Who Is The Highest Paid NBA Player In The League?
The answer to this question may surprise you. The highest paid NBA player in the league is not LeBron James, nor is it Kevin Durant.
LeBron James
LeBron James is the highest paid player in the NBA. He is currently in his sixteenth season and is signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. James has played for some of the NBA’s most iconic franchises, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat. He is a three-time NBA champion and four-time NBA MVP.
His 2020-2021 salary with the Los Angeles Lakers
As of September 2020, LeBron James is the highest paid player in the NBA, earning $39,219,565 in salary with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2020-2021 season.
His endorsements
King James has raked in close to $1 billion in his career from his Nike deal and other endorsements. He currently has the biggest shoe deal in the NBA with Nike, which is worth a guaranteed $87 million. In addition to that, he has endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, Beats by Dre, KIA Motors, and Intel. He also has a partnership with Walmart. At 34 years old, LeBron is still one of the most marketable athletes in the world and doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is widely considered as one of the greatest shooters in NBA history. He is also the first player in NBA history to be unanimously elected as the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP). In 2015, he earned an annual salary of $11 million.
His 2020-2021 salary with the Golden State Warriors
Stephen Curry is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the NBA. He is a six-time NBA All-Star and has been named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) twice. Curry is also considered the greatest shooter in NBA history.
Curry was born in Akron, Ohio, but moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, when he was a toddler. He played college basketball for Davidson College before being drafted by the Warriors with the seventh overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft. In his first season with the Warriors, he was named Rookie of the Year and helped lead them to their first playoff appearance since 1994.
Over his career with the Warriors, Curry has been an integral part of their success, including three NBA championships (2015, 2017, and 2018). He is currently in his 12th season with the team and his 2020-2021 salary with them is $43 million dollars.
His endorsements
Stephen Curry is not only one of the best players in the NBA, but he is also one of the highest-paid. Curry has a base salary of $34.68 million for the 2020-21 season, according to Spotrac. In addition to his salary, Curry also earns a hefty amount from endorsements. He is currently endorsed by Nike, Under Armour, Chase, Presented By State Farm, Sony PlayStation, and Kellogg’s. These deals likely earn him tens of millions of dollars on top of his salary each year.
Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is an American professional basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has played in the NBA for thirteen seasons, winning two championships and an NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Durant has been a nine-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA First Team member. He is one of the highest-paid athletes in the world, earning more than $30 million a year in salary and endorsements.
His 2020-2021 salary with the Brooklyn Nets
The 2020–21 NBA season is the 75th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The season began on December 22, 2020, and will end no later than July 22, 2021. The 2021 NBA All-Star Game will be played on March 7, 2021. The regular season will mostly take place in the second half of the calendar year 2020, while the playoffs will mostly take place in the first half of 2021.
During the 2019–20 offseason, Kevin Durant opted out of his contract with the Golden State Warriors to become an unrestricted free agent. On July 1, 2020, Durant agreed to a four-year contract with the Brooklyn Nets worth $164 million. This made him one of two players (along with Kyrie Irving) to sign a maximum contract with the Nets since they were renamed and relocated from New Jersey in 2012. Durant’s 2020–21 salary with the Nets will be $40 million, which is currently the highest in the league.
His endorsements
Aside from his salary with the Warriors, Kevin Durant also receives a significant amount of money from his various endorsement deals. He has deals with companies like Nike, Foot Locker, Beats by Dre, American Family Insurance, and many others. All told, he brings in about $20 million per year from these endorsement deals. When you add this to his salary from the Warriors, Kevin Durant is easily the highest paid NBA player in the league.
Russell Westbrook
As of 2019, Russell Westbrook is the highest paid NBA player in the league, earning over $38 million per year in salary and endorsements. Westbrook has been in the league for 10 years and has earned All-Star honors 7 times. He is also a 2-time Olympic gold medalist.
His 2020-2021 salary with the Houston Rockets
Russell Westbrook is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a nine-time NBA All-Star and earned the league’s Most Valuable Player Award for the 2016–17 season. Westbrook played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins and was selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2008 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who then relocated to Oklahoma City six days later. Westbrook has been a member of nine All-NBA teams and ten NBA All-Defensive teams. He is one of only two players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season, along with Oscar Robertson in 1961–62. In 2017, Westbrook became one of two players in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season more than once, joining Robertson. He also set multiple records while becoming the first player to average a triple-double in consecutive seasons since Robertson did so in 1961–62 and 1962–63.
Westbrook signed a contract extension with the Thunder in 2016 worth $85.7 million over three years that would keep him under contract through 2019. In 2017, he opted out of the final year of his contract to sign another three-year $85.7 million extension with the Thunder, keeping him under contract through 2022. On July 12, 2019, Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets for Chris Paul and draft picks.
His endorsements
Westbrook has endorsement deals with companies such as Jordan Brand, Mercedes-Benz, Mountain Dew, State Farm, and True Religion. In 2013, he signed a 10-year extension with Jordan Brand worth an estimated $20 million. In 2014, Westbrook became the Face of the Mountain Dew Kickstart campaign. In 2016, Westbrook signed a new deal with Jordan Brand said to be worth $105 million over the next 10 years. In September 2016, Westbrook became an equity partner in the sportswear company Baronfigure. In 2017, it was announced that Westbrook would replace Dwyane Wade as the spokesperson for Nike’s Jordan Brand.
In August 2018, it was announced that Westbrook had signed a multi-year endorsement deal with BBVA Compass. In October 2018, it was announced that Westbrook had teamed up with Fanatics to create his own fashion line called Honor The Gift. The clothing line is available at Macy’s and Fanatics’ website.
In November 2018, Westbrook partnered with Balance Athlete Health to open his own sports medicine facility in southern California called Russell Westbrook Wellness Centers
James Harden
James Harden is currently the highest paid NBA player in the league. He is set to make $38 million dollars this season with the Houston Rockets. That is an incredible amount of money for anyone, let alone a professional athlete. So, how did he get to this point?
His 2020-2021 salary with the Brooklyn Nets
In October 2020, Harden was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in a deal involving multiple teams and players. As part of the trade, he signed a contract extension with the Nets worth a guaranteed $133.3 million over four years, with a fifth year at his option. The extension made Harden the highest-paid player in NBA history, surpassed the previous record set by Stephen Curry’s $201 million deal signed earlier in 2020. In total, Harden is set to earn over $228 million from his salary and endorsements between 2020 and 2022.
His endorsements
In 2017, Forbes estimated that Harden made $47 million from endorsements. This is more than any other NBA player. His endorsements include Adidas, Beats by Dre, Bodyarmor, and Foot Locker. He has also appeared in commercials for Staples and Wendy’s.
