Doncic breaks records with his salary, can a Slovenian earn 70 million in one year?

• NBA

We have all already noticed that professional sports are changing rapidly. In addition to better sports and better athletes, something that has changed sports a lot is money. Many fans think that athletes no longer compete because they want to be the best and win, rather than because they want as much money as possible.

It depends from person to person, although in most cases we could agree with these statements. Luka Doncic will probably become the first basketball player whose one-year salary will be higher than 70 million euros. This is the result of research conducted by the American ESPN analyzing who can sign the so-called 'supermax contract'

There has been a lot of talk about whether Luka Doncic really deserves this much money, but we have to agree that if anyone does, then he is in the top 5 basketball players who deserve it. It is possible to sign a supermax contract if you have been in the NBA for a minimum of seven years and in one club, and then your salary can amount to 35% of the salary cap for that season.

However, there are additional criteria - you can get such a contract if you were chosen in one of the three best five NBA leagues in the previous year, that is, in two of the three previous years, or if you won the MVP title in one of the previous three seasons.

13 players have signed a super big money contract so far

A lot of money is involved in sports, especially the most popular basketball competition, the NBA. Of course, the more popular the sport and the competition, the more money there is in sports.

So far, 13 players have signed this type of contract, the last among them being Boston's Jaylen Brown, and according to ESPN research, there are currently eight players who can receive this type of contract in the future.

They are Jamal Murray, De'Aaron Fox, Pascal Siakam, Brandon Ingram, Bam Adebayo, Jaren Jackson Jr., Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luka Doncic. There is no Jayson Tatum on this list who has already met the criteria for such a contract.

The others still need some more criteria, and the closest to achieving them is Dončić. In fact, it is almost certain that he will win that contract and become the first player in NBA history to earn more than $70 million in one season.

The Slovenian was selected four times in the top five of the NBA league, so according to that criterion, he could already sign a supermax, but he still has two seasons left to play for Dallas. If he remains a member of the Mavericks, Dončić will be able to sign a supermax contract in 2025, which will be valid from 2026/27.

According to the projected salary cap, the first year of his contract will amount to $54.8 million, while in the last year he will earn more than $70 million with a salary cap increase of 5%. The sport will continue to change, but it seems unreal that even more money could come in. So where is the limit to which we can go?