LAS VEGAS (AP) — When the Milwaukee Bucks clinched their spot in the NBA Cup championship game, plenty of the team's younger and lesser-paid players were exuberant in the locker room.
Yes, they have a chance at a trophy. Those are nice.
They'll also have a chance at their biggest payday of their careers. The NBA Cup final — the Bucks vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder — is Tuesday in Las Vegas, with an additional $308,983 in prize money going to each of the players on the winning team.
For the league's superstars, that amount might represent a game's pay — or maybe even a half-game's pay. For much of the league, it's still a colossal sum.
“I try not to think about the money,” said Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is making about $48.8 million this season. “No, it’s not accurate what I’m saying. I think about the money — but I think about the money when we talk about the young guys.”
Winning players Tuesday will receive $514,971 from the league's Cup prize pool if they're on standard NBA contracts. The players on the losing team Tuesday will get $205,988 apiece; players on two-way deals will get half of those figures.
At his current salary of $578,577, Thunder two-way player Ajay Mitchell would be making about $7,056 per game. He's going to do a lot better than that on Tuesday, win or lose.
“Obviously, there’s a lot of money on the line,” Mitchell said. “But my main focus is just on the win. It’s exciting to know that there’s money on the line, but the main focus is just winning another basketball game.”
The NBA Cup has a prize pool to incentivize players. The teams that lost in the semifinals — Atlanta and Houston — saw their players collect $102,994 each; the teams that bowed out in the quarterfinals — New York, Orlando, Golden State and Dallas — saw their players collect $51,497 apiece.
“I might get a new watch," Knicks forward Josh Hart, who was asked what he'd do with his bonus, said in a response that went viral — and it should be noted he wasn't being entirely serious. “I don’t really care about the young guys getting money. I only care about me, what I’m going to spend."
For six of the players on the Bucks and Thunder rosters — Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee teammates Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez, along with Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Isaiah Hartenstein — the difference between winning and losing Tuesday isn't even an average day at the office. Those six guys, on average, are making about $443,300 per game.
For everyone else, the trip to Vegas will be a nice bump — some nicer than others.
“Not everybody gets the same paycheck in the NBA,” said Thunder forward Jalen Williams, who is making about $4.8 million this season. “We have guys that are on two-way contracts and some guys that are fighting to stay in the league. So, obviously, that money is a bigger deal for some people than others — so we definitely play for that.”
Bucks reserve A.J. Green makes about $2.1 million this season. The idea of adding $500,000 to that for winning one game blew his mind.
“It is crazy,” Green said. “But that shouldn’t make you play any harder. It really shouldn’t.”
Nothing makes Bucks forward Bobby Portis play harder; he's one of the guys in the league who seems to treat every game with the same all-out vigor. He's from Little Rock, Arkansas, where the median household income is about $60,000 and it’s estimated that 1 in 6 people in that city of about 200,000 are living in poverty.
It's not lost on Portis — who's making about $12.6 million this season — how lucky he is.
“It’ll take guys a lifetime to make $500,000 where I’m from,” Portis said. “So, I don’t take any dollar amount lightly.”
Green said he would give some of that bonus to his church, some of it to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and save the rest. Mitchell plans on saving just about all of whatever comes his way from his NBA Cup experience.
Antetokounmpo’s NBA contracts — past and future — add up to about $460 million, and that’s just the total of his on-court deals. He fulfilled his life dream of being able to provide for his family long ago; he’s built wealth that will last for generations. That said, he still says Tuesday should be significant to everyone.
“It’s life-changing money,” Antetokounmpo said. “Obviously, $500,000, you can put a down payment on a house. You can put the down payment on two houses. ... It’s an ongoing joke we have in our locker room. We say we play for the young guys because this money will mean a lot to them. But it really means a lot to everybody — because it’s a lot of money.”
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Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) drives in front of Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic (77) during the first half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game, Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2024, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) goes up to shoot against Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) and guard Dyson Daniels, second from left, during the second half of a semifinal game in the NBA Cup basketball tournament Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ian Maule)
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell (25) drives to the basket past New Orleans Pelicans guard CJ McCollum (3) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. The Thunder won 119-109. (AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A large number of mysterious drones have been reported flying over New Jersey and across the eastern U.S., sparking speculation and concern over where they came from and why.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and U.S. Sen. Andy Kim have both gone out on drone hunts, hoping for answers. The FBI, Homeland Security, state police and other agencies are investigating.
