LeBron James has achieved more records and milestones than any other player in NBA history. He is the league’s all-time leading scorer. He is the only player in the 40,000-point, 10,000-rebound, and 10,000-assist club. He leads in playoff victories. He is also the leader in dozens of other things. But on Wednesday, James put himself up for a different kind of milestone, one that a business tycoon like him would undoubtedly appreciate: his new deal with the Lakers will make him the NBA’s first half-billion-dollar player.
According to Spotrac, James’ NBA salary was $479,466,457 as of the end of last season. His new contract, if it is actually the maximum, will pay him $49,987,718 next season. That certainly puts him above $500 million in total income received over his career. No other player, active or retired, has earned even $400 million. Even if he had accepted a wage reduction, as several publications said he was prepared to do to help the Lakers improve, almost every reported scenario would have cost him more than $500 million.
James, of course, makes a lot of money off the court as well. He may only have made half a billion dollars in his NBA career, but he has supposedly been a billionaire since at least 2022. In addition to his NBA pay, James has a lifetime contract with Nike that is allegedly worth over $1 billion. He has had multiple rich endorsement contracts during his career, and he pioneered a method that has become fashionable among athletes: seeking equity in such collaborations. One major example of this is his collaboration with Beats headphones. He allegedly earned around $30 million when Apple paid $3 billion for Beats in 2014.
James has long wanted to use his considerable money to become an NBA owner. He has actively advocated for ownership of a Las Vegas expansion franchise, the existence of which has yet to be proven but is widely assumed. James has also become a well-known character in Hollywood because to his production firm, The SpringHill firm.
James may be the first athlete to reach $500 million, but he certainly won’t be the last. In fact, Kevin Durant is planning to join him next year. Durant’s earnings are now estimated by Spotrac to be at $397 million. He is owed another $106 million or more over the next two years of his Suns contract, so the 2025-26 season will also see him become a half-billion dollar player. The only other player with a contractual guarantee to surpass $500 million is Paul George, who has earned an estimated $305 million and is entitled another $212 million on his new contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. However, Stephen Curry, who has earned an estimated $354 million, might arrive first. The hitch is that he only has two years left on his deal, so he’d have to extend or re-sign at some point to beat George to it. However, with his present pay, he would be expected to reach that point in three years, whereas George would require all four on his deal.
As impressive as LeBron’s earnings appear to be right now, he is unlikely to be the NBA’s highest earner indefinitely. Consider the five-year, $314 million agreement Jayson Tatum recently signed with the Boston Celtics. In five years, he will earn more than half of what James has made in his entire career. This is because the league’s maximum compensation is based on a percentage of the cap. The cap has expanded dramatically over James’ career, and his successors will profit from it. The predicted 11-year, $76 billion TV agreement, which would begin during the 2025-26 campaign, is estimated to result in a 10% increase in the pay ceiling each year. It is not impossible for a player to earn $1 billion in the NBA during the next few decades.
James is unlikely to be that player, but it doesn’t mean his pay records will fall immediately. Consider one of Michael Jordan’s oddest albums. In 1998, the Bulls paid him $33.4 million. At this stage in league history, there was no maximum wage. He earned around 123% of the salary limit on his own that season, a record that will never be surpassed as long as the max rule persists. Even with significant cap inflation, no Chicago Bull made more in a single season than Jordan did in his last season until Zach LaVine in 2022-23, 25 years later. He was eventually overtaken, but not before a long time.
James’ records will also tumble, although this is unlikely to concern him too much. After all, he is already a millionaire who aspires to buy a team someday. As an NBA player, he has met and possibly exceeded his greatest financial goals, and he now has this milestone to show for it.
