Ja Morant’s suspension near the end of the season cost him more than just eight games without pay.
The Grizzlies’ star was suspended in mid-March for brandishing a firearm while visiting a Denver-area nightclub — as seen on an Instagram Live video — docking him around $1.5 million of his 2022-2023 salary, but it will cost him another $39 million on his next contract.
Morant, 23, signed an extension with Memphis last summer up to at least 25% of the salary cap at $192.2 million in addition to a possible 30% increase to $231.4 million if it came with an All-NBA team selection.
The so-called “Derrick Rose Rule” allows a player re-signing with his team to early more than the typical maximum allowed starting in the fifth season of the deal — if he meets certain criteria.
One of the criteria is being named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season or in two out of the three previous seasons.
Although the star point guard posted two top-10 marks this season in the league, having averaged 26.2 points and 8.1 assists per game, he only started 59 out of 82 games.
Ja Morant loses out on #39 million in upcoming contract due to the lack of an All-NBA selection.Getty Images
If not for the ban, Morant could have started 67 games — more than any other All-NBA member — and been more of a lock to have made it.
Since falling short of the nod, the two-time All-Star and 2021-22 All-NBA player lost the large sum over the next five seasons.
Morant’s wallet isn’t the first victim of the rule intended to reward the NBA’s star young players with higher salaries rather than
being a media- and position-based voting awards system.
Celtics star Jayson Tatum lost out on $33 million in 2021 when Kyrie Irving made the third team, despite Tatum having more votes.
Tatum was classified as forward and because he was snubbed, the league changed its CBA to make the All-NBA voting position-less beginning in the 2023-2024 season, according to The Athletic.
Other awards have ties to money as well, such as Jaylen Brown’s future eligibility to sign the Designated Veteran Extension this summer after an All-NBA second team selection.
On the flip side, Atlanta’s Trae Young earned a $35 million pay raise for being a 2022 All-NBA pick..
In the past, a player usually was not allowed to sign deals worth more than 30% of the cap until his 10th season, but the All-NBA clause allows for an earlier and richer reward — a salary worth 35% of the cap before his eighth or ninth season.
Jaylen Brown dribbles the ball during Game 5 against the 76ers in the 2023 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference semifinals.NBAE via Getty Images
Brown’s extension would begin in the 2024-25 season and would be a five-year deal between $190 and $290 million.
Without the new CBA, the Celtics otherwise would not have been able to offer Brown an extension worth more than what he could have cashed in for as a free agent after the 2023-2024 season.
The system around awards being tied to salary has received criticism in the past, but it seems like it will be here to stay.
“It’s a lot of pressure on you guys to have to make decisions that impact people financially,” NBPA president CJ McCollum said to the media at a press conference in February, according to Yahoo! Sports. “[But] I don’t necessarily have an idea of a better alternative.”
