Empty pitches skew NBA salaries 20% this season, but the biggest stars have blockbuster sneaker deals that hold them among the highest paid athletes in the world.
The NBA season fell off last month and he barely made it two weeks before the coronavirus damaged the schedule. 22 games were postponed, with others held up by thin schedules. Critics have questioned playing circles in times of pandemic disease, but NBA players have three billion reasons to drop their highs – this is the payroll that 400-plus players will have sharing this season.
NBA wages have skyrocketed over the past three decades, up ten times to Covid ‘s pre – Coverage average of $ 9.5 million per player last season. The tally is more than double baseball and three times what the average football player does. 44 NBA players were registered to make at least $ 25 million in salary this season, compared to seven in MLB and 12 in the NFL (a coronavirus-induced salary cut drops the NBA figure to 34 ). Credit the difference to smaller schedules and high-end TV deals that fall down to players. The gains came despite the NBA operating as one of only three sports with an individual salary cap, first implemented in 1999.
LeBron James is the NBA’s top earner for the seventh straight year, bringing out-of-court earnings (2016-17 was the only quarter of his career that had the salary LeBron’s highest performance). It is expected to receive $ 95.4 million, including about $ 64 million from deals, memorabilia and media. It’s a recording draw for an NBA player. It also makes him the highest paid athlete in American team sports – ever. Nike, which first signed James to a contract in its rookie year in 2003, represents half of the total out-of-court total.
The starting salary of a four-time MVP with the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2020-21 season was $ 39.2 million, but James and all other NBA players will have 20% of their pay put in an escrow account to help by balancing the 50-50 split into league revenues, as defined by the NBA’s bargaining chip. In total he will lose out on about $ 8 million and a chance to join the rare athletes club that earns $ 100 million or more in one year. Tiger Woods and Floyd Mayweather were the only other Americans to reach that high level as active athletes.
Milwaukee Bucks v Los Angeles Lakers
Photos Kevork Djansezian / Getty
Arenas generate about 40% of NBA revenue in a regular season but will be closer to zero this year. Translation: players don’t see a measure of escrow money with so few fans at games. Total league attendance of 103,000 so far is 2% of what it would normally be at this stage of the season.
The coronavirus has put a deep frost on new treats, but James is one of the most marketed humans on the planet. So when Coca-Cola and James were unable to reach a contract extension last fall for a partnership that began in 2003, PepsiCo called. James is expected to sign a multi-year contract to promote the Mountain Dew brand for proven snacks and large alcohol stores Forbes. He joins AT&T, Beats, Nike, Walmart, Rimowa, GMC and Blaze Pizza in his support package.
Pepsi’s contract may “include integration” into Blaze, replacing Coca-Cola’s products, according to Front office sports. This was the latest example of James’ business empire working together. He walked away from a $ 15 million consolidation at McDonald’s in 2015 for a contract with Blaze. James was already a licensee and early investor in the fast-growing restaurant chain, and was now paying him to showcase the brand. His investment firm currently holds 18 franchises in Chicago and South Florida.
Stephen Curry runs second in the NBA with earnings of $ 74.4 million, including $ 40 million off the court. He is back managing three for the Golden State Warriors after losing all but five games this season getting past a broken hand. Missing Curry and his brother Splash Klay Thompson pushed the Warriors to the worst record, after four straight trips to the NBA finals.
Under Amour promises the 32-year-old maintains his elite level. UA launched the Curry Brand in December, a model similar to what Nike did with Michael Jordan. Many sports will be a mix of shoes, clothing and accessories. Curry has a $ 20 million a year Under Armor contract but it will grow if the brand goes off. Brand Jordan generates nearly $ 4 billion in revenue for Nike and is worth more than $ 130 million a year for MJ.
Curry and Thompson have two of the NBA ‘s highest paying stars (No. 8, $ 43.3 million), but the Brooklyn Nets made them one better with their big trade this month for being manages James Harden, the three-time scoring champion. Kevin Durant (No. 3, $ 65.2 million), Harden (No. 5, $ 50 million) and Kyrie Irving (No. 7, $ 43 million) are the expensive three but they make the NBA title a favorite. Nets, along with the Lakers.
The top ten top-ranked players are expected to earn a combined $ 558 million in salary and contracts for the 2020-21 season, roughly flat against a year ago, with 44% of the total from out-of-court efforts. They may all crack the top 20 of Forbesannual look at the highest paid athletes in June.
This is a financial breakdown of the biggest stars in the sport.
