Forbes announced the list of the highest-paid NBA players. For the seventh year in a row, LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers topped his peers. Off-court income is included in Forbes' criteria. James is expected to earn $95.4 million. Also on the list are Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.
This includes an estimated $64 million from various sources, such as endorsements, memorabilia, and media. The total earnings are a record amount for an NBA player and the highest ever in American team sports. LeBron's total, career earnings will now breach the $1 billion mark. He will be joining the elite company of Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Lionel Messi, while still actively playing.
Sharpshooter Stephen Curry is behind LeBron James among NBA players on the list with earnings of $74.4 million. $40 million of this amount was produced off the court. The Golden State Warriors guard is the endorser of Under Armour, a sports equipment company. They believe in Curry so much that they launched the Curry brand, which is similar to what Nike did with the Air Jordan brand.
Third, on the list is Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant. He earned $65.2 million with more than half coming from advertisements. Last November, Durant's early investment by way of advertisement in food-delivery service Postmates paid off. Postmates was bought by Uber for a cool $2.65 billion. This purchase turned his $1 million stake into approximately $15 million.
Rounding out the top ten highest earners in the NBA are Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Klay Thompson, Kyrie Irving, Chris Paul, and Damian Lillard.
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