2026's Biggest Sports Contracts, Ranked: $359.5M to $5M

$359.5 million to $5 million. That’s the spread across six contract stories Absolute Baller covered in 2026 — and neither the richest number on this list nor the smallest one tells you much by itself. Every one of these deals only makes sense next to the number sitting right beside it: what the player turned down, what a trade rule made him wait for, what a teammate makes instead, or what his side businesses are quietly worth more than his actual salary.

Lay all six next to each other and a pattern shows up that no single profile can: across four leagues, 2026 was the year “max contract” stopped meaning what it used to.

The Ranking

Two of the six deals ranked above Wembanyama’s aren’t actually signed yet — that matters, and it’s the first thing worth separating out.

1–2. The Two Biggest Numbers on This List Aren’t Real Yet

Nikola Jokić has been eligible for a four-year, $278 million supermax extension with Denver since June 14, 2026, according to ESPN and Front Office Sports. He hasn’t signed it — for the second straight summer, after also passing on a roughly $212 million offer in July 2025, per the Associated Press. The reason is arithmetic: waiting until he can hit 2027 free agency makes him eligible for a five-year, $359.5 million contract instead, the richest in NBA history per ESPN. He’s said publicly he intends to stay in Denver regardless — he’s just not signing anything before the bigger number is on the table. (Full story.)

Giannis Antetokounmpo’s situation is different: he has no choice in the timing. After the Milwaukee Bucks traded him to the Miami Heat on July 6, 2026, the NBA’s extend-and-trade rule barred Miami from offering him a new deal until six months after the trade closed — January 6, 2027 — regardless of when he’d normally become extension-eligible, per Hoops Rumors and ClutchPoints. Once that window opens, he can sign a four-year, roughly $275 million extension. Right now, the richest active NBA player by any plausible 2026 measure is technically playing on his old Milwaukee-era contract terms. (Full story.)

3. Wembanyama Signed — After Turning Down $50M

Victor Wembanyama’s five-year, $252 million rookie-scale extension with the San Antonio Spurs, signed July 10, 2026, is the largest deal on this list that’s actually in effect. It’s also smaller than it had to be: after winning unanimous Defensive Player of the Year, Wembanyama qualified for a 30% “supermax” tier worth up to $303 million. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported he chose the smaller 25% tier instead, deliberately leaving roughly $50 million on the table to preserve the Spurs’ salary-cap room to build a contender around him. (Full story.)

4. McDavid Named His Own (Lower) Number

Connor McDavid’s two-year, $25 million extension with Edmonton — an AAV of $12.5 million — is a fraction of the size of the three deals above it, and that’s the point of including it: McDavid proposed that number himself. It’s the same AAV he’d carried since 2017, and it sits below what his own teammate Leon Draisaitl makes ($14 million) and what Kirill Kaprizov just signed for in Minnesota ($17 million), according to NHL.com. The cap room it freed let Edmonton sign defenseman Jake Walman the same day. Five months later, McDavid led the NHL in scoring for the sixth time. (Full story.)

5. Kelce’s Smallest Paycheck Is His NFL Salary

Travis Kelce’s one-year, $12 million Chiefs deal (up to $15 million with incentives) ranks last among the signed playing contracts on this list — and it’s now the smallest number in his finances, period. Kelce and his brother Jason signed a three-year, $100 million-plus distribution deal for their “New Heights” podcast with Amazon’s Wondery in 2024, and Garage Beer, the light-beer brand they co-own, was valued at roughly $200 million after a 2025 private-equity investment, per The Drinks Business and Drinks Intel. Kelce is the one entry on this list where the ranked contract isn’t close to being the biggest number in his own career. (Full story.)

6. Wilson’s Record Is Real — and So Is the Gap

A’ja Wilson’s three-year, $5 million supermax with the Las Vegas Aces, signed April 15, 2026, is the largest contract in WNBA history. It’s also the smallest number on this list by a wide margin. Her deal averages roughly $1.67 million a year; Jokić’s free-agent number above works out to about $71.9 million a year. That’s a roughly 43-fold gap, in per-year terms, between the top and bottom of a list that spans the same calendar year of professional sports. Wilson’s own contract story put the comparison to Wembanyama specifically at roughly 30x; measured against Jokić’s bigger, still-unsigned number, the gap widens further. (Full story.)

Why Rank Deals That Aren’t Even Comparable

A fair objection: an NBA supermax, an NHL AAV, an NFL one-year prove-it deal, and a WNBA extension under a brand-new CBA aren’t measuring the same thing, and ranking them by total dollar value flattens real differences in league size, broadcast revenue, and collective-bargaining history. That’s true, and it’s also the reason this list exists rather than six separate ones: the gap between Jokić’s and Wilson’s numbers isn’t a rounding error, it’s the entire story of where sports money sits in 2026, in one table instead of six articles.

It’s also why four of these six deals are notable because of the number sitting next to the headline figure, not the headline figure alone. Wembanyama’s story is the $50 million he didn’t take. McDavid’s is the $4.5 million-plus a year he didn’t ask for. Jokić’s is the $81.5 million he’s waiting on. Kelce’s is the two outside numbers — a $100M+ podcast deal and a co-owned beer brand valued at $200M, neither of them money in his pocket alone — that dwarf his actual $12 million salary. Only Giannis’s delay and Wilson’s record are about rules and history rather than choice — and even those only land once you see the number they’re sitting beside.

More from Absolute Baller:

• Nikola Jokić Turned Down $278M — He Wants $359.5M Instead
• Giannis Antetokounmpo’s $275M Heat Deal Waits Until January
• Victor Wembanyama’s $252M Extension: Turned Down $50M
• Connor McDavid’s $12.5M Deal: Underpaid on Purpose
• Travis Kelce’s $12M Deal Is His Smallest Paycheck Now
• A’ja Wilson’s $5M Deal Is the Biggest in WNBA History
• The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in 2026
• NFL Team Valuations 2026: Record $9.6B Seahawks Sale