NBA superstars are handsomely compensated for their services, so it should come as little surprise that a few do feature in the list of the highest-paid athletes in the world. Boardroom shared a list of the top 20 via Forbes, and Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Giannis Antetokounmpo were on it.
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Al-Nassr forward and soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo is well clear at the top with $275 million in earnings. There is no one even within $100 million of Ronaldo, which is incredible.
Curry is the best of the rest at second, having earned $156 million. Forbes’ financial leaderboard for 2025 states $100 million of that for the Golden State Warriors superstar is off-field earnings, and that is tied for the most with Shohei Ohtani.
Seventh-placed James actually comes in after these two for off-field, as he earned $85 million of that $133.8 million outside the NBA. The 40-year-old recently claimed he is broke, but it’s safe to say he isn’t going to be short on money at any point for the rest of his life.
Durant just about joined Curry and James in the top 10 as he edged out boxer Oleksandr Usyk for the 10th spot. He made $101.4 million, and the amount was nearly evenly distributed. Durant earned $51.4 million from the NBA and $50 million off it.
While Curry, James, and Durant being the top three NBA players isn’t surprising, Antetokounmpo being fourth is. He came in at 13th on the list with $94.4 million. Antetokounmpo made $45 million off the field, and you wouldn’t expect the number to be that high. Let’s put it into context by comparing what he made with some other well-established international stars.
According to Forbes, Luka Doncic was at $15 million, Joel Embiid at $10 million, and Nikola Jokic at $6 million. Antetokounmpo is far ahead of them, and you do wonder the reason behind it. He isn’t even playing in a big market, having spent his entire career with the Milwaukee Bucks.
Unlike Antetokounmpo, Doncic is now playing for a big-market team after the Dallas Mavericks traded him to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025. It will be interesting to see the gap between them in a couple of years. You’d imagine Doncic would close it significantly and perhaps even edge ahead of Antetokounmpo.
A lot of these big names would also have aspirations of someday joining James in that billionaire club. The Lakers superstar is one of four professional athletes Forbes has recognized as a billionaire, along with Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Tiger Woods.
