No active player in the NBA is older than LeBron James, who turns 40 years old in December. In fact, the Lakers superstar forward is older than three NBA head coaches–the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Mark Daigneault, the Utah Jazz’s Will Hardy and the Boston Celtics’ Joe Mazzulla–and was born the same year as three others, including his new boss in Los Angeles, JJ Redick.
The incomparable career of James may be running out of time, yet he keeps outplaying his younger rivals on the court, like clockwork; more than that, he keeps outearning them off the court.
James is the NBA’s highest-paid player for a record 11th consecutive year, thanks to his $48.7 million salary for the 2024-25 season and an estimated $80 million he earns annually from endorsements, licensing, memorabilia and other business ventures. His $128.7 million total is the highest in the 15-year history of Forbes’ NBA ranking, edging the $124.5 million he banked last season.
When James’ stint as the king of basketball earnings began – his $64.6 million year in 2014-15 – the league’s 10 top earners were raking in a combined $368 million, per Forbes estimates. This year’s group more than doubles that total at $787 million, also besting the record $751 million posted in 2022.
The new figure includes an estimated $293 million off the court, led by the Golden State Warriors’ Steph Curry ($50 million), the Phoenix Suns’ Kevin Durant ($50 million) and the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo ($45 million) along with James. Just five active athletes across the sports world-soccer’s Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, golf’s Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, and baseball’s Shohei Ohtani-make at least $45 million annually off the field, according to Forbes estimates.
The real reason, however, that NBA players’ paychecks are skyrocketing is on the court: the league’s collective bargaining agreement ensures that players collectively take home around 50% of basketball-related income, and the NBA’s soaring revenue-roughly $13 billion last season-continues to give general managers more money to spend. During James’ first year as the league’s highest-paid player, he earned $20.6 million; this season, 82 players will earn that much or more, according to contract database Spotrac.
Curry became the first $50 million player in 2023-24, and with the salary cap at $140.6 million this season, with the luxury tax threshold at $170.8 million-more than 122% more than a decade ago-the Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, the Denver Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, and the Phoenix Suns’ Bradley Beal join him in that stratosphere.
Meanwhile, the NBA signed new national media rights deals in July for a reported $76 billion over 11 years, more than two and a half times what the league has been receiving by annual average. That should push up the salary cap another 10%—the largest annual increase allowed under the current CBA—for the next several years.
So, once Curry breaks basketball’s $60 million-a-year ceiling in 2026-27-and the Boston Celtics’ Jayson Tatum crosses the $70 million mark in 2029-30-record paydays will keep on coming to the NBA in no time.
THE 10 HIGHEST-PAID NBA PLAYERS 2024
# 1. $128.7 million
LeBron James
Age: 39 | Position: Forward | Team: Los Angeles Lakers | On-Court: $48.7 million • Off-Court: $80 million
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James.
Sean M. Haffey/getty images
It has been less than six months since James re-signed with the Lakers on a two-year, $104 million deal in July. He will make a bit of league history this week when he takes the court alongside Los Angeles rookie Bronny James, who becomes the first son to line up alongside his father. That keeps him on the go in what has already been a newsy 2024: This past March, James became the first NBA player to score 40,000 career points, then carried the flag for Team USA during the opening ceremony for the Paris Olympics this July.
Off the court, James-the first active NBA player to be named a billionaire by Forbes, in 2022-has added partnerships with DraftKings, Fanatics and Hennessy and invested in PGA Tour Enterprises, the golf tour’s new commercial arm. Meanwhile, his media company Uninterrupted produced the Vice TV docuseries Uninterrupted: The Real Stories of Basketball and the Netflix docuseries Starting 5—which features James in addition to four other NBA stars—and spun off his talk show The Shop into its own business as it launched a men’s grooming line at Walmart. In March, James debuted a new podcast, Mind the Game. Its ninth episode turned out to be its last, after James’s co-host, JJ Redick, was hired as the Lakers’ new coach in June.
#2. $105.8 million
Stephen Curry
Age: 36 | Position: Point guard | Team: Golden State Warriors | On-Court: $55.8 million • Off-Court: $50 million
Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry.
Lachlan Cunningham/getty images
Curry signed a one-year extension in August that keeps him under contract with the Warriors through the 2026-27 season, but he’ll have to lead Golden State without his fellow Splash Brother for the first time since Klay Thompson entered the NBA in 2011. “It’s one of those hard things to kind of process just because I never imagined this would kind of be the reality,” Curry told NBA.com in July after Thompson joined the Dallas Mavericks in a sign-and-trade deal. Things are looking very different for Curry away from the basketball court-and in a very good way. This year alone, he starred in and produced Peacock’s comedy series Mr. Throwback, invested in two beverage companies, Nirvana Water Sciences and PLEZi Nutrition, the children’s drink brand cofounded by Michelle Obama. His imprint within Under Armour, Curry Brand inked its first collegiate signing via the University of South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley and its first international signing via Japan’s Keisei Tominaga after tabbing Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox as its first signature athlete in October. Curry reportedly paid $8.5 million for a commercial building in San Francisco to serve as the headquarters of Thirty Ink, which houses all of his business endeavors. Underrated, the golf tour he founded with a vision of diversifying the sport, expanded into Europe.
