By Joe Vardon | The Athletic, 2025-12-13 01:28:26
The Athletic 正在现场报道 2025年NBA季中锦标赛半决赛
拉斯维加斯电 — 如果奥兰多魔术队赢得NBA季中锦标赛冠军，德斯蒙德·贝恩 (Desmond Bane) 打算给自己买一艘游艇。
但前提是他们必须夺冠。亚军或者更差的成绩可不行，因为贝恩想要的那艘Nautique Paragon游艇，根据选配和附加功能的不同，起售价约为40万美元。
“把这事儿写篇报道发出去，看看价格会不会降下来，”贝恩在周五的季中锦标赛媒体日上催促道，该赛事将于周六在T-Mobile体育馆进行两场半决赛。
NBA季中锦标赛已进入第三个赛季，一个不变的主题依然是：所有晋级四分之一决赛球队的球员都能拿到额外的奖金。他们打到这一阶段就能获得53,093美元，如果在此阶段被淘汰，奖金将不再增加（因此，迈阿密热火队、多伦多猛龙队、洛杉矶湖人队和菲尼克斯太阳队的球员本周都将这笔钱收入囊中）。
剩下的四支球队——贝恩所在的魔术队、纽约尼克斯队、俄克拉荷马城雷霆队和圣安东尼奥马刺队——都希望能通过赢得周二的锦标赛冠军，再添一笔477,840美元的奖金。
贝恩在德州拥有一座乡村牧场，那里停放着一艘Malibu M240快艇，仅凭周六在半决赛中击败尼克斯队所获得的奖金，他就能再买一艘。晋级决赛将为他带来另外159,000美元，这使他的总奖金超过了购买一艘更高端Malibu快艇所需的约20万美元。如果周六输球，贝恩的好运就到头了；未能晋级锦标赛决赛的球队，将在晋级半决赛所获奖金的基础上再获得53,000美元。
周三的比赛早早就进入了一边倒的局面，@ okcthunder 在NBA季中锦标赛四分之一决赛中以49分的巨大优势战胜了太阳队。本赛季每场比赛都至少送出5次助攻的杰伦·威廉姆斯 (Jalen Williams) 在赛后接受采访，谈到了球队的整体节奏：pic.twitter.com/76yn9G7aI0
— Nick Gallo (@ NickAGallo) December 11, 2025
当然，这些讨论大多是开玩笑的。贝恩本赛季的薪水高达3670万美元（足够买下大约91艘Paragon游艇）。在四支争冠球队中，有七名球员本赛季的收入至少为3000万美元，还有四名球员的续约合同将从明年开始生效，使他们的年薪也超过3000万美元的门槛（魔术队的保罗·班凯罗 (Paolo Banchero)、雷霆队的切特·霍姆格伦 (Chet Holmgren) 和杰伦·威廉姆斯从下赛季开始的年薪都将超过4000万美元）。
“无论你挣多少钱，50万美元都是一笔巨款，”雷霆队球星杰伦·威廉姆斯说道，他本赛季660万美元的合同正处于最后一年，而他在夏天签下的那份为期五年、价值2.407亿美元的续约合同即将生效。“你知道，我的意思是，这笔钱足以激励你拼命打球了。”
季中锦标赛的奖金逐年上涨，今年冠军球队球员的总奖金达到了53万美元。联盟中，持有正式NBA合同的新秀最低工资为160万美元，而拥有至少10年经验的老将最低工资则超过330万美元。那些在NBA和G联赛之间分配时间的双向合同球员，年薪为63.6万美元。对他们而言，赢得锦标赛冠军意味着薪水翻倍。
“J Will（杰林·威廉姆斯 (Jaylin Williams)）每天都会提醒我们，如果夺冠具体能拿到多少钱，”杰伦·威廉姆斯谈到他的队友杰林时说，后者是雷霆队的一名角色球员，本赛季薪水为840万美元。
“他们很兴奋，”尼克斯队的米卡尔·布里奇斯 (Mikal Bridges) 在谈到他的年轻队友时说，他本赛季的薪水为2490万美元。“特别是那些没能上场但每天都在努力训练的球员。他们会监督我们，确保我们保持专注，这样他们也能分到一杯羹。”
雷霆队已连续第二年闯入季中锦标赛半决赛，这意味着他们对于为额外奖金而战——以及如何花掉它——已经有了经验。去年，雷霆队一路杀入锦标赛决赛，最终不敌密尔沃基雄鹿队，那次经历为每位球员带来了20.6万美元的额外收入。
雷霆队超级巨星谢伊·吉尔杰斯-亚历山大 (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) 表示，他的妻子把这笔钱捐了出去，但他不清楚具体捐给了谁。他的队友吕冈茨·多尔特 (Luguentz Dort) 则说，他把部分奖金分给了家人和朋友，其余的都捐给了自己的慈善基金会——Maizon Dort基金会。他还表示，本周赢得的奖金大部分也将捐给该基金会。
“能处在现在这个位置感觉很棒，”多尔特说。“我们能参加这样的锦标赛，还能得到一笔不错的奖励，所以我很兴奋。”
魔术队的泰厄斯·琼斯 (Tyus Jones)，本赛季薪水为700万美元，他表示会把奖金用于投资。杰伦·威廉姆斯也给出了同样的答案，不过他承认，自己这么说是因为“我的理财团队会看到”这段采访。
马刺队超级巨星维克托·文班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 因小腿拉伤缺阵一个月后，将在周六对阵雷霆队的比赛中复出。今年夏天，他很可能会签下一份价值3亿美元的顶薪续约合同。当被问及奖金是否是他在拉斯维加斯的一大动力时，他用嘲弄的语气开玩笑说：“可怜的维克托需要更多的钱”。
“我不知道会拿它来做什么，”文班说道，“攒钱从来不是我人生的目标。”
他的队友，潜力新秀迪伦·哈珀 (Dylan Harper)，在被问及奖金时露出了灿烂的笑容。
“那可是一大笔钱，”哈珀说道，并重复了一遍。作为今年的榜眼秀，哈珀本赛季的薪水为1240万美元。
“我向你保证，这会是个很棒的圣诞节，”哈珀继续说道。“我还没想好具体计划，但很可能会去疯狂购物一番，给家人买些圣诞礼物。可能会有点奢侈。”
“但是，我的意思是，我们来这儿就是为了赢下这笔钱的。”
由生成式 AI 翻译，译文内容可能不准确或不完整，以原文为准。
点击查看原文：NBA Cup cash is substantial. If Orlando wins, Desmond Bane will buy a boat
NBA Cup cash is substantial. If Orlando wins, Desmond Bane will buy a boat
The Athletic has live coverage of the 2025 NBA Cup semifinals.
