Highest Paid Athletes

Being an athlete can sometimes be a very high paying job. Although it takes tons