Arguably the world’s richest league, NBA is home to some of the world’s most talented basketball stars whom fans adore across the globe. The League has the Netflix documentaries, a clothing line from its biggest former star, and players’ names are constantly being thrown about by top-selling artists. However, with talent and with ability, fortune does come in the form of eye-watering contracts for America’s best NBA stars.
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From LeBron James to Kevin Durant, here are some of the NBA’s highest paid players in 2024
LeBron James – $600 million
LeBron James has gained much wealth and fame through a variety of endorsement deals. He is the first player in NBA history to earn $1 billion and is still an active player. James appeared in books and documentaries; he won three Sports Emmy Awards as an executive producer for the documentary series. He appeared in several television commercials. He was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2005, 2013, 2017, and 2019-most selections for a professional athlete.
James has won 20 ESPY Awards, hosted Saturday Night Live, and starred in the sports film Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021). He has been a part-owner of Liverpool F.C. Since 2011, he has led the LeBron James Family Foundation, which founded an elementary school and a housing complex, with added developments that include a retail plaza and medical center, in Akron, Ohio.
Kevin Durant – $300 million
Kevin Durant is an American professional basketball player of the Phoenix Suns. Undoubtedly, he is one of the most decorated players in the NBA, winning two championships, the NBA Most Valuable Player award, and four NBA scoring titles. He has been called up to 11 All-NBA teams and 14 times to the NBA All-Star team. In 2021, he was named on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Durant is one of the highest-paid players in the game, earning money partly through endorsement deals with Foot Locker and Nike. He has established himself as a philanthropist and regularly leads the league in All-Star votes and jersey sales. In 2018, Durant was one of Time’s 100 most influential people in the world. Within the past few years, he has published work as a photographer and writer for The Players’ Tribune.
Russell Westbrook – $300 million
A member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, Russell Westbrook is a nine-time NBA All-Star and earned the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for the 2016–17 season. He is also a nine-time All-NBA Team member; two-time NBA scoring leader, having led the league in 2014–15 and 2016–17; three-time NBA assists leader; and NBA All-Star Game MVP both years from 2015. Westbrook is one of only two players in NBA history to average a triple-double for the season.
He has done that four times and ranks as the all-time leader in NBA history in triple-doubles during a career. Westbrook can score close to the basket, rebound, be somewhat durable, and possess a competitive level of intensity. Westbrook was a member of the United States national team twice and won two gold medals at the FIBA World Championship in 2010 and in the Olympics in 2012.
James Harden – $165 million
James Edward Harden Jr. is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association. He has been considered to be among the best scoring and shooting guards in the history of the NBA. In 2021, he was selected as one of the top 75 players in the league by joining the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
He was traded to the Brooklyn Nets as part of a four-team deal at the beginning of the 2020–21 season. With the Nets, he was selected to his ninth and tenth consecutive All-Star games before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers at the 2022 trade deadline. In 2023, Harden led the league in assists for the second time in his career. Harden is a two-time member of the United States national team. He has also won two gold medals: one at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the other during the FIBA World Cup in 2014.
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