that he hoped to become the owner of an NBA expansion team in Las Vegas. This season, if he stays reasonably healthy, he should pass the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the league’s career points record. And his paychecks along the way will set another all-time mark.
With pretax earnings of $124.5 million from his 2022-23 on-court salary plus annual off-court cash from endorsements, licensing fees and other business endeavors, James will be the highest-paid NBA player ever, topping the estimatedhe raked in over the 12 months ending in May. This is his ninth straight year atop basketball’s earnings ranking, and he is ahead of No. 2 Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors’ sharpshooting guard, by $29.4 million.
That isn’t to suggest that Curry and the other stars on the list aren’t reaching new heights themselves. Combined, the NBA’s ten highest-paid players are set to collect $751 million before taxes and agents’ fees, up 5% from last year’s record total of $714 million and a remarkable 122% rise from ten years ago.