The NBA All-Star Game this past Sunday showcased fan favorites and the best-of-the-best playing, as well as featuring some very well-paid men who know how to dribble a ball and shoot it through a net a whole lot better than most of us — and who know how to make savvy business decisions.
So while Team Durant and Team LeBron battled it out at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio — the final score, Team LeBron 163, Team Duran, 160 — it was also a good time to reflect on “Who’s making the most money?”
See Also: Top 10 NFL Salaries: How Do Patrick Mahomes And Josh Allen Stack Up?
These are currently the top 10 NBA players based on their salary.
(Note to Khloé Kardashian fans: Her on-again, off-again boyfriend, father of her child, the Chicago Bulls’ Tristan Thompson, ranks only 131 on the list.)
- Steph Curry, Point Guard, Golden State Warriors: $45,780,966
- James Harden, Shooting Guard, Brooklyn Nets, $44,310,840
- John Wall, Point Guard, Houston Rockets, $44,310,840
- Russell Westbrook, Point Guard, Los Angeles Lakers, $44,211,146
- Kevin Durant, Power Forward, Brooklyn Nets, $42,018,900
- LeBron James, Small Forward, Los Angeles Lakers, $41,180,544
- Giannis Anteokounmpo, Power Forward, Milwaukee Bucks, $39,344, 970
- Paul George, Shooting Guard, Los Angeles Clippers, $39,344,900
- Kawhi Leonard, Small Forward, Los Angeles Clippers, $39,344,900
- Damian Lillard, Point Guard, Portland Trail Blazers, $39,344,900
Sources: ESPN and The Sporting News
But that’s just salary. Many of the players have endorsements, businesses and side gigs that earn them a lot more.
Let’s take a look at the NBA All-Star team captains, who rank at numbers 5 and 6 on the salary list.
This is when James becomes number one, according to Forbes, with off-court earnings of $70 million for a total of $111,180,544. Forbes also listed James as number one in its list of NBA's highest-paid players of all time (through 2020).
Last year, James’ SpringHill Company, a media and entertainment business he partnered with Maverick Carter, announced the sale of a minority stake at a valuation of about $724 million. James and Carter also have a minority stake in the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of the ownership group of Fenway Sports Group.
Durant’s off-court earnings, as estimated by Forbes, is $47 million for a total of $89,018,900.
Durant has been very vocal about his support of SPACs, cryptocurrency and cannabis. His company Thirty Five Ventures signed a deal for him to be the advertising face of crypto-exchange Coinbase Global Inc. (NASDAQ:COIN), which the company has also invested in.
Last fall, Thirty Five Ventures, which Durant launched in 2016 with Rich Kleiman, formed a SPAC called Infinite Acquisition Corp (NYSE:NFNT). The company is a 50-50 venture between Thirty Five Ventures and Lion Tree, an investment and merchant bank.
Thirty Five Ventures investment portfolio includes more than 75 companies including Postmates, Acorns, RallyRd, Overtime, Caffeine and Robinhood Markets (NASDAQ:HOOD).
Through Thirty Five Venture’s Boardroom media company, it has invested in Weedmaps, a cannabis tech platform owned by WM Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MAPS).
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what James and Durant are doing off the court, and like many of their top 10 cohorts, are changing the face of the sport and how players can diversify their income.
Photo: LeBron James by Erik Drost, Flickr Creative Commons
