How much money did UVA players make during the Tony Bennett era of the NBA?

Last month, former Virginia basketball star Sam Hauser agreed to a four-year, $45 million contract extension to stay with the Boston Celtics through the 2028-29 season. It’s a huge payday for Hauser, who initially went undrafted in 2021 but has proven to be a lethal sharpshooter over the first three years of his NBA career. After earning a combined $4,185,360 over those first three years — not bad, but nothing compared to some of the lucrative contracts offered to NBA players today — Hauser will start earning more than $10 million per season starting in 2025-26.

Hauser’s contract extension, which will increase his NBA earnings tenfold by the time he signs it, inspired us to take a look at other Virginia players from the Tony Bennett era who went on to earn big money in the NBA.

After all, fulfilling the dream of playing in the National Basketball League is a reward in itself, and receiving millions of dollars for it is also a pretty good reward.

Let’s start with the Tony Bennett-era Cavaliers, who made the most money in the NBA, and then move on.

Despite being named a three-time All-ACC first team selection, a two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year, an ACC Player of the Year and a unanimous first-team All-American in 2016, Malcolm Brogdon He fell to the second round of the 2016 NBA draft, where the Milwaukee Bucks selected him with the 36th pick. Brogdon, who signed a three-year rookie contract worth just under $3 million, proved to be much more valuable right away, becoming the first second-round pick in NBA history to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Despite joining a stellar 50-40-90 club in 2018-19, Brogdon was traded to the Indiana Pacers in a sign-and-trade deal that gave him an all-new four-year contract worth $85 million. He then signed a two-year, $45 million contract extension in October 2021, but was traded to the Boston Celtics before the 2022-23 season, a campaign in which he was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year.

Brogdon will play for his third different team in as many seasons this year, going from the Celtics to the Portland Trail Blazers and then to the Washington Wizards, where he will be reunited with former UVA teammate Anthony Gill. Brogdon is set to make $22.5 million next year before becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2025.

Excluding next year, Malcolm Brogdon’s total NBA earnings are $111,232,562 (by HoopsHype).

The next highest paid NBA product is Tony Bennett from Virginia Joe Harrisanother second-round pick who turned out to be much more valuable. Initially signing a three-year, $2.7 million contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers as the 33rd pick in the 2014 NBA draft, Harris didn’t get much of a chance until he was traded to the Brooklyn Nets, who signed him to three separate multi-year contracts. First, Harris signed a two-year contract worth just over $2 million in 2016. After showing some signs of consistency as a three-point shooter, he re-signed with the Nets in 2018 for two years, $16 million. Then came the breakthrough, as Harris won the NBA Three-Point Contest and led the league in three-point shooting at 47.4% in the 2018-2019 season, and was then given a big four-year, $75 million contract to remain with the Nets ahead of the 2020 season. Unfortunately, things have gone downhill for Joe Harris since then, as inconsistent shooting in the playoffs and mounting injury problems led to the Nets trading him in July 2023 to the Detroit Pistons, who then released Harris mid-season after he played in only 16 games. Harris remains an unrestricted free agent as of the time of this post’s publication.

In total, Joe Harris earned $92,234,674 over 10 seasons in the NBA.

Tony Bennett’s first and only lottery pick, De’Andre Hunter was selected fourth overall in the 2019 NBA draft and remained with the Atlanta Hawks for each of his five NBA years. Hunter’s rookie contract was for four years and $32 million, and he signed a four-year, $95 million contract extension in October 2022. During the 2023-24 season, Hunter averaged a career-high 15.6 points per game, along with 3.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists, and shot a career-best 38.5% from beyond the arc. Hunter, who is the third-highest paid player on Atlanta’s payroll, is set to make $21,696,429 next season.

Excluding next year, Hunter has earned $52,190,927 in his NBA career.

Brogdon, Harris, and Hunter are by far the biggest earners of the Tony Bennett era, having combined to earn over $250 million in their NBA careers. Some younger former Wahoos could join them soon, as Sam Hauser has already signed a big extension and the same is expected in the next year or two for Trey Murphy III.

We’ve put together a list of NBA earnings for most of the big names from the Tony Bennett era of Virginia men’s basketball who played at least a few seasons at the NBA level. This list is not exhaustive, but it should serve as a fairly reasonable representation of how much money the producers of the UVA men’s basketball program have made in the NBA.

Note: This list does not include next year, so the salaries of rookies Ryan Dunn and Reece Beekman will not be included.

NBA Earnings of Former Virginia Men’s Basketball Players
Malcolm Brogdon: $111,232,562
Joe Harris: $92,234,674
De’Andre Hunter: $52,190,927
Mike Scott: $27,064,863
Ty Jerome: $14,077,333
Trey Murphy III: $9,619,560
Justin Anderson: $7,629,475
Anthony Gill: $6,249,619
Sam Hauser: $4,185,360
Mamadi Diakite: $2,617,884
Kyle Guy: $1,000,535
Jay Huff: $902,765
Braxton Key: $889,206

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