A run-stopping linebacker. A tough-throwing right-handed reliever. A 2021 first-round choose who has but to common 10 factors per sport.
All three of them, in 2026, will depend $12.5 million in opposition to their respective groups’ payrolls, the identical quantity as the biggest hockey participant on the planet.
That could be the most crucial little bit of contextualization for the two-year, $25 million contract extension Connor McDavid gifted the Edmonton Oilers on Monday. He’s a possible Mount Rushmore participant in his sport, working at what might be his absolute peak, and he’s about to spend two seasons making 25 p.c lower than the highest-paid participant in the NHL, with a wage commensurate with depth gamers in the three different main North American leagues.
All due respect, in fact, to the three gamers cited above: Robert Spillane of the New England Patriots, Jordan Hicks of the Boston Red Sox and Moses Moody of the Golden State Warriors. No two leagues are the identical, in phrases of salary-cap ceiling, roster measurement, contract construction and different components — but it surely’s putting to see the place McDavid’s common annual wage would fall in the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball.
McDavid, acknowledged as the biggest participant in the NHL at this time and considered one of the biggest in league historical past, was already a bargain on his present contract, the eight-year, $100 million deal he signed in 2017.
McDavid was eligible to signal an extension on July 1, and after some transient however intense consternation, McDavid re-upped with the Oilers. But his $12.5 million AAV places him behind Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov ($17 million), Oilers teammate Leon Draisaitl ($14 million) and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon ($12.6 million).
“It’s a unique situation. We weren’t going to sign a long-term deal,” McDavid told reporters in Edmonton on Tuesday. “Two years at that quantity makes plenty of sense. It offers us an opportunity to increase our (championship) window right here in Edmonton. Lenny’s (his miniature Bernedoodle) not going to go hungry with that cash. We’ll be nice.”
Still, McDavid’s resolution is astounding. Rather than signal a max-level, market-resetting deal for greater than $20 million a season, which he simply may have executed had he turn out to be a free agent subsequent July, the 28-year-old is foregoing a increase solely, opting to go away the Oilers with extra salary-cap house to allow them to (doubtlessly) construct a roster able to successful a championship as a substitute of dropping in the Stanley Cup Final, which they’ve executed in the previous two seasons.
What it is not, although, is only altruistic. Winning a championship on his phrases, whereas enjoying alongside his shut pals, is McDavid’s private precedence. It’s additionally momentary. In two years, McDavid shall be eligible to signal one other contract extension, and at age 30, he’ll nonetheless command enormous cash. If he reaches free company in three years, McDavid will get his mega-bucks.
Plus, this resolution — obtrusive and memorable because it could be — shouldn’t be as distinctive because it might sound. Superstars in different sports have taken important reductions in order for his or her groups to have the monetary assets essential to compete at the highest stage. It tends to work out, which is nice information for McDavid and the Oilers, however there are exceptions. We checked out a few of the closest comparisons to McDavid’s new contract since 2000.
NHL: Sidney Crosby
This is as shut as we’ll get to an apples-to-apples comparability. Crosby, a generational NHL expertise, in 2012 signed a deal value $8.7 million yearly. At the time, that wage represented 13.5 p.c of the NHL’s wage cap. McDavid’s new contract comes in at 12 p.c. Crosby, like McDavid, did not carry the highest cap hit in the league; that was Alex Ovechkin ($9.54 million). Crosby, like McDavid, did not carry the highest cap hit on his personal staff; that was Evgeni Malkin ($9.5 million). Crosby, like McDavid, was willfully taking sub-market worth to chase championships in his chosen spot together with his closest pals.
If you are attempting to resolve which deal is extra team-friendly, although, there are some essential variations on both sides. Crosby’s extension was for 12 seasons, not two, that means that Pittsburgh locked him as much as a below-market deal by means of the entirety of his prime. The NHL permitted back-diving contract constructions at the time, although, which made the resolution a bit extra player-friendly. Crosby earned an enormous chunk of the contract’s total worth in its early years, together with $36 million of it in the first three seasons, whereas Pittsburgh reaped the advantages of the averaged-out cap hit. Crosby was additionally lower than one full season faraway from concussion-related points that had beforehand thrown his future in doubt and made the contract uninsurable.
The different variable, in fact, is that Crosby had already gained the Stanley Cup, and Pittsburgh’s entrance workplace had extra constantly proven the capacity to encompass him with high quality teammates. McDavid hasn’t been so fortunate.
MLB: The deferred-money crowd
We’re in October, so this one is prime of thoughts. The defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers are the runaway leaders in this division, with greater than $1 billion of deferred cash headed to eight totally different gamers beginning in 2028. Of that, $680 million, in fact, is earmarked to unicorn Shohei Ohtani, who’s incomes $2 million in money wage per season over the course of his 10-year contract.
For a staff as flush as the Dodgers, this is the definition of a win-win setup. They do not should pay Ohtani and Co. upfront, as a substitute permitting the cash to accrue curiosity that counts towards the eventual payouts, comparatively minimizing their luxury-tax invoice and sustaining the shorter-term monetary flexibility essential to signal extra proficient gamers.
On the gamers’ finish of issues, it is a matter of delayed gratification. The cash accrued surpasses the cash initially owed. Ohtani, freakishly proficient as he could also be, was not going to earn $700 million over 10 years in a usually structured deal. Financially talking, it is team-friendly and player-friendly in comparatively equal components.
