The NBA’s veteran designation rule, as we explain in our dictionary entry per topic, allows players to claim a maximum salary of 35% of the cap before they receive the required NBA service time.
As a general rule, a player is not eligible for a contract that starts at a maximum of 35% of the cap until he has at least 10 years of NBA service under his belt. The maximum salary for a player with seven to nine years of service is 30% of the cap, but the veteran designation rule allows him to receive 35% if he meets certain performance criteria. This became colloquially known as signing a “super max” deal.
In order to qualify for a super-max contract, a player must meet one of the following performance criteria if he has the required years of service:
- He was named an All-NBA team and/or earned The NBA’s best defensive player award in the last season or in two of the last three seasons.
- He won NBA MVP award in any of the last three seasons.
Since NBA introduced the designated veteran contract in 2017, signing 14 players over 10 offseasons. Storm star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the last player to join that group in the summer of 2025.
The 2026 offseason marks the second since 2017 in which no player qualified or signed a designated veteran contract, but there are several candidates to keep an eye on going forward. Today we take a look at the players who have the best chance to join the list of super-max recipients in 2027.