Murphy and law enforcement officials have stressed that the drones don’t appear to be a threat to public safety, but many state and municipal lawmakers have nonetheless called for stricter rules about who can fly the unmanned aircraft — and to be allowed to shoot them out of the sky.
Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing drones statewide since mid-November, including near the Picatinny Arsenal, a military research and manufacturing facility, and over President-elect Donald Trump’s golf course in Bedminster.
Murphy, a Democrat, said Monday that equipment supplied by the federal government has yielded little new information. He declined to describe the equipment except to say it was powerful and could even “mitigate” the drones, though he added that’s not currently legal on U.S. soil.
The state tallied 12 sightings Saturday and just one on Sunday.
Murphy urged Congress to give states more authority to deal with the drones.
The growing anxiety among some residents is not lost on the Biden administration, which has faced criticism from Trump for not dealing with the matter more aggressively.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Monday said the federal government has yet to identify any public safety or national security risks from reported drone sightings in the northeast, saying officials believe they were lawfully flown drones, planes or even stars.
“There are more than 1 million drones that are lawfully registered with the Federal Aviation Administration here in the United States,” Kirby said. “And there are thousands of commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones that are lawfully in the sky on any given day. That is the ecosystem that we are dealing with.”
The federal government has deployed personnel and advanced technology to investigate the reports in New Jersey and other states, and is evaluating each tip reported by citizens, he said. The FBI received more than 5000 tips in recent weeks, he added, with only “about 100” deemed credible enough to require additional investigation.
Authorities say they do not know.
The Department of Homeland Security and FBI said they have no evidence that the aircraft pose “a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.”
Speculation has nevertheless raged online, with some expressing concerns that the drones could be part of a nefarious plot by foreign agents.
Officials stress that ongoing investigations have found no evidence to support such concerns, but U.S. Rep Chris Smith, a Republican, on Saturday echoed such speculation.
“The elusive maneuvering of these drones suggests a major military power sophistication that begs the question whether they have been deployed to test our defense capabilities — or worse — by violent dictatorships, perhaps maybe Russia, or China, or Iran, or North Korea,” he said.
On Monday, Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder cast doubt on the idea that the drones are engaged in intelligence gathering, given how loud and bright they are. He said about 1 million drones are registered drones in the U.S. and about 8,000 flying on any given day.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh has said the aircraft are not U.S. military drones.
In Boston, city police arrested two men accused of operating a drone “dangerously close” to Logan Airport on Saturday night.
Authorities said an officer using drone monitoring technology detected the aircraft and the location of the operators. A third man fled police and remains at large.
Authorities said the two men face trespassing charges and could face more charges and fines.
Drones flying around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, forced base officials to close its airspace for about four hours late Friday into early Saturday, said Robert Purtiman, a base spokesperson.
It was the first time drones had been spotted at the base, one of the largest in the world, and no sightings have been reported since, Purtiman said Monday. He said the drones had no impact on any facilities on the base.
Trump has said he believes the government knows more than it’s saying.
“Let the public know, and now. Otherwise, shoot them down!!!” he posted on Truth Social. Kim said he’s heard no support for the notion the government is hiding anything. He said a lack of faith in institutions is playing a key part in the saga.
“Nothing that I’m seeing, nothing that I’ve engaged in gives me any impression of that nature. But like, I get it, some people won’t believe me, right? Because that’s the level of distrust that we face," Kim said Monday.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut last week called for the drones to be “shot down."
Rep. Smith urged the Pentagon to authorize the use of force to bring down one or more drones to try to figure out who deployed them.
The objects could be downed over the ocean or in an unpopulated area on land, Smith said Saturday.
“Why can't we bag at least one of these drones and get to the bottom of it?” Smith said.
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden said members of the public must not try to shoot down drones, as that would violate state and federal laws.
Drone sightings were also reported in New York, where a permit is required. Mayor Eric Adams said the city was investigating and collaborating with New Jersey and federal officials.
The runways at Stewart International Airport — about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of the city — were shut down for about an hour Friday night because of drone activity, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.
“This has gone too far,” she said in a statement.
The governor called on Congress to strengthen the FAA’s oversight of drones and give more investigative authority to state and local law enforcement.
Associated Press writers John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville, Kentucky; and Aamer Madhani in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed.
FILE - In this image taken from video provided by MartyA45_, several drones appear to be flying over Randolph, N.J., on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (MartyA45_ /TMX via AP, File)
FILE - This photo provided by Brian Glenn shows what appears to be multiple drones flying over Bernardsville, N.J., on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024 (Brian Glenn/TMX via AP, File)
