LeBron Tops NBA Rich List 5th Straight Year: Other Top 10 Names

The top-10 highest earners in the NBA will make a combined $540 million this year and it is $180 million more than the top-earning stars earned five years back. And LeBron James, arguably the greatest player of the current generation, has topped the list for the fifth consecutive year with earnings of $88.7 million.

The small forward’s earnings for 2019 include $53 million that he will earn from his lucrative endorsements and business ventures with just $35.7 million coming from his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to Forbes.

James owns a Hollywood production company, a digital media agency and is an investor in Blaze Pizza. He also launched a health and wellness company named Ladder with skiing legend Linsey Vonn, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and model Cindy Crawford, and also has lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Coca-Cola, and Beatz by Dre.

Second on the list of highest earners is Stephen Curry, who will rake in $79.5 million of which $42 million will come from off-court ventures and endorsements. The Golden State Warriors point guard is another player who has looked toward an array of business ventures to supplement his wealth earned through basketball and like James, looks after his own marketing.

Kevin Durant is the third player on the list and the aforementioned trio are the only three in the top-10 who earn more off the court than they earn through their basketball deals. The Warriors forward will earn $65 million this year, of which $35 million will be through endorsements and business ventures.

All three players have multiple interests away from the basketball court in terms of media companies and marketing companies. But they also contribute in a big way to the community. James opened the I Promise school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, while Durant invested $10 million to open the Durant Center in Prince George’s County to help low income students attend college.

Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook and Houston Rockets point guard James Harden round out the top five earners in the NBA with earnings of $53.7 million and $47.4 million respectively. The two players are starring for their respective teams this season and the latter could well win the MVP for the second consecutive campaign.

Rockets’ Chris Paul leads the bottom half of the top-10 with earnings of $43.7 million and is followed by Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will take home $43.2 million and is another contender for the 2019 MVP award.

Portland Trailblazers point guard Damian Lillard comes in at eighth position with earnings of $41 million and is just ahead of Detroit Pistons’ Blake Griffin and Thunder’s Paul George, who earn $39.1 and $38.6 million respectively.