While most of the players in the G League are looking for the stability of a guaranteed NBA contract, all will take whatever they can in the meantime. Salaries in the league are a constant topic for debate as the maximum of $26,000 is certainly not going to entice top prospects from across the globe to play in the G League.

However, there is still plenty of money to be made — for the elite handful of course. There were 323 players who appeared in a G League game last season and 37 of them earned call ups, so roughly 11.5 percent realized their dream of playing in the NBA.

Other than a call up, players can inflate their season earnings with training camp partial guarantees. Each season NBA teams can invite up to 20 players to their training camps, but have to whittle that figure down to only 15. Up to four of those players waived can be allocated to that team’s G League team as an affiliate player. So, even though their actual salary may be $19,500 — $26,000 they could have earned any negotiated amount as a partial guarantee.

Before ever playing a single game in the G League these players earned almost $4 million from camp guarantees. The big winner was clearly Gary Payton II who had his salary full guaranteed before being waived by the Houston Rockets. When you add players here who didn’t earn a call up to the 37 who did, it comes to 69 players who earned $46,000 or more last season — which is approximately 21 percent of the G League.

The training camp partial guarantees play a large role in keeping players in the states versus signing overseas, because there is no promise a player will be called up to the NBA. The new $50K Rule will certainly have some affect on this as teams will want to ensure they retain a player’s G League rights if waived, so the days of large partial guarantees may be coming to an end. However, even with a $50,000 partial guarantee from camp, players could earn $69,000 at a minimum — still a far cry from NBA salaries, but now a much more livable wage.

The big paydays almost always come from call ups to the NBA, and even more so from future earnings after their call up. Yogi Ferrell earned just over $342,000 from call ups last season — not even the NBA minimum — but is on the Dallas Mavericks’ roster for $1.3 million in 2017–18. Many times future earning potential gets lost in translation when data is gathered, but that is where the real money lies.

Quincy Acy was the top earner last season as the Brooklyn Nets picked him up from the Texas Legends. Brooklyn wasn’t done with Acy though as they also called up and signed Spencer Dinwiddie and Archie Goodwin. All three are on the roster for 2017–18 and stand to earn a combined $5 million (Acy’s contract is fully guaranteed while Dinwiddie and Goodwin’s are not).

The $8.5 million is a massive jump from the 2015–16 season where call ups earned a combined $4.67 million with only five fewer call ups to boot. Teams are not only signing these players, but many of them are being retained for future seasons and that right there is the security and sustainability players are gunning for when they bet on themselves in the NBA G League.

The league gets a bad wrap for their paltry salaries — and rightfully so — but there is still money to be made through quality play in this league. There were many top-tier players omitted from the call up ranks however; guys like Jalen Jones, Keith Benson and the league’s MVP Vander Blue were not so fortunate.

Combine the training camp money with the call up earnings and G League players earned $12.6 million in NBA money last season. That’s a staggering figure to be frank.

While the league is still a work in progress, the legitimacy regarding increased exposure and earning potential cannot be ignored and with 30 teams on the horizon, the future is bright.

*Huge thanks to Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) for his salary pages on BasketballInsiders