NBA contracts get bigger every year. Hell, Donovan Mitchell just signed one of the biggest in history this week at 4/$273m. The highest paid players of ten years ago, mostly, aren’t even close to the highest paid players of today. That’s just how it is. That can result in some players looking extremely overpaid in comparison to some of the all-time greats. Look below…
NBA Top 50 Career Earnings (CLICK to expand)
- Kevin Durant – $591,135,653
- LeBron James – $581,375,548
- Stephen Curry – $532,728,665
- Devin Booker – $519,510,594
- Paul George – $516,917,026
- Donovan Mitchell – $511,311,416
- Joel Embiid – $508,943,687
- Anthony Davis – $485,697,532
- Damian Lillard – $482,940,103
- Jayson Tatum – $469,471,035
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – $467,986,000
- Giannis Antetokounmpo – $459,249,790
- Kyrie Irving – $429,609,017
- Nikola Jokic – $426,640,075
- Kawhi Leonard – $426,072,011
- Jimmy Butler – $423,007,091
- Bradley Beal – $420,398,532
- Jaylen Brown – $420,215,919
- James Harden – $411,670,071
- De’Aaron Fox – $409,143,217
- Trae Young – $405,625,093
- Chris Paul – $404,526,572
- Karl-Anthony Towns – $403,292,137
- Jrue Holiday – $391,199,232
- Jamal Murray – $380,331,477
- Rudy Gobert – $370,535,168
- Luka Doncic – $358,626,543
- Jaren Jackson Jr. – $350,154,078
- Russell Westbrook – $349,531,249
- Bam Adebayo – $337,195,377
- Kevin Garnett – $334,304,240
- Pascal Siakam – $332,113,939
- Tobias Harris – $331,343,705
- Khris Middleton – $327,669,529
- Kobe Bryant – $323,312,307
- Klay Thompson – $316,215,721
- DeMar DeRozan – $315,579,827
- Cade Cunningham – $314,684,869
- Andrew Wiggins – $313,945,846
- Lauri Markkanen – $307,529,299
- Evan Mobley – $305,749,957
- Al Horford – $304,856,868
- Zach LaVine – $304,588,248
- Brandon Ingram – $301,775,685
- C.J. McCollum – $300,493,597
- Mike Conley – $299,045,438
- Paolo Banchero – $289,509,903
- Anthony Edwards – $288,894,257
- Domantas Sabonis – $287,339,326
- Shaquille O’Neal – $286,344,668
This is total earnings through the end of all currently signed contracts as of 7/10/26
Of that Top 50, only four players are currently retired: Chris Paul, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and Shaq. Unsurprisingly, they are four of the best players ever with All-Star Teams, MVPs, All-NBA teams, All-Defense, and damn near every other award you can think of.1 Looking at the resumes for those on the rest of the list, those awards are pretty common.
Now look at the top. Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Steph Curry are who you would expect to be there with a combined 7 scoring titles, 7 MVPs, and a staggering 23 1st Team All-NBA selections. They have awards for days. The first blips come from Devin Booker at #4 and Paul George at #5. While not in the same stratosphere as the other three, they both have received MVP votes, been to All-Star games, and have been All-NBA. Outside of some MVP awards, that’s still generally the same profile as the rest of the Top 15 including Giannis, SGA, and Nikola Jokic who will see themselves vault to the top of this list in the near future. That all makes sense, even if you think PG and Book are overpaid.
At 17, we see Bradley Beal. This set my radar off a bit. Did you know, Beal has only made three All-Star games and one All-NBA team? That really doesn’t seem like very much for someone who will end up making north of $420m in his career. I understand he had injuries and his max contract went south immediately from his 30+ ppg seasons, but it got me thinking of who else might not belong on this list. Is there anyone else on this list with a worse resume than Beal? There are a few…
- #20 – De’Aaron Fox – $409m+
- MVP (11), 2023 Comeback Player of the Year, CPOY (12), 2x All-Star, All-NBA 3rd Team
- He’s going through it right now (including from me), but he was at least a high-level player on a bad team for a few years
- #25 – Jamal Murray – $380m+
- ROY (5), Comeback Player of the Year (2), 1x All-Star, All-NBA 3rd Team
- If I wrote this last year, things would be much different. 3 of those accolades were from this past season and much of that was due to other players getting injured and not qualifying.
- #39 – Andrew Wiggins – $313m+
- 2015 Rookie of the Year, 1x All-Star
- To say Wiggins’ career hasn’t gone as planned is an understatement. That #1 pick status certainly got him that first max contract, but his athleticism should keep him in the money for years to come.
- #40 – Lauri Markkanen – $307m+
- 2023 Most Improved Player, 1x All-Star
- For a guy who keeps getting traded and has missed 246 games in 9 seasons, he certainly keeps getting paid.
- #43 – Zach LaVine – $304m+
- 6th-Man (14th), 2x All-Star
- That’s lean, but LaVine was at least scoring in the mid-20s for several seasons
- #44 – Brandon Ingram – $301m+
- 2020 Most Improved Player, 2x All-Star
- Almost as lean as LaVine, but has at least won some kind of award
- #45 – CJ McCollum – $300m+
- 2016 Most Improved Player
- It’s crazy to see that CJ has never made an All-Star team and never received votes for anything other than his MIP win
- #47 – Paolo Banchero – $289m+
- 2023 Rookie of the Year, 1x All-Star
- This is understandable. While an Andrew Wiggins type career is possible since he has only played 4 seasons, let’s not be too hasty
Looking at these 8 players and Bradley Beal, yes, maybe some players are overpaid based on their league voted accomplishments. Still, that makes 49 out of the Top 50 highest career earners in NBA history as having some type of accolade to their name. Waaaaaiiiittt a second… 49 out of 50? Who are we missing???
#32 – Tobias Harris – $331m+
ZERO All-Star Games, ZERO Award Votes
Can you believe it? Harris has been in the NBA for 15 years. In all that time, not once has a single person acknowledged him in terms of awards. Only once in those 15 years has he averaged 20 points per game (exactly 20.0 in 2019). Despite this, the Philadelphia 76ers decided to trade two 1st round picks, and two 2nd round picks for him before giving him a 5/$180m contract. With his most recent contract with the Spurs, he will reach $331m.
That’s more than the career earnings of Kobe Bryant. Let that sink in.
- pretty sure no most improved among that 4-some though ↩︎
Contracts: Spotrac
Philly Front Office 
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