NBA Players Already Winning and Losing Millions This Playoffs

The NBA playoffs are the biggest stage of basketball. It’s where legends are created, and failures are cemented. 

In addition to legacy, contracts also hinge on postseason performance. It often only takes a few games of exceptional or horrendous production to impact a player’s perceived market value. Team momentum matters too, especially when evaluating which hot NBA teams heading into the playoffs are creating the best environments for players to raise their value.Players on expiring contracts are especially susceptible because free agency occurs just weeks after the playoffs conclude. 

Although the 2026 playoffs are still in their early stages, which players have already won or lost money based on their production in the first round?

Players Who Made Money This Playoffs

The Timberwolves saved Ayo Dosunmu from the wreckage that is the Chicago Bulls, and he rewarded them by averaging 14.4 points and 3.5 assists per game on 61.9% true shooting. Dosunmu entered the playoffs as Minnesota’s sixth man but saw a role shift once Anthony Edwards and Donte DiVincenzo suffered series-ending injuries during Game 3. 

Dosunmu closed the contest as Minnesota’s top ball handler and finished with 25 points and nine assists. The Wolves then shocked the world in Game 4 behind Dosunmu’s 43 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field, and he had a quality performance in Game 5 before missing Minnesota’s series-clinching Game 6 win due to an injury. 

Overall, the former Bull impressed mightily against Denver. It’s fortunate timing because he’s on an expiring $7,518,518 contract and is therefore set to cash in during a weak unrestricted free agency class. The non-taxpayer mid-level exception for this offseason is projected to be $15,049,000, so this figure will likely be the minimum amount that Dosunmu earns next season. He could even reach around $20-25 million per year, given his playoff production. 

Robert Williams III also secured himself a long-term contract this playoffs. Injuries have been the knock on Williams throughout his career and have slashed his earnings potential, but he played 59 games during the regular season and averaged 21.6 minutes per game against San Antonio. Williams thrived as a roller and rebounder. His defensive versatility was also crucial. Excluding garbage time, Portland was 21.3 points per 100 possessions better with Williams on the court compared to when he rested. 

After a relatively healthy season and fruitful playoffs, look for Williams to sign a long-term contract around $14-17 million per year. The barren center market also helps his case. 

Players Who Lost Money This Playoffs

Pistons center Jalen Duren is by far the biggest loser of the 2026 playoffs from a financial perspective. Duren and Detroit could not come to terms on a rookie-scale extension last offseason, so he entered this season on an expiring contract. 

Duren proceeded to average 19.5 points and 10.5 rebounds per game as the second-best player on a 60-win Pistons squad. He further elevated his production in March when Cade Cunningham suffered a collapsed lung and was the main reason Detroit fended off Boston for the one seed during this stretch. Duren’s phenomenal regular season likely earns him an All-NBA berth, which is quite the honor considering it’s a positionless accolade. 

But the playoffs could not have gone worse for him. Orlando’s physical defense schemed away his rolls out of high ball screens, and Duren struggled to score via other avenues like post-ups, face-ups, or midrange jumpers. He barely cracked 10 points per game. Overall, his offensive game looked extremely limited, and the defensive lapses did not help his image, either. 

Duren is eligible to sign up to a five-year, $240 million contract this offseason, which is the same deal that Chet Holmgren inked last offseason. Detroit may have agreed to this figure before the playoffs, but that ship has sailed.  

Now, the 22-year-old will still receive a massive contract because one playoff series does not erase his resume. He’s very young and has a bright future. The Lakers are notably projected to have a large amount of cap space, and Duren would be an excellent long-term fit next to Luka Dončić. It’s worth noting that Detroit can match any offer sheet Duren receives and subsequently retain him because he’s a restricted free agent and not unrestricted. 

Look for Duren’s deal to be in the ballpark of Alperen Şengün’s five-year, $185 million contract rather than Holmgren’s arrangement. Perhaps the Pistons consent to $200M? Either way, Duren has lost out on tens of millions of dollars due to his playoff stinker against Orlando. 

Recent Players Who Made or Lost Money Because of Playoffs

Jalen Brunson sought a four-year, $55M extension in the fall of 2021, but Dallas believed it was too much money and declined in order to preserve financial flexibility. Brunson had a quality regular season, yet he shattered expectations during the 2022 playoffs.

Luka Dončić missed the first three games of Dallas’ first-round series against Utah, which made Brunson the lead ball handler. The Villanova product responded by averaging 32 points per game across the three contests and leading the Mavericks to a 2-1 record. Brunson continued to play at a high level for the rest of Dallas’ playoff run after Dončić returned, and New York subsequently inked him to a four-year, $104 million contract. In hindsight, the Mavericks’ decision to reject Brunson’s offer is one of the worst decisions by an NBA front office this decade. 

On the flip side, Ty Jerome averaged 12.5 points and 3.4 assists per game on 64.3% true shooting during the 2025 regular season. His impact off the bench earned him a third-place finish in Sixth Man of the Year voting. Unfortunately, Jerome struggled mightily with efficiency in the 2025 playoffs and was also targeted defensively. His poor performance led Memphis to sign him to a bargain three-year, $27,660,150 contract.

If Jerome’s regular-season production had held in the playoffs, then he likely would have received the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception (approximately a three-year, $44 million deal). 

Why Playoff Swings Impact Role Players More Than Stars

Stars are inherently insulated because teams do not want to lose them despite bad playoff runs, while most role players are relatively expendable and experience far more roster turnover. 

Role players also play fewer minutes than stars in the playoffs. Small samples produce volatile results, so role players are more likely to stray further away from their baseline value than high-usage stars. This is further heightened by the fact that role players tend to be impacted more by good or bad matchups in the playoffs compared to stars. 

Finally, role players earn a fraction of what stars make, so the change in money is far more impactful. For example, let’s say Duren’s underwhelming postseason drops him from a $240 million contract to $190 million, while Jerome fell from $44 million to $27.6 million in the 2025 offseason. Duren will lose three times as much money as Jerome did, yet Jerome’s misfortune was arguably more impactful because the expected utility of the lost $16.4 million is likely greater than the expected utility of the lost $50 million. In other words, each dollar means less and less the higher the figure, due to diminishing marginal utility. 

Conclusion 

Overall, Ayo Dosunmu and Robert Williams III are expected to reap the rewards of their first-round performances during free agency. At the same time, Jalen Duren may have tense negotiations with the Pistons over a gap between what he desires and what Detroit is willing to spend. They are not the only players who will be impacted this offseason, as later rounds tend to enhance the trend of postseason performance altering the size of contracts because there is more pressure and a larger sample.