LAS VEGAS — If the Orlando Magic win the NBA Cup, Desmond Bane is gonna buy himself a boat.
But they’d have to win. Second place or worse won’t do, because the boat Bane wants, a Nautique Paragon, depending on the bells and whistles, starts around $400,000.
“Put a story out on that, see if the price drops,” Bane urged Friday, at media day for the NBA Cup, which continues with two semifinal games Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
The NBA Cup is in its third season, and a consistent storyline remains: the extra cash on the table for all of the players whose teams reach the quarterfinals. They get $53,093 for getting there, and no more if they lose at that stage (so players on the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns all added that much cash to their wallets this week).
The four teams left — Bane’s Magic, the New York Knicks, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs — are all trying to win an additional $477,840 by winning the Cup championship Tuesday.
Bane, who has a country ranch in Texas where he keeps a Malibu M240 speedboat, could buy another one of those with the prize money just by beating the Knicks in the semifinals Saturday. He’d get another $159,000 by advancing to the finals, giving him north of the about $200,000 a higher-end Malibu costs. A loss Saturday and Bane is out of luck; teams that do not advance to the Cup finals get another $53,000 on top of the money they won by reaching the semifinals.
The rout was on early on Wednesday as the @ okcthunder rolled up a 49-point win over Phoenix in the NBA Cup Quarterfinals. Jalen Williams, who has 5+ assists in every game he’s played this season, stopped by to talk about the team’s collective rhythm: pic.twitter.com/76yn9G7aI0
— Nick Gallo (@ NickAGallo) December 11, 2025
A lot of this discussion is tongue-in-cheek. Bane will earn $36.7 million this season (good for about 91 Paragon boats). There are seven players on the four Cup title contenders who will earn at least $30 million this season, and four more whose contract extensions kick in next year, putting them over that $30 million annual threshold (Orlando’s Paolo Banchero and Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams will all make north of $40 million starting next season).
“Half a million dollars is a lot of money regardless if you make what I make or whatever the case may be,” said Williams, the Thunder star who is in the last year of a contract paying him $6.6 million this year before the five-year, $240.7 million extension he signed over the summer kicks in. “That’s, you know, I mean that’s enough money to like get you going to play hard.”
Prize money has risen each year for the Cup, with total winnings for Cup champion players reaching $530,000 this year. The league minimum salary for rookies on full NBA contracts is $1.6 million, and for veterans with at least 10 years of experience, it’s more than $3.3 million. Players on two-way contracts, which means they split time between the NBA and G League, earn $636,000. For them, a Cup championship would mean doubling their salary.
“J Will (Jaylin Williams) reminds us the exact dollar amount every single day of what it would be to win,” Jalen Williams said of his teammate Jaylin, a role player on the Thunder who is making $8.4 million.
“They’re excited,” said the Knicks’ Mikal Bridges, who will earn $24.9 million this season, of his younger teammates. “Especially the ones who aren’t playing and putting the work in every single day. They’re holding us accountable, make sure we lock in so they can get some money, too.”
The Thunder are Cup semifinalists for the second consecutive year, which means they have experience with playing for — and spending — the extra dough. Oklahoma City reached the Cup finals last year before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks in the championship, which meant each player earned an extra $206,000.
Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said his wife donated the money but didn’t know to whom. His teammate, Luguentz Dort, said he gave some of his winnings to family and friends and the rest to his charitable foundation, the Maizon Dort Foundation, which he said will get the majority of what he wins this week.
“It’s a good position to be in,” Dort said. “We get to play in a tournament like this, and we get a nice reward, so I’m excited.”
The Magic’s Tyus Jones, who is making $7 million this season, said he would invest the prize money. That’s what Jalen Williams said, too, though he acknowledged that was his answer because “my financial team is going to watch” the interview.
Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama, who will return for Saturday’s game against the Thunder after a month out of action with a calf strain, will, this summer, likely sign a max contract extension worth $300 million. Asked whether the prize money was a motivating factor for him in Las Vegas, he cracked, “poor Victor needs more money” in a mocking voice.
“I don’t know what I am going to do with it,” Wemby said. “Stacking money hasn’t been a goal in my life.”
His teammate, promising rookie Dylan Harper, flashed a wide smile when he was asked about the prize money.
“That’s a lot of money,” Harper said, repeating the phrase a second time. Harper, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, is making $12.4 million this season.
“Gonna be a good Christmas, I can promise you that,” Harper continued. “I don’t have anything set in stone, but I’m probably gonna do a little shopping, Christmas presents for my family. Might be over the top.
“But, I mean, we’re coming here to win this money.”
By Joe Vardon, via The Athletic