By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Barcelona announced the signing of Nikola Mirotic to a four-year (3+1) deal a couple of days ago. Apart from Mirotic’s well-awaited return to Europe, what is interesting about his case is that the Spanish club went all in with their biggest contract offer to date.
As Mundo Deportivo reports, while according to sources from Barcelona the total cost of the contract is 26 million euros, Mirotic could receive between 3.9 million and 5.2 million euros net per season, marking him as the best-paid player in Europe currently. The second-highest contract is signed by Khimki’s Alexey Shved (around 3.6M euros per season).
Another notable fact in the story is that Mirotic arrives from the NBA. So, according to the taxation laws in Spain, for his first season with Barcelona, he is only required to pay 24% of the amount (in comparison to 44-48% for the following two seasons – since players with large contracts are required to pay this amount to the Treasury). Plus the contract can be structured with a signing bonus included, which is also taxed with 24%. Contrary to the NBA, those numbers are not publicly announced.
Mirotic received a total of $12.5M in his last season in the NBA, which indicates that his return to Europe is driven by other motives other than just financial. However, if he gets the best case scenario, meaning 5,2 million euros net – meaning not including taxes – per season, then the equivalent of an NBA contract will be around $11,6 million per season.