What decides your role?
Every contract names a role: prospect, rotation, starter or star. The club sets it when you sign, and it stays the same until your next contract, whatever the seasons in between look like.
The club bills you from one score: your talent, plus 0.24 × your reputation, plus 0.35 × last season's impact (points + 0.65 × rebounds + 0.8 × assists + 1.8 × steals and blocks, per game). Each league asks for a different score, higher where the competition is tougher. For a first contract in a league you have never played, add 6. From age 33, age takes about 3 points a year off your score (about 1 for an NBA player with talent 86+ and an MVP in any league).
| League | Rotation | Starter | Star |
|---|---|---|---|
| NBA | 93 | 109 | 120 |
| EuroLeague | 88 | 104 | 115 |
| China | 83 | 99 | 110 |
| European minor league | 81 | 97 | 108 |
| G League | 84 | 100 | 111 |
Changing leagues moves the role too. Dropping at least 8 points of competition bills you one role higher, starter at the least, and a drop of 18 points or more makes you the star. The G League is the exception and bills you as you are. Going up to a tougher league you have never played caps your first deal at rotation, unless you ran the league below (a starter or star role and an A season), which earns a starter deal outside the NBA.
In the pro leagues the role also moves your minutes. Compared with a rotation deal, a prospect deal costs about 3 minutes a game, a starter deal adds about 3 and a star deal about 5.
How much does each league pay?
Each league pays each role inside a fixed band, per year and before tax.
| League | Prospect | Rotation | Starter | Star |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBA | $1.16M to $3.3M | $2.1M to $12.8M | $8M to $32M | $30M to $55M |
| EuroLeague | $100K to $220K | $250K to $700K | $800K to $1.7M | $2M to $4M |
| China | $150K to $300K | $500K to $900K | $1.2M to $2.2M | $2.5M to $4M |
| European minor league | $25K to $60K | $80K to $170K | $200K to $420K | $500K to $900K |
| G League | $40K to $45K | $45K to $85K | $85K to $125K | $125K to $160K |
Where you land inside the band depends on your talent within the range the role expects (55 to 76 for a prospect, 64 to 84 for rotation, 72 to 92 for a starter, 82 to 99 for a star), nudged up by reputation above 50 and popularity above 75, and down below them. Pay bunches toward the bottom of each band. Each offer then moves up to 8% of the band down or 14% up, and no deal goes below 80% of the band's minimum or above its maximum.
High school and college pay nothing. A start in a European minor league comes with a two-year prospect deal.
How long do contracts last?
Each league draws the length of a deal from its own odds, role by role. Stars sign the longest deals, and the G League almost always signs one season at a time.
| League | Prospect | Rotation | Starter | Star |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBA | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 4 years, 1 most often | 1 to 5 years, 3 most often | 1 to 5 years, 4 most often |
| EuroLeague | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 3 years, 2 most often |
| China | 1 to 2 years, 1 most often | 1 to 2 years, 1 most often | 1 to 2 years, 1 most often | 1 to 2 years, 1 most often |
| European minor league | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 3 years, 1 most often | 1 to 3 years, 2 most often |
| G League | 1 year | 1 year | 1 year | 1 to 2 years, 1 most often |
The Veteran Presence trait adds a year to every market offer, up to five.
How does free agency work?
Free agency opens at the start of a season when you play in a pro league and your contract has run out. It also opens the moment you are waived or bought out. The market brings 2 to 4 offers, and the best league still open to you always calls at least once.
Your own club makes one of those offers with a chance set by your role: 24% for a prospect, 44% for rotation, 62% for a starter and 82% for a star. An A or A+ season adds 12 points, a D or F season takes 18, and the chance stays between 8% and 90%. The club only calls while its league is still a market for you, and never after waiving you or buying you out.
Picking an offer signs it on the spot, and you play the coming season there. The one exception is a star offer longer than one year, which opens contract talks.
Which leagues call you, and when the NBA opens its door
NBA termsFree agent
How do contract talks work?
Talks only open on a star offer of two years or more. Up to four answers are on the table.
- Sign it as it stands
- The offer as written.
- Less per year, more years
- On a deal of 3 years or fewer: 80% of the salary for two more seasons, up to five.
- Leave money on the table
- On a salary worth at least a quarter of the league's top star salary: take 70% and hand the rest back. While the deal runs, that money makes your club stronger, which raises your playoff odds.
- Ask for more
- Your agent asks for 125% of the offer, never above the top of the band. A star starts at a 56% chance, plus 4 points per 10 reputation above 50 (minus below), plus 8 with your own club, plus 12 after an A+ season or 6 after an A, between 8% and 75%. If the club says no, it pulls the offer and you lose about 7 morale and 4 reputation. With no other offer left, you sign the original deal anyway: about 1 morale and 3 reputation lost (2 with your own club), where a clean signature would have gained 5 morale.
The supermax
In the NBA, with reputation of 70 or more, you can be offered a supermax once per career, in the last year of a deal at a club you have already played a season for. It runs five years at 1.45 times the salary your role would earn, still capped at the top of the band ($55M for a star).
Trades, buyouts and waivers
Forced trades
Only NBA clubs trade you, and only while you are under contract, from your very first NBA season. The chance is rolled at each of the season's two decision points: 9% for a prospect, 7% for rotation, 4% for a starter and 1.5% for a star, plus 0.08 points for each point of morale under 60 (less when you are happier), between 1% and 14%. Your contract travels with you, and the season is split between both clubs.
