37.9%. That is how much of an NBA team’s salary cap Stephen Curry’s 2026-27 salary would take on its own. No other major league pays one player anything like that share. The NFL’s best-paid player, Patrick Mahomes, takes 21.2% of his league’s cap; the NHL’s, Leo Carlsson, 17.3%.
We built this page from the three salary tables behind our league rankings, all pulled on October 28, 2026: Basketball-Reference for the NBA, Over The Cap for the NFL and CapWages for the NHL, plus the PGA Tour’s official money list for golf. Comparing them side by side shows how differently each league shares its money.
The best-paid player in each league
| League | Player | 2026 pay | Measure | Salary cap | Share of cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NFL | Patrick Mahomes, Chiefs | $64.0M | average per year | $301.2M | 21.2% |
| NBA | Stephen Curry, Warriors | $62.6M | 2026-27 salary | $164.961M | 37.9% |
| PGA Tour | Scottie Scheffler | $30.9M | 2026 official money | none | — |
| NHL | Leo Carlsson, Ducks | $18.0M | cap hit | $104M | 17.3% |
The leagues count pay differently. NFL contracts are compared by average per year because guarantees and bonuses vary; NHL deals by cap hit; NBA deals by the season’s salary. Golf has no salary: official money is tournament prize money. We have not included Major League Baseball, because we could not access a contract table for it this time that allows reuse.
Share of the cap
The NBA is the outlier for a structural reason. Rosters are small, and the league writes maximum contracts as a percentage of the cap: up to 35% for a 10-year veteran, as our cap explainer sets out. Curry’s 37.9% is above even that, because his salary comes from an extension signed under an earlier cap with raises built in. On our count, the NBA’s 10 best-paid players average $58.3 million, 35.4% of the cap.
In the NFL, with 53-man rosters and a $301.2 million cap, the top 10 average $56.0 million, 18.6% of the cap. They are all quarterbacks. In the NHL the top 10 average $14.3 million, 13.8% of a $104 million cap.
Gap to the typical player
Turn the question around and the NFL is the most unequal. The median contract in Over The Cap’s table averages $1.61 million a year, so Mahomes earns 39.7 times the typical deal. Part of that is roster size and part is the shape of NFL contracts: 332 of the 1,996 contracts in the table carry no guaranteed money at all.
The NBA’s median is $6.75 million, the highest of the three, and Curry earns 9.3 times it. In the NHL the median is $3.11 million across 830 contracts on NHL rosters and injured lists, and Carlsson’s cap hit is only 5.8 times that. Hockey has the flattest pay scale of the three leagues.
| League | Contracts counted | Median | Top-10 average | Players at $10M+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NBA | 461 | $6.75M | $58.3M | 183 |
| NFL | 1,996 | $1.61M | $56.0M | 343 |
| NHL | 830 | $3.11M | $14.3M | 31 |
Where golf fits
Golf has no salary cap and no salary. Scottie Scheffler’s $30.9 million in 2026 official money is the most on the PGA Tour and more than the next two players combined, and his $130.4 million career total passed Tiger Woods this year. On prize money alone he would rank 63rd among NBA salaries and 43rd among NFL contracts. Endorsements change that: Forbes estimated his 2026 earnings at $79 million. See our Scheffler net worth profile.
Methodology
- NBA: 2026-27 salaries for all 461 contracts in Basketball-Reference’s contracts table, updated October 28, 2026. Cap: $164.961 million, per the NBA.
- NFL: average per year for all 1,996 contracts in Over The Cap’s contract table, pulled October 28, 2026. Cap: $301.2 million, per the NFL.
- NHL: 2026-27 cap hits from CapWages’ 32 team pages, pulled October 28, 2026, for players with an NHL roster or injured-list status (830 contracts). Cap: $104 million, as CapWages lists it.
- Golf: PGA Tour official money, through October 25, 2026.
- Our arithmetic. Every share, median, average, multiple and count on this page is our calculation on those tables. “63rd” and “43rd” place $30.9 million in each league’s ranked list.
The bottom line
Each league’s top earner is paid roughly what its structure allows. The NBA concentrates money in a few stars and caps them at a share of the cap that no other league comes close to. The NFL pays its quarterbacks like NBA stars and almost everyone else like role players. The NHL has the smallest cap, the flattest scale, and a new pay leader who is 21.
More from Absolute Baller:
- Highest-Paid NBA Players 2026-27: Top 25 Salaries
- Highest-Paid NFL Players 2026: Top 25 Contracts
- Highest-Paid NHL Players 2026-27: Carlsson’s $18M Leads
- PGA Tour Money List 2026: Scheffler’s $30.9M Season
- The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in 2026
Frequently Asked
Who is the highest-paid athlete in each league in 2026?
NBA: Stephen Curry, $62.6 million for 2026-27 (Basketball-Reference). NFL: Patrick Mahomes, $64 million a year (Over The Cap). NHL: Leo Carlsson, $18 million cap hit (CapWages). PGA Tour: Scottie Scheffler, $30.9 million in 2026 official money (PGA Tour). Counting endorsements, Forbes' 2026 list of the world's highest-paid athletes is led by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Which league pays its best player the biggest share of the salary cap?
The NBA. Stephen Curry's $62.6 million is 37.9% of the $164.961 million salary cap, by our calculation. Patrick Mahomes' $64 million average is 21.2% of the NFL's $301.2 million cap, and Leo Carlsson's $18 million cap hit is 17.3% of the NHL's $104 million cap.
Which league has the biggest gap between its top earner and a typical player?
The NFL. By our count of Over The Cap's 1,996 contracts, the median NFL contract averages $1.61 million a year, so Mahomes' $64 million is 39.7 times the median. The NBA's ratio is 9.3 (median $6.75 million across 461 contracts) and the NHL's 5.8 (median $3.11 million across 830 contracts on NHL rosters and injured lists).
Why are NHL salaries lower than NBA and NFL salaries?
Mostly because the cap is smaller. The NHL's 2026-27 cap is $104 million per team, against $164.961 million in the NBA and $301.2 million in the NFL. As a share of the cap, the NHL's top cap hit (17.3%) is not far from the NFL's (21.2%); the NBA is the outlier, because its rosters are small and max contracts are set at up to 35% of the cap.