup players get, and how has it grown since 2023?

By McKinley Malbrough III, J.D., MS-HRM · Certified WNBA player agent · Former certified NBA agent

Published October 31, 2026. Last updated October 31, 2026.

This guide follows the money after the format. The rules, dates and base amounts are in the NBA Cup format post, the group stage is in the NBA Cup groups guide, and the first night of 2026 results is in the opening-night results post. The amounts below come from NBA.com and news reports and not from the collective bargaining agreement text.

How much prize money does an NBA Cup player get?

A player on the winning team got $530,933 in the 2025 NBA Cup, per the Associated Press, up from $500,000 in the first tournament in 2023, per NBA.com. The runner-up share rose from $200,000 in 2023 to $205,988 in 2024, per Hoops Rumors, and to $212,373 in 2025, per the Associated Press.

Teams that lose in the semifinals and quarterfinals are paid less. In 2023 those shares were $100,000 and $50,000, per NBA.com. In 2024 they were $102,994 for each losing semifinalist and $51,497 for each losing quarterfinalist, per Hoops Rumors. The Associated Press story reviewed for 2025 does not list those two amounts, so this guide does not give them.

Front Office Sports reported the 2024 winner share as $514,971, one dollar more than Hoops Rumors, per Front Office Sports. The two reports differ by a dollar, which looks like rounding, so this guide uses the Hoops Rumors figure.

Who gets a share, and what do two-way players receive?

Players on standard contracts whose team reaches the knockout round get a full bonus share, and two-way players get a half share, per Hoops Rumors. A two-way contract splits a player between an NBA team and its G League affiliate, and the library explains it in the two-way contract guide.

The half share is real money. A two-way player on the 2023 champion earned $250,000, per Sports Illustrated, and a two-way player on the 2024 champion earned $257,485, per Hoops Rumors. Every player on a standard contract on the roster gets the same amount, bench players included, per Front Office Sports.

The bonus can move a season's income. Seven Lakers players, including two-way players, saw their 2023 earnings rise by more than 20 percent from the Cup bonus, per Hoops Rumors. Agents notice that a team-wide bonus lands differently by contract: for a player near the minimum or on a two-way deal, a deep run can change the year's income, while for a player on a large contract it is a small share.

Why do the NBA Cup amounts change every year?

The collective bargaining agreement raises the prize amounts each year at the rate of the league's basketball-related income growth, per Hoops Rumors. Basketball-related income, or BRI, is the revenue measure the agreement uses to share money between the league and the players. The increase was just under 3 percent for 2024, per Hoops Rumors, and Front Office Sports described it as a 3 percent rise tied to the BRI growth factor, per Front Office Sports.

The 2025 figures fit that pattern. By the author's arithmetic, $530,933 is about 3.1 percent above the 2024 winner share of $514,970, and $212,373 is about 3.1 percent above $205,988. The arithmetic uses the Hoops Rumors and Associated Press figures.

No source reviewed for this guide gives the 2026 amounts. ESPN says only that the prizes rise slightly each year under the agreement, per ESPN, and gives the 2023 amounts. The league's own explainer says the prize pool goes to players on teams in the knockout rounds, with larger shares for deeper runs, but lists no dollar figures, per NBA Cup 101. This guide does not estimate them.

How big is the whole NBA Cup prize pool?

In 2023 the league handed out about $18 million in total bonus money, and just under half went to the winning team, per NBA.com. That figure is from the first tournament. The sources reviewed do not give a total for later years.

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The money matters most at the bottom of the pay scale. Front Office Sports compared the 2024 top prize to a league minimum salary of $1.16 million, calling it nearly half, and said it came close to the $578,577 paid to two-way players that year, per Front Office Sports. Current salary figures are in the 2026 minimum salary guide.

Does NBA Cup prize money affect the salary cap or taxes?

The news sources reviewed do not say how the prize affects the salary cap, the luxury tax or a player's income taxes, so this guide does not state a rule. The NBA.com explainer, Hoops Rumors, Sports Illustrated and Front Office Sports describe the amounts and who gets them, and none of them describes the cap treatment.

The cap treatment is a question for the agreement itself. The library's format post reviews the contract sections on the prize, and the cap basics are in the NBA salary cap guide.

How a payment is withheld and taxed depends on how the team pays it, and the sources reviewed do not describe that. A player or family should ask the team's payroll office and a tax professional before assuming anything.

What should a player or family check about NBA Cup money?

Start with the contract type, because it sets the share. Then confirm the details the public sources leave out.

• Contract type: a standard contract earns a full share, and a two-way contract earns half, per Hoops Rumors. The library's guide to NBA contract types covers the differences.
• The year's amounts: the latest verified figures here are from 2025, so look for the league or players' union announcement of the 2026 amounts.
• Round: only players on teams that reach the knockout rounds share the pool, per NBA Cup 101.
• Payment and tax: ask when and how the team pays the bonus, and how it is withheld.