Buyouts
A buyout can only hit a starter or a star who just had a D or F season at the same club, on a salary at least a fifth of the way up its band. At the start of the next season the club rolls: 30% after an F, 15% after a D, plus a quarter of that for each year left on the deal, up to 50%. You leave with between 30% and 60% of what the contract still owed (half if you just sign), after tax, and free agency opens without that club.
Waivers
After a D or F season at the same club, the club can also cut you at the start of the next season. The chance starts at 6% in the NBA and 18% elsewhere, is multiplied by 1 after an F or 0.55 after a D, then by your role: 1.3 for a prospect, 1 for rotation, 0.6 for a starter and 0.2 for a star, up to 30%. A waived player keeps no money from the deal, and free agency opens without that club.
Where does the money go?
A salary is quoted before tax. Tax, the agent and escrow leave a share of it in your account, and that share depends on the league.
| League | You keep |
|---|---|
| NBA | 51% |
| EuroLeague | 62% |
| China | 74% |
| European minor league | 62% |
| G League | 78% |
Each season adds your net salary, endorsements worth $1,800 per point of popularity in the pro leagues (taxed the same way) and business dividends. It subtracts the upkeep of what you own and the interest on your debt. With no contract running, a pro league pays you its prospect salary.
Cash you invest rides the markets: most seasons it grows 4% to 26%, and 8% of seasons it loses 55% to 100%.
Only pros carry debt. Money you owe above $250,000 at the end of a season costs 22% interest the next one, and it weighs on your morale. Your cash never falls more than $6M below zero. When cash runs out, your investments cover the hole first, then everything you own is sold at 40% of its price, which costs 14 morale and 10 reputation. A debt above $500,000 can reach the papers, and the more popular you are, the likelier it is.
What can you buy?
Money buys four kinds of things: for the body, for status, for your circle and for business. Each asset costs upkeep every season, pays back in ratings or dividends, and carries a yearly risk.
| Asset | Area | Price | Upkeep per season | On purchase | Every season | Yearly risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private chef | Body | $80K | $260K | Nothing | +2 Health, -2 Injury risk | 5% |
| Personal coaching staff | Body | $300K | $900K | +2 Morale | +2 Talent, +1 Offense | 13% |
| Sports science team | Body | $1.5M | $1.8M | +3 Health | +1 Defense, +3 Health, -3 Injury risk | 7% |
| Supercar | Status | $350K | $60K | +5 Morale, +4 Popularity | +1 Popularity | 6% |
| Family home | Status | $6M | $700K | +8 Morale | +1 Morale, +1 Popularity | 5% |
| Private jet share | Status | $12M | $3.2M | +3 Popularity | +2 Health, +2 Morale, -1 Injury risk | 9% |
| Superyacht | Status | $40M | $5.5M | +7 Morale, +5 Popularity | +2 Morale, +2 Popularity | 13% |
| Family and friends payroll | Circle | $500K | $1.1M | +9 Morale, -2 Reputation | +3 Morale, -1 Reputation, +2 Injury risk | 17% |
| Youth academy | Circle | $4M | $500K | +3 Popularity, +5 Reputation | +1 Leadership, +1 Morale, +2 Reputation | 6% |
| Restaurant franchise | Business | $2.5M | $300K | +1 Popularity | +$600K | 14% |
| Media company | Business | $9M | $1.5M | +4 Popularity | +3 Popularity, +$1.1M | 13% |
| Real estate portfolio | Business | $25M | $1.2M | Nothing | +$3M | 9% |
| Minority club stake | Business | $90M | $0 | +6 Reputation | +2 Reputation, +$6M | 5% |
You can own one asset per area. Buying and selling happen on the season recap, and an asset sells back for 60% of its price. Talent, offense and defense perks stop once your aging curve turns down, and from age 32 your assets add 3 health a season at most.
Private rehab
When your health drops under 68 in a pro league, the season recap offers private surgery and a winter of rehab, once a season. It costs $2.4M, plus $320,000 per point of health under 68, plus $700,000 per year of age over 29, and gives 16 health in full, plus up to 6 less injury risk and 3 morale.
On Small Market difficulty and above, the fortune screen closes: no buying, no selling, no investing and no rehab. Market offers (free agency, after a waiver or a buyout) also arrive 15% lighter. Rookie deals, undrafted deals and the contracts that come out of your decisions keep their full value.
Common questions
How do I get a max contract in Bball Destiny?
Earn star billing, then sit at the top of the star band: talent close to 99, with high reputation and popularity. The NBA star band tops out at $55M a year. Asking for more in talks or signing a supermax pushes the number up, never past the band's maximum.
Why is my take-home pay so low?
Salaries are quoted before tax. In the NBA you keep 51% of your salary and endorsements once tax, the agent and escrow are paid. The table on this page lists the share for every league.
Can I get traded in Bball Destiny?
Yes, in the NBA only, while you are under contract. The chance is rolled twice a season: from 1.5% for a star to 9% for a prospect, then moved by morale to anywhere between 1% and 14%. Your contract travels with you.
What happens when my contract is bought out?
The club pays you between 30% and 60% of what the deal still owed, after tax, and you become a free agent at once. Only a starter or a star on a well-paid deal can be bought out, after a D or F season.
Can I lose all my money?
Yes. Cash can fall to $6M below zero. When it runs out, your investments cover the hole first, then everything you own is sold at 40% of its price. A debt above $500,000 can make the news, and it costs morale and reputation.