#3. $99.9 million
Kevin Durant
Age: 36 | Position: Forward | Team: Phoenix Suns | On-Court: $49.9 million • Off-Court: $50 million
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant.
Durant comes up just $100,000 short of being the third NBA player this season to hit nine figures in total gross earnings-only 17 other active athletes ever, in any sport, have reached the milestone in a single year. He should enter that exclusive club soon enough, however: He is due a $3.4 million raise next season, the final year of his contract with the Suns. On the Olympic court, Durant is in even more rarefied air. This summer, he became the first men’s basketball player to win a fourth gold medal and broke Team USA’s career scoring record, with 518 points at the Summer Games. Just before heading off to Paris, Durant unveiled an endorsement deal with Prime sports drinks, adding to a portfolio that includes Nike, FanDuel and 2K. He just recently took a stake in the Ligue 1 soccer team Paris Saint-Germain, too, while his family office, 35V, invested in sports apparel brand Homage.
#4. $93.8 million
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Age: 29 | Position: Forward | Team: Milwaukee Bucks | On-Court: $48.8 million • Off-Court: $45 million
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
In January, Antetokounmpo unveiled a production company, Improbable Media, an Amazon Prime Video documentary Giannis: The Marvelous Journey released in the month that followed. Next in the pipeline are a series of digital diaries that University of Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe will publish on his Instagram page, and an Ocean’s Eleven-style heist movie set in Greece that was due to go into production this year. Antetokounmpo, also known as the Greek Freak, was also his country’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in July.
#5. $64.8 million
Damian Lillard
Age: 34 | Position: Point guard | Team: Milwaukee Bucks | On-Court: $48.8 million • Off-Court: $16 million
Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard.
After the Bucks were bounced from the playoffs in the first round in May—a disappointing end to Lillard’s first season in Milwaukee—the eight-time All-Star went to work, training with a prominent ultramarathoner. He still has ties to Portland, however: Lillard owns a Toyota dealership just outside the city, and in January became the first athlete to have a court named after him at Adidas’ North American headquarters there. He was also feted in September with the first-ever Bill Walton Community Impact Award, given by the Maurice Lucas Foundation in recognition of the philanthropic work of Lillard in the area.
#6. $61.4 million
Joel Embiid
Age: 30 | Position: Center | Team: Philadelphia 76ers | On-Court: $51.4 million • Off-Court: $10 million
Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid.
Embiid agreed to a three-year, $192.9 million extension in September, keeping him under contract in Philadelphia through the 2028-29 season, and he seems committed to getting the 76ers their money’s worth after injuries and fatigue have limited his effectiveness in the postseason in recent years. The Cameroonian superstar recently told reporters that he had lost “25, 30 pounds” this off-season and that he would be more willing to listen to the Philadelphia training staff about easing up in the regular season to stay fresh for the playoffs. “They know that if they have to punch me, slap me, take my stuff away from me not to get on that court, they’re going to have to do it,” Embiid said with a smile, as reported by ESPN. “I might get mad, I might curse people out, but I think it’s a relationship.” Embiid also bolstered his off-court business with a new sneaker deal with Skechers.
#7. $58.8 million
Jimmy Butler
Age: 35 Position: Small forward Team: Miami Heat On-Court: $48.8 million • Off-Court: $10 million
Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler.
Butler launched coffee brand BigFace in 2021, a year after he moonlighted as a barista hawking $20 cups of coffee to his fellow NBA players inside the league’s Covid-19 bubble. The company is now opening its first permanent shop in Miami, but after five years with the Heat, Butler’s future in the city is a little more uncertain: He has a player option for next season and could elect to enter free agency in 2025 instead.
#8. $58.2 million
Devin Booker
Age: 27 | Position: Guard | Team: Phoenix Suns | On-Court: $49.2 million • Off-Court: $9 million
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker.
Booker – who turns 28 this month – does have his first signature shoe with Nike, the sneaker receiving rave reviews even prior to its official in-season debut last season. He showed his appreciation for where it all began and gave a special edition of the shoe to every member of the Michigan State basketball team and coaching staff when the Suns were in town this month for a preseason game against the Detroit Pistons. (While Booker went to the University of Kentucky, he was born and raised in Michigan, and has remained close with Spartans coach Tom Izzo.)
#10. $57.7 million
Bradley Beal
Age: 31 | Position: Guard | Team: Phoenix Suns | On-Court: $50.2 million • Off-Court: $7.5 million
Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal.
Along with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, Beal gives the Suns three players in the NBA earnings top 10; the Milwaukee Bucks, with Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, are the only other team with even two. As Beal enters his second season in Phoenix, he recently told reporters that new Suns coach Mike Budenholzer is encouraging him to play more aggressively. It was only preseason, but the early returns have been positive, with Beal looking more like the player who made three All-Star teams with the Washington Wizards than the version that was hampered by injuries last season.
METHODOLOGY
The Forbes ranking of the NBA’s highest-paid players is for 2024-25 on-court earnings, including base salaries plus bonuses. Incentives based on 2024-25 individual or team performance are not included. The estimates for off-court earnings are based on conversations with industry insiders and include annual cash from endorsements, licensing, appearances and memorabilia, as well as cash returns from any businesses in which the athlete has an ownership stake of at least 10%. Investment income, such as interest payments or dividends, is not counted, but Forbes does add in payouts from equity stakes athletes have sold. No taxes or agents’ fees are deducted.
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