Kentucky alumni took the No. 1 position as the highest-paid in the NBA in 2014 and are unlikely to relinquish it soon. When the Wildcats replaced the Huskies at the top spot, they earned $107 million combined. By last year, their earnings had soared to $398 million, approximately 8 percent of the total NBA salary expenditure.
The days when North Carolina reigned supreme in the salary rankings are long gone. Tar Heel alumni have not ranked in the Top 8 since the 2019-20 season.
Below are the rankings year by year since 1990-91, the earliest date for which we have data. (The highest-paid player for each college is in parenthesis.)