The Washington Wizards selected AJ Dybantsa with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, choosing him over fellow prospect Darryn Peterson.
Dybantsa is expected to sign a four-year, $69 million rookie contract with Washington, according to a projection by contract database Spotrac confirmed by a league insider.
His first-year salary is projected at $15.2 million, a figure that reflects how dramatically the league’s expanding revenue has reshaped what incoming players can earn.
If the Wizards exercise their third- and fourth-year options on Dybantsa, a near certainty for any top pick who performs close to expectations, the deal would set a record as the largest rookie contract in NBA history.
That $69 million total would surpass the previous record of $68 million, a figure tied to Glenn Robinson’s landmark 1994 holdout that ultimately changed how the league structures rookie pay.
The NBA implemented its rookie wage scale the season after Robinson’s holdout, slotting the next year’s No. 1 pick, Joe Smith, into a three-year, $8.4 million deal instead.
Rookie contract values are directly tied to the NBA’s salary cap, which is expected to land around $165 million for the 2026-27 season, roughly a 7% jump from the prior year.
The second pick in the draft, held by the Utah Jazz, projects to a $61.8 million total deal with a $13.6 million first-year salary, with values declining steadily down the first round.
The last pick of the first round is projected to earn just $3 million in rookie pay and $15.5 million over four years, illustrating how dramatically draft position shapes early career earnings.
Veterans can earn up to 35% of the salary cap on supermax contracts, equating to roughly $58 million annually, and that ceiling is expected to keep climbing as new national television deals drive league revenue higher.
The NBA is the most-represented league on Forbes’ 2026 list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, occupying 20 of the top 50 spots across all sports globally.
However, the league’s salary structure has made it increasingly difficult for franchises to retain championship-caliber rosters and build sustained dynasties around multiple high-profile superstars simultaneously.
