Most Underpaid NBA Contracts

In a tax-and-apron league, the bargain contract is the cheat code. This page surfaces the NBA’s best of them: the strongest Contract Value Index (CVI) grades on the board sitting on below-median salaries.

Rookie-scale stars headline the list, but the real edge often hides in the mid-tier — a role player or a re-signed veteran delivering starter value at a backup price. The grading treats them the same way: outsized return for what the team is paying.

For a contender, every name here is breathing room under the tax line — value the front office can build a rotation around without breaking the books.

The 20 NBA bargains below cost just $54.6M per year combined, led by value at SG — a fraction of what their grades would command on the open market.