McDavid, for comparability, is successfully saying “thanks, but no thanks” to greater than $15 million over the course of two seasons. That cash is not going into an escrow account; it is going instantly into the pockets of his present and future teammates. The most quantity that the Dodgers pays their gamers is essentially theoretical due to the means MLB is ready up. The most quantity that the Oilers pays their gamers subsequent season is $104 million, the NHL’s salary-cap ceiling.
NFL: Ultra-elite quarterbacks
In 2013, Tom Brady began a development that continued for the remainder of his profession. Brady, considered one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, did not essentially have a wage to match that standing. He agreed to a three-year extension value $33 million assured, saving the New England Patriots $8 million in cap house in 2013 and $7 million the following 12 months. Reports then indicated that the cash was earmarked for receiver Wes Welker, who wound up signing with the Denver Broncos. It went to Danny Amendola as a substitute. In 2016, Brady signed a deal that gave the Patriots $1 million choices in 2018-19 in case Jimmy Garoppolo stole his job. That, as you could bear in mind, didn’t occur. Brady and the Patriots gained two extra Super Bowls as a substitute.
Brady saved that up with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers; after successful the Super Bowl in 2021, they agreed on a four-year extension with three voidable years, permitting his earlier $25 million annual wage to be unfold out over the entirety of the deal. That freed up practically $19 million in cap house to retain gamers akin to Rob Gronkowski.
We’ve seen related approaches from Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen. Mahomes in 2020 signed a 10-year, $450 million extension with the Chiefs that was a report at the time however team-friendly in its personal means — the deal had a number of built-in potential restructure factors with solely $63 million assured (14 p.c). In the years since, 15 quarterbacks have signed contracts value extra yearly, usually with 40 p.c to 55 p.c assured, together with Kyler Murray and Kirk Cousins. Mahomes, for his half, has gained two extra Super Bowls and has but to overlook an AFC championship sport as a starter.
Allen, in the meantime, was coming off an MVP season when he signed his 2025 extension. He did not re-top the market both, signing a deal that pays him $55 million this season — lower than Dak Prescott — and allowed the Bills to signal a number of key free brokers forward of the 2025 season.
The main similarities between these three and McDavid: all have been the faces of their franchise, if not their leagues, and all three left important cash on the desk moderately than signing contracts that put them atop incomes lists for the length. McDavid may need left a bigger chunk — roughly 40 p.c — however he additionally set himself as much as signal a mega-deal in the close to future, whether or not with the Oilers or some other place.
NBA: Forward-thinking superstars
Last summer season, New York Knicks level guard Jalen Brunson signed an extension value $156.5 million over 4 years, moderately than ready till July 2025 to signal a max deal value a assured $113 million extra. Brunson, if all goes nicely, will be capable of signal in 2028 for $417 million over 5 years. In that case, he’d get his a reimbursement — but it surely’s a calculated gamble for a small level guard who, by that time, shall be 32 years outdated. The Knicks, in the meantime, have been in a position to re-sign key gamers and purchase others, akin to star heart Karl-Anthony Towns, with out hitting the NBA’s dreaded second wage apron.
Brunson’s motivations, mixed with the comparatively quick time period of the contract (4 years) and the chance of a bigger payout down the street, make him a becoming, considerably imperfect comparability for McDavid. Among NBA gamers, he is the most excessive instance, however he isn’t the just one.
When LeBron James and Chris Bosh joined Dwyane Wade with the Miami Heat, all three left cash on the desk: roughly $15 million per over the length of their authentic six-year offers, signed in 2010. James and Bosh signed for $110.1 million, Wade for $107 million. James opted out in 2014 after successful titles in 2012 and 2013, thanks in half to the addition of Ray Allen — a Hall of Famer who hit a game-tying three-pointer in Game 6 of the 2013 NBA Finals in opposition to San Antonio.
Kevin Durant, after becoming a member of the Golden State Warriors in 2016-17 and successful NBA Finals MVP, signed a new contract that paid him $25 million — $1.5 million lower than the earlier season and $9.5 million lower than the most he was eligible to be paid. That resolution allowed Golden State to, amongst different issues, re-sign core participant Andre Iguodala. They gained a second straight title that season, with Durant once more successful Finals MVP.
“I knew he was going to give up enough money to allow us to keep Andre and (Shaun Livingston),” coach Steve Kerr told the Bay Area News Group earlier than the season. “I didn’t know he was going to go beyond that. A remarkable gesture.”
Kerr in contrast Durant to Tim Duncan, one other first-tier Hall of Famer who left his share of cash on the desk. In his ultimate 5 NBA seasons, most of which he spent as a nonetheless extremely efficient participant, Duncan by no means made greater than $10.4 million. Conservatively, that saved San Antonio tens of thousands and thousands in cap house and helped set them as much as win the 2014 title, Duncan’s fifth.
“He made max money, and then at key times in his career he took a little less so they could add a player here and there,” Kerr mentioned. “The way the league works, the way the CBA works, it really kind of is up to the star player at key times to take a little haircut here and there.
“Whether that’s honest or not, I don’t know. But I do know that Tim knew it was dramatically serving to his personal profession, and KD understands the identical factor. In the finish, he’s going to make a fortune in his profession. Already has, and he hopefully goes to win extra titles, and that’s what he cares about.”
(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; Photos: S. Mellar, Joe Murphy, Steph Chambers / Getty Images)