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LaMelo Ball and R.J. Hampton will reportedly end up making around $500,000 for playing the 2019-20 season in the National Basketball League, according to Jonathan Givony of ESPN.
Previous reports had the two players making around $100,000 in the NBL but Givony said they will eventually end up earning significantly more. Givony hinted on a recent episode of the “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Podcast” that the increase was due to reaching certain incentives placed in their contracts.
They will end up netting around $500,000 after they get their incentives … LaMelo Ball his last game was on Nov. 30. He had two triple-doubles and then he had this mysterious foot injury shut it down and then didn’t play another game for the rest of the season. That was a pretty big hit for the NBL. … He will end up making $500,000, he hasn’t gotten it yet but that’s what he’s going to end up making from this.
Givony was speaking about the contract for Jalen Green in the revamped professional pathway program launched by the NBA G League and mentioned that Green is set to make around $500,000 as a base salary but could earn more for games played, community appearances and other benchmarks.
Ball and Hampton helped the NBL reach several attendance and viewership records this season that likely helped boost their financial earnings. For example, the first matchup between Hampton and Ball was watched by more than two million people in the United States, the most-watched game in NBL history.
After losing Ball and Hampton to the NBL, the NBA and the G League worked tirelessly to help incentivize the top high school prospects to stay in the U.S. to develop for the NBA Draft.
The two sides knew they needed to offer more than the original salary of $125,000 that was discussed when the program first launched in October 2018 and they appear to have a better plan in place.
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