How It Works

The WAGE Score

Every season, 30 teams spend between $154M and $281M on their rosters. The WAGE Score measures what that money bought.

One number from 0 to 100 for every team and player. 50 is what that money usually buys; the further from 50, the further the return ran from normal. A score of 85 or more has been reached by 8% of team seasons on file.

Sunk Cost0-14

Under Water15-34

Going Rate35-64

Smart Money65-84

Steal!85+

A tier reads what the money returned, never the player or the people who spent it.

seasons on file

480

team seasons scored

Same wins, different bills

One of these teams paid 1.4 times as much for the same record. The WAGE Score sees the difference.

Houston Rockets52 wins$201.9M66

Cleveland Cavaliers52 wins$280.8M35

2025-26, Effective Payroll: every cap hit plus the luxury tax.

Much more than dollars per win

Payroll divided by wins misses most of the story. The WAGE Score reads all of this.

The whole bill

Cap hitsTax

Every cap hit plus the luxury tax. Dead money and injured salary stay in.

The season as it stands

BankedProjected

Wins banked plus a measured projection of the games left; the final record once it ends.

Each season on its own ruler

652012-13=652025-26

A 65 from 2012 and a 65 today say the same thing.

The going rate

50Rookie deal50Max deal

Each player is held to what his salary usually buys.

Availability counts

7876 games1418 games

A salary paid for games not played stays on the bill.

One season, one score

30 + 45 games→58

A traded player is rated once, on his whole season.

WAGE Run

After a playoff run, the WAGE Run adds a Playoff Dividend to the WAGE Score, larger for every round won. The same for every team, whatever it paid; capped at 100. Teams only.

62WAGE Score++15Playoff Dividend=77WAGE Run

First round

Second round

Conf. finals

+15

Runner-up

+25

Champion

A career on one number

The WAGE Surplus adds up every rated season: its WAGE Score minus 50, weighted by the games played. The career WAGE Score averages the same seasons.

70+20+40-10+65+15=+25WAGE SurplusCareer WAGE Score

Three full seasons. Every rated season since 2011-12 counts.

The WAGE Awards

The WAGE MVP is the highest WAGE Score among the season's ten leading producers with 65 of 82 games. The three All-WAGE Teams take the next fifteen from the top 100. A reading of contracts, never a pick of the best player.

WAGE MVP 2025-26Shai Gilgeous-Alexander98

H2H

Any two teams or players, from any seasons, side by side. Every season is read on its own ruler, so they meet on equal terms.

2025-26Thunder89

2011-12Pacers91

The WAGE Desk

Four AI writers tell the news through the money, from the story and the site's own charts. Every piece is checked against the figures before it publishes and ends with the AI mark. Every player move goes in Transactions.

Max PayrollColumns and big-picture stories

Rey WindPerformance, standings and why a number moved

Cap HoldenTransactions: contracts, trades, options, buyouts

Audie TorThe archive: every finished season since 2011-12

Questions

Who gets a WAGE Score?+

Every team, every season. A player gets one for a season when two things hold: a salary of at least $1 million on his team's books that season, and at least one game played. The score reads what a salary returned, so it needs both a salary and games to read.

Why does a player have no WAGE Score?+

One of four reasons, most often the first: he is on a two-way or Exhibit 10 contract, which pays less than $1 million; he signed late in the season for part of a salary, under $1 million; he has not played a game that season; or he has no season in the league yet, a rookie or a player arriving from abroad. He can still appear in the news and in Transactions, marked not rated.

How settled are the scores early in the season?+

Less settled than they will be. A team's record starts to say something around its tenth game, and from about its 25th it tells more about the rest of the season than the preseason expectations did. While a season runs, a team's WAGE Score reads the wins it has banked plus a forecast of the games left, pulled toward an even record until enough games are in, so early scores move less than early records. Every table shows games played beside the scores, and every piece of news says how far into the season its figures are.

What does a 50 mean?+

The going rate. For a player, production in line with what his salary usually buys in the league; for a team, wins in line with what its Effective Payroll usually buys. Above 50 the money returned more than that, below 50 less. The five WAGE Tiers: Steal! 85 and up, Smart Money 65 to 84, Going Rate 35 to 64, Under Water 15 to 34, Sunk Cost under 15.

How can a star read Sunk Cost?+

The score reads what the salary returned that season, not how good the player is. A player on a large contract who missed most of the season returned few games for a full salary, and the score counts it. The same player can read Steal! in a season he plays.

How is a traded player scored?+

Once a season: all his games and production against everything he was paid that season, under the team he finished with. His page shows the games he played for each team.

Does a published score change?+

During the season, every morning, as games are played. Once a season is over its scores stay as they are: each season is read against the league of its own time, so the seasons after it do not move it. A correction would be published as a new, labelled release.

What is the WAGE Run?+

A team's season with its playoff run counted in: the WAGE Score plus the Playoff Dividend, 2, 5, 9, 15, 25 points by the round a team reaches, up to the title, capped at 100. Teams only: a player's playoffs show beside his score, never added to it.

How often is the site updated?+

During the season, every morning: results, games played, every WAGE Score and the Season So Far charts. News pieces and Transactions follow the news through the day.

Who writes the news?+

Four AI writers, invented characters, not real reporters. Each piece is written from the reporting it cites and the site's own figures, reread by an AI editor and checked against those figures; a piece that passes is published automatically, one that does not is held. The checks are not an independent check of every reported fact: what other outlets reported is credited to them. Every piece ends with the AI mark.

Data

2011-12 to 2026-2716 seasons, updated as games are played

From 2011-12, the first season under the salary rules the league still plays by, so every season is paid for under the same kind of tax. The ideas on this page are public; the calibration behind them stays in house. Figures may be estimated or rounded and are not official.

WAGE SCORE is an independent analytical project, not affiliated with or endorsed by the NBA or any of its member clubs.