Victor Wembanyama salary: Where does an NBA star sit against the Australian full-time average?
Victor Wembanyama is a professional basketball player for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA. His salary is not published in the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data used on this site, nor is it covered by Fair Work or the ATO. The ABS measures Australian earnings through surveys like Average Weekly Earnings, which captures pay for employees within Australia. NBA salaries are reported in US dollars and are not part of that dataset.
The national full-time average
According to the ABS Average Weekly Earnings release for May 2026, the national full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings (AWOTE) is $2,083.70. That works out to about $108,352 a year (multiplied by 52 weeks). This is the "line" on this site. For comparison, the full-time median is about $90,532, and the all-employees median is about $74,100 (ABS Employee Earnings, August 2025). The national minimum wage from 1 July 2026 is $26.44 per hour, or $52,255 a year on a 38-hour week.
Victor Wembanyama's salary, if known, would almost certainly be far above this line. NBA rookie contracts for first-round picks are typically in the range of several million US dollars per year. Even the NBA minimum salary for a rookie is over US$1 million, which is many times the Australian full-time average. However, without a precise figure from an official source, we cannot give an exact comparison.
What moves pay above or below the average?
The ABS notes that movements in average earnings can be affected by changes in the level of earnings per employee, the composition of the labour force, the proportion of full-time, part-time, casual and junior employees, and the occupational distribution within and across industries. For an individual, pay above the average often comes from:
- High-demand skills: Occupations like software engineering, medicine, law, and senior management.
- Industry: Mining, information technology, and professional services tend to pay above the national average. For example, Western Australia has a full-time average of about $115,825, reflecting the mining sector.
- Location: The Australian Capital Territory has the highest state average at about $119,090, driven by public sector and professional roles.
- Experience and seniority: Full-time adult earnings increase with age and tenure.
Pay below the average is common in retail, hospitality, and arts and recreation. The ABS data shows that the arts and recreation services industry had average weekly ordinary time earnings of $1,877.40 for persons in May 2026, below the national average. Part-time and casual work also pull down the all-employees average.
For a global sports star like Victor Wembanyama, the factors are entirely different. His salary is determined by the NBA collective bargaining agreement, market demand for his talent, and his rookie contract scale. It is not influenced by Australian labour market conditions. If he were to work in Australia (unlikely for an NBA player), his pay would be set by his employer and would likely be far above the average, but no Australian data captures that.
How to compare any salary to the line
If you have a salary figure for Victor Wembanyama (or any other role), you can place a salary on the line using the on-site tool. It accepts a yearly salary before tax and shows the weekly and hourly equivalent on a 38-hour week, plus the distance from the full-time average. The tool uses the ABS average of $2,083.70 per week.
For Australian roles, you can also check job medians or industry medians from the ABS Employee Earnings survey. These medians give a better sense of typical pay for a specific occupation or industry than the overall average, which can be skewed by very high earners.
State and territory differences
The full-time average varies across Australia. The ABS data for May 2026 shows:
- New South Wales: about $109,658
- Victoria: about $106,137
- Queensland: about $106,064
- South Australia: about $102,450
- Western Australia: about $115,825
- Tasmania: about $96,008
- Northern Territory: about $103,173
- Australian Capital Territory: about $119,090
If Victor Wembanyama were to live and work in Australia, his salary would likely exceed even the highest state average. But again, no official figure is available from the sources we use.
The bottom line
Victor Wembanyama's salary is not published in the ABS, Fair Work, or ATO data. Based on general knowledge of NBA contracts, it is almost certainly well above the Australian full-time average of about $108,352 a year. For a precise comparison, you would need to consult an official NBA salary source. On this site, we rely on Australian official statistics to show where pay sits against the national average.
For more on how the figures are set, see How the figures are set. To understand the difference between averages and medians, visit Guides.