NBA Salary-Cap Expert Projects Luka Dončić Supermax Contract and More in Bonus Watch

If fans were up in arms over Jaylen Brown signing a five-year contract extension that could be worth as much as $304 million with the Boston Celtics this summer, wait until they get a look at what's going to happen in the next few years.

Per ESPN's Bobby Marks, Dallas Mavericks star Luka Dončić "is on pace" to become the first player in NBA history to make $70 million in a single season.

Here are the other candidates whom Marks lists as potentially being eligible to earn a supermax extension depending on how things play out during the 2023-24 season:

• Jamal Murray, PG, Denver Nuggets 
• De'Aaron Fox, PG, Sacramento Kings
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, PG, Oklahoma City Thunder
• Bam Adebayo, C, Miami Heat
• Pascal Siakam, PF, Toronto Raptors
• Brandon Ingram, SF, New Orleans Pelicans
• Jaren Jackson Jr., C, Memphis Grizzlies

Dončić could be eligible for a five-year, $318 million supermax extension if he makes the All-NBA team, but he wouldn't be able to sign it until the summer of 2025 because of service-time rules.

Marks did note Dončić's extension could end up being worth $367.5 million if the salary cap increases by the maximum 10 percent every season over the next three years.

"The last year of the contract would be $83.6 million," Marks wrote.

The 24-year-old has made the All-NBA first team in each of the past four seasons. His future in Dallas was the source of speculation as the team limped to the finish line at the end of the 2022-23 campaign. However, The Athletic's Tim Cato noted in July that he's "currently happy" with the situation.

Jamal Murray might be the most fascinating of the potential extension candidates after Dončić. He looked like he got better as the 2022-23 season went along, and he is further removed from the torn ACL that kept him out for all of the 2021-22 campaign.

In 20 playoff games, Murray averaged 26.1 points and 7.1 assists while shooting 39.6 percent from three-point range in 39.9 minutes per contest.

Murray is currently eligible to sign a three-year extension worth nearly $144 million that is available to him until Oct. 23. The deal would tie him to the Nuggets through the 2027-28 season.

If Murray opts to play things out this season, Marks noted he could be eligible for a five-year, $303 million extension next summer if he makes an All-NBA team. The 26-year-old has never made the All-Star or All-NBA team in his seven-year career.

The Nuggets already have Nikola Jokić locked into a five-year, $276.1 million deal that starts this season. They are entering their second consecutive season in the luxury tax and currently have a $22.7 million tax bill.

If Denver winds up extending Murray, either before the start of the upcoming season or next summer, it's safe to assume the team will stay in the luxury tax for a number of years. That's exactly what a team with a terrific roster led by a perennial MVP candidate in Jokić should be doing with its payroll.

Brandon Ingram is eligible for the same three-year deal as Murray right now with the possibility for a $303 million deal next offseason with an All-NBA selection.

Ingram has to have a healthy season to have a chance at a supermax deal. The 26-year-old has appeared in only 100 games over the past two seasons, which has been the biggest obstacle to challenging for a spot on the All-NBA team.

Last season might have been Ingram's best chance to make the squad so far in his career. He averaged a career-high 24.7 points and shot 39.0 percent from behind the arc, but he was only on the court for 45 games because of a toe injury.

An All-NBA selection would make Ingram eligible for a five-year, $303 million extension from the New Orleans Pelicans next summer.

Sacramento Kings breakout star De'Aaron Fox would seem highly unlikely to take the two-year, $98 million extension he's eligible to sign through Oct. 23. A second straight All-NBA selection this season would make him eligible for a four-year, $245 million extension next summer.

Marks noted Fox could also put himself in line for a five-year supermax in the summer of 2025 if he makes the All-NBA team again this season.

Jaren Jackson Jr. might be in line for a $318 million deal from the Memphis Grizzlies in two years if he either wins Defensive Player of the Year for a second consecutive season or makes the All-NBA team.

One significant change in the new collective bargaining agreement is that All-NBA teams no longer have positional requirements. Voters can simply pick the five best players to be on the first team, the next five players for the second team and next five for the third team.

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo is likely to be the extension-eligible player cited by Marks who's most impacted by the change. He's yet to make the All-NBA team in his career, and his offensive output will likely not be good enough this season, with Jokić, Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis ahead of him as centers.

Adebayo has finished in the top five in Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past four seasons. He certainly has the talent to win the award this season, which would put him in line for a four-year, $245 million extension next offseason.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's ascent to superstardom last season has put him on track to receiving a four-year supermax worth $258 million if he can make the All-NBA team again this season.

Since next season will only be Gilgeous-Alexander's sixth year in the NBA, he would have to wait until the summer of 2025 to sign his supermax extension. He averaged 31.4 points per game on 51.0 percent shooting last season for the Oklahoma City Thunder and followed that up by leading Canada to a bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA World Cup.

As for the three players who have signed their rookie max extensions already—Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, LaMelo Ball of the Charlotte Hornets, and Tyrese Hailburton of the Indiana Pacers—Marks noted their deals could come with an additional $41 million in earnings if they win MVP, Defensive Player of the Year or make the All-NBA team this season.

Edwards feels like the safest bet from that group to at least hit one of those criteria. He received the most support in All-NBA voting last season with 14 total points. Everyone associated with Team USA during the FIBA World Cup raved about him as the go-to guy on the roster.

Haliburton looks like he's ascending to an All-NBA level, but being a guard will make it difficult for him to break onto the roster this season. If he can lead the Pacers to the playoffs while averaging another double-double as he did in 2022-23, there's a chance it could happen.

Ball may be punished by virtue of playing on a Hornets team that's likely to be bad. Gilgeous-Alexander and Damian Lillard were the only players who made the All-NBA squad on losing teams last season, but SGA at least got the Thunder into the play-in tournament.

Lillard is an already established star who averaged a career-high 32.2 points per game and was carrying an overmatched Portland Trail Blazers team until the wheels fell off after the All-Star break.

In addition to playing for a Hornets team that isn't likely to get a lot of national attention, Ball has to show he will be healthy after suffering a fractured ankle during a Feb. 27 game against the Detroit Pistons that ended his 2022-23 season.