# 10 | Damian Lillard
Team: Blazers Trail Portland
Total Earnings: $ 39 million
Salary: $ 25 million
Support: $ 14 million
Lillard recently joined Bolt24 ‘s Gatorade product line, which was launched in 2019. “It’s new now, but there will come a time when Bolt24 is a celebrity. I saw it as an opportunity to be connected to that history, ”said Lillard Forbes in December. It launched an annual internship program last year for half a dozen less senior students at high schools in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago.
# 9 | Chris Paul
Team: Phoenix Suns
Total Earnings: $ 40.1 million
Salary: $ 33.1 million
Support: $ 7 million
The president of the NBA Players Association highlighted his impact on investing in recent years. He invested in a currency pair from Turner Impact Capital, as well as a personal investment in Beyond Meat. Paul has an option next season worth $ 44.2 million that he is almost certain to raise. This is the final year of his four-year, $ 160 million contract.
# 8 | Kyrie Irving
Team: Brooklyn Web
Total Earnings: $ 43 million
Salary: $ 26 million
Support: $ 17 million
Irving lost seven games with the Nets in January, explaining that he “just needed to stop.” The breach cost him nearly $ 900,000 for two game reviews and a $ 50,000 fine for violating Covid’s NBA rules. Pepsi Irving’s viral campaign was an inspiration for 2018 Uncle Drew a film by Irving, although Pepsi has no active involvement with the guard.
# 7 | Klay Thompson
Team: Heroes of the Golden State
Total Earnings: $ 43.3 million
Salary: $ 28.3 million
Support: $ 15 million
Thompson teamed up with Alex Morgan, Travis Pastrana and Paul Rodriguez to launch the CBD brand, Just Live, in October. The mission is to provide natural alternatives to painkillers for overcoming fitness. The five-time All-Star supports prominent brands Tissot, Mercedes Benz and Kaiser Permanente, but his Chinese shoe partner Anta accounts for more than half of its out-of-court revenue.
# 6 | Giannis Antetokounmpo
Team: Bucks Milwaukee
Total Earnings: $ 49 million
Salary: $ 22 million
Support: $ 27 million
The MVP promised two-term rule to Milwaukee in December when he signed a five-year, $ 228 million contract – the richest in NBA history. Disney locked the rights to a film about the life of Antetokounmpo, which arrived in the US from Greece in 2013. It is expected to be released in 2022 and according to the Acade seriesThe Blind Side.
# 5 | James Harden
Team: Brooklyn Web
Total Earnings: $ 50 million
Salary: $ 33 million
Support: $ 17 million
Smart home perfume brand, Pura, announced in December that MVP 2018 has joined the company as an investor and creative director. Adidas Harden ‘s contract pays around $ 14 million a year, and the guard has led to balancing deals for its other partners such as Stance, Art of Sport and BodyArmor.
# 4 | Russell Westbrook
Team: Washington Magicians
Total Earnings: $ 58.1 million
Salary: $ 33 million
Support: $ 25 million
Westbrook has backed it up in recent years – Nike represents the majority of its sponsorship revenue. But the triple engine has built a strong car sales package with 10 dealers in Southern California.
# 3 | Kevin Durant
Team: Brooklyn Web
Total Earnings: $ 65.2 million
Salary: $ 31.2 million
Support: $ 34 million
Durant struck in November when Uber bought postmates food delivery service for $ 2.65 billion. He invested in a San Francisco start-up at a discounted entry price in 2016 as a reward for consolidation and turned his $ 1 million bet into about $ 15 million (our support earnings don’t support including investment return).
# 2 | Stephen Curry
Team: Heroes of the Golden State
Total Earnings: $ 74.4 million
Salary: $ 34.4 million
Support: $ 40 million
Curry’s salary is the highest in the NBA for the fourth straight season. The run comes after he completed a $ 44 million bargaining deal over four years, during which he won a pair of MVP awards and led the Warriors to two NBA titles. His production company, Unanimous Media, entered a podcast last year with a contract for Amazon’s Audible premiere.
# 1 | LeBron James
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
Total Earnings: $ 95.4 million
Salary: $ 31.4 million
Support: $ 64 million
King James has long been compared to Michael Jordan. It will happen again in July when Space Jam 2: A New Legacy released, a sequel to the original 1996 featuring Jordan. LeBron hired co-binoculars Thompson, Damian Lillard and Anthony Davis for cameos. The film is a three-point sequel to James as a star, executive producer and cofounder of SpringHill Entertainment, which makes the film with Warner Brothers. James could make more than $ 10 million from the film.