Players from a franchise in the NBA spend over 6-7 months on the basketball court and compete against 29 other teams while looking to ensure that they always perform at their best. All for the pursuit of possessing the prestigious Larry O’Brien trophy and adding the ultimate accolade to their name.

While players earn a more than substantial salary from their team management in accordance with their contracts, winning a championship also grants them a bit of a financial bonus. However, the process of granting the same is not as straightforward as one thinks it would be.

How do NBA Championship winners get their money?

The National Basketball Association reportedly does not provide any additional money to the championship-winning team or its players. This is in complete contrast to many other sports leagues which pay out a huge sum for having secured the ultimate title. While the NBA itself is reportedly not contractually obligated to do so, the winners still get an additional bonus through a system known as the Players Playoff Pool.

The Players Playoff Pool focuses on accumulating all the money that has been generated from the tickets sold during the postseason games. This includes the first round of the playoffs, the Conference Semi Finals, the Conference Finals, and the NBA Finals. At the end of the tournament, all eight teams that qualified for the playoffs will be given a percentage of the amount accumulated from the pool. The higher a franchise went during the postseason, the more it will get.

The Pool Amount has varied over the past few years. This is due to the various factors including inflation and demand, that have played a role in the increase of ticket prices. In 2016, the Players Playoff Pool had over $15 million. According to reports, the expectation was for the total amount to rise by $1 million annually. However, during the 2022-23 NBA season, the Prize Pool went up to a jaw-dropping 27.5 million. This was almost an 83.33% increase within a span of 7 years.

According to Marca and NBC Sports, the teams that made the playoffs last year got up to $ $402,479, those that qualified for the Conference Semifinals received $478,902 each, and those that made it to the Conference Finals got $ 791,398 each. The loser of the NBA Finals, the Miami Heat, was reportedly awarded $3.16 million for reaching this stage, while the winners, the Denver Nuggets, received a whopping $4.77 million. The rest of the money is divided amongst teams based on the win records they established.

By including everything that they received from each of the four stages of the playoffs, Nikola Jokic and co. reportedly walked off with a total prize money of $7.8 million. Now that’s a huge payday when separated amongst all the players and other members of the franchise!

What is the Players Playoff Pool for the 2023-24 season?

The ongoing NBA tournament is now approaching its final stage. For the first time ever, the Dallas Mavericks and the Boston Celtics will battle it out to secure the championship ring. The teams of Luka Doncic and Jayson Tatum reached this stage after going up against several of the other underdog franchises that had made a mark this season. Given the enthusiasm that the matchups generated during the playoffs, there was an expectation that the Prize Pool would increase by a lot this year. Not to everyone’s surprise, it did!

According to Sportico, the Players Playoff Pool for this tournament is set to house over $33.7 million in prize money. Excluding the money that will get distributed based on the team positions on the points chart, the rest of the amount is expected to be divided like this:

The Dallas Mavericks or the Boston Celtics: Who will you be choosing to take all this money back home? Let us know in the comments down below.

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