—and Westbrook has made it only about a third of the way. Across 15 NBA seasons, he has earned more than $336 million in salary and nearly $200 million from endorsements and other businesses off the court, according toestimates. This year, he is the 14th-highest-paid athlete in the world, having earned an estimated $82.1 million over the last 12 months. Those earnings make up the bulk of his net worth, whichestimates to be $375 million.
“My mantra is ‘Why not?’ I live by that. It took 75 years for somebody to average a triple-double. Well, I did it four times.” Westbrook’s celebrity has also afforded him the opportunity to learn from an elite roster of American business magnates such as billionaire investor and Legendary Entertainment founder, Banc of California cofounder Chad Brownstein, former Starbucks president Arthur Rubinfeld and Mickey Segal, managing partner of NKSFB, one of the Hollywood’s leading wealth management firms. In turn they have become mentors, investment advisors and business partners.
In rapid succession, RWE led a large investment round in the digital financial platform Varo Bank, with Westbrook joining the company as an advisor to boost financial literacy in underserved communities. He also partnered with Acrisure to found Evolution Advisors, which offers financial products for businesses owned by underrepresented entrepreneurs, and with Brownstein to make investments in healthcare and nutrition for at-risk communities.
The concept has also already been proven. Another former NBA player, Vinnie Johnson—who played for the “Bad Boys” Detroit Pistons teams in the 1980s—used the same playbook to build his Piston Group enterprise into a production juggernaut, scoring contracts with major auto manufacturers en route to nearly $3 billion in annual revenue.