LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant Among Forbes 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in the World
Forbes has just released the list of The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes of 2023 and eight out of the 10 have made more than $100 million. Three of the top ten are Black basketball players. Coincidentally, all three men have signed lifetime contracts with sports apparel companies.
The calculations are based on collective earnings from on-field and off-field earnings between May 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023.
They call him The King for a reason! Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA’s all-time leading scorer in history, LeBron James is a top 5 earner on this list coming in at number 4. With several businesses, endorsements, and investments on top of making $44.5 million dribbling a basketball, he has brought home $119.5 million. The 38-year-old NBA champion became the first active athlete to be certified a billionaire by Forbes last June showing his business acumen is just as strong, if not stronger than his ball-playing skills.
Some of the companies he is involved with in some way include sports nutrition company Ladder, and his entertainment production company, SpringHill Company. He is part owner of Fenway Sports Group, which owns sports teams the Boston Red Sox, Liverpool FC, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s an investor in Lobos 1707 tequila, Mitchell & Ness, and Canyon Bicycles, to name a few, and of course a lifetime contract with Nike.
The current NBA champion who is presently locked in battle with The King in the playoffs right now, Stephen Curry sits at number eight on the list. While he makes $48.4 million working his day (Night) job, he pulls in $52 million when he isn’t wearing basketball shorts in an arena. This is the first year that his reported income came in over $100 million as he snuck in at $100.4 million.
His salary for the current NBA season was the most any player has made in the league and with next year’s salary, he will make history by becoming the league’s first $50 million man. In the upcoming 2023-24 season, he will be making $51.9 million. Less than two months ago, he extended his long-term agreement with Under Armour when he signed an exclusive lifetime contract with the sports apparel company. He has partnerships with Chase Bank, Tiger Woods’ VR platform Golf+ and TMRW Sports as well as his own multimedia company, Unanimous Media.
Kevin Durant came in slightly under the $100 million mark with a total earning of $89.1 million. He makes his money equally between the sport he plays and the businesses he is involved in. The Phoenix Suns, after being traded to the team by the Brooklyn Nets earlier this year, will be paying his yearly salary of $44.1 million as his businesses and investment will bring him $45 million. He recently joined Curry and James as the only active basketball players with lifetime contracts when he resigned with long-term partner, Nike.
The companies that help Durant stack paper include the Premier Lacrosse League, the nutrition brand Happy Viking, sports software startup ScorePlay, and even a Major League Pickleball team, among the conglomerate of companies he is involved in.
The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Athletes of 2023 are soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo ($136 million); Lionel Messi ($130 million); Kylian Mbappe ($120 million); basketball player LeBron James ($119.5 million); and boxing champion Canelo Álvarez ($110 million) to round out the top five.
Golfers Dustin Johnson ($107 million); Phil Mickelson ($106 million); basketball champion Stephen Curry ($100.4 million); retired tennis player Roger Federer ($95.1 million) and basketball star Kevin Durant ($89.1 million) close the top ten athletes on the Forbes list.
LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant Among Forbes 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in the World
