The G League is directly owned and operated by the NBA and serves as the association's minor league. But while they belong to the same company, they operate on different financial scales. While NBA players make millions of dollars in contracts, the standard G League contract was only $45,000 for the 2025-26 season. Similarly, allowances differ massively between NBA and G League players.
Sixteen-year NBA veteran C.J. Miles experienced that night-and-day difference first-hand. Miles spent his rookie season in the then-D-League to hone his skills and get ready for the NBA. But as he told Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson on the "All the Smoke" podcast, he was stunned by the pay structure.
"The dynamic was crazy ' cause I'm down there on a league deal," recalled Miles. "The first time I get down there, they come to bring us our per diem. My per diem envelope is more than what the whole team get for per diem. "
While Miles was assigned to the D-League to start his NBA career, he was there on a regular NBA contract. That's because when he decided to make the leap from prep to pro, he declared that he would return to school if he wasn't picked in the first round.
To convince him to sign, the Jazz offered him a contract similar to what a late first-round pick would make. As a result, his road travel allowance was significantly higher than the regular D-Leaguers'.
"They hand it to me in front of everybody," Miles added about his per diem. " I had to pull them to the side like ', Don't do that s–t to me again.' Like these dudes trying to feed their families and I look privileged as hell in his position. Like they kickin' my a–s in practice. He's like, 'Why that spot not mine?'"
Miles did not detail how much his per diem was. But he is right: NBA players assigned to the developmental league, now known as the G League, receive a higher per diem than regular G League players.
During the 2017-18 NBA season, Andscape reported that assigned NBA players received $129 per day on the road. Meanwhile, regular G-Leaguers got only a $50 daily stipend that year.
Curiously, that Andscape article covered a similar journey for former Golden State Warriors player Damian Jones, the Dubs' 30th overall pick in 2016. While Jones appeared for the Dubs during his rookie year, the team sent him to the G League multiple times and had the same experience with his per diem.
"There is like a per diem, and they list everybody's name, and they have my name on there with the amount that I'm given," Jones said . "I usually try to be the first one there, scratching out my name and signing next to it. I don't want them to see how much it is. It is crazy, the difference in pay."
Indeed, the pay gap between NBA players and G League players is ridiculous. While that can motivate players to work harder to make an NBA roster, it also pushes players who don't make the NBA to work overseas. That's why Jones is playing in the EuroLeague instead of the G League.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Nov 2, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
