The NBA remains one of the most dominant sports in the U.S. and across the globe, as evidenced its new domestic media rights deal that will pay out $77 billion over 11 years when it starts next season.
Players and coaches have been earning higher and higher salaries as the league has grown, and top NBA executives and general managers have also see increases in their compensation in recent years, meaning the the title of highest-paid general manager may continue to change hands.
General Manager Vs. President Of Basketball Operations
The title of general manager is not as lofty as it once was, as many teams’ front offices also feature an executive with the title of president or vice president of basketball operations. Those executives may or may not have a general manager serving under them as one of their chief lieutenants, while others essentially serve as de facto general managers themselves.
For instance, Pat Riley has overseen basketball operations with the Miami Heat since 1995, but Andy Elisburg has been the team’s general manager since 2013. Similarly, LA Clippers general manager Trent Redden has served in that role since 2023 but has been a longtime lieutenant of president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank since the latter’s promotion to that role in 2017.
Gregg Popovich’s tenure with the San Antonio Spurs initially started as the team’s general manager before he installed himself as head coach in December 1996. He served in both roles before naming R.C. Buford as Spurs general manager in 2002, though Popovich remained in charge of basketball operations. Upon his retirement as Spurs head coach in May 2025, Popovich became Spurs president of basketball operations with general manager Brian Wright serving under him (Buford was promoted to Spurs CEO in 2019).
Other well-known executives like Nico Harrison of the Dallas Mavericks and Rob Pelinka of the Los Angeles Lakers, who orchestrated the stunning Luka Doncic trade in February 2025, hold dual titles of general manager and president of basketball operations for their respective teams. Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti also holds the title of executive vice president.
Some teams have presidents of basketball operations that function as de facto general managers like the Boston Celtics’ Brad Stevens and the New York Knicks’ Leon Rose, while others like the Milwaukee Bucks’ Jon Horst and Golden State Warriors’ Mike Dunleavy Jr. are general managers who run their respective front offices without additional titles.
How Much Does The Highest-Paid NBA General Manager Make?
NBA general manager salaries are not publicly disclosed and rarely reported, so we don’t know for certain what the highest-paid NBA general manager makes for his salary. The Warriors reportedly offered general manager and president of basketball operations Bob Myers a contract extension in 2023 that would have made him the highest-paid person at his position in the NBA. Though exact details of the offer were never reported, some NBA insiders believed the contract would have been worth over $10 million per year, according to Yahoo! Sports.
Myers turned it down and departed the Warriors soon after. He now serves as a TV analyst on ESPN’s NBA coverage.
Finding The Highest Paid NBA GMs
We don’t know who currently holds the title of highest-paid NBA general manager or basketball execuitive, though we can make several educated guesses using factors like tenure and resume. That would put Riley of the Heat and Popovich of the Spurs near the top of the list. The two have a combined 13 NBA championships as coaches and/or executives, including eight with their current teams. They’re both considered among the best coaches in NBA history and have long been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Additionally, they have both been with their current teams since the mid-1990s.
Other candidates for highest-paid NBA basketball operations executive include the Jazz’s Ainge, who assembled the 2008 Celtics team that won the NBA Finals, or his successor Stevens in Boston, who assembled the 2024 Celtics’ championship roster around a core drafted by Ainge and coached by Stevens.
As for highest-paid executives with general manager in their title, that honor likely falls on a GM with an NBA championship on his resume like the Lakers’ Pelinka (2020) or the Bucks’ Horst (2021). Presti is also likely on the list as he is the longest-tenured NBA basketball ops chief outside of Riley and Popovich, having been in his role since 2007 when the Thunder were still the Seattle SuperSonics. Though Presti has never won an NBA title as general manager as of May 2025, he is extremely well-regarded after drafting two NBA MVPs in Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017) and acquiring another in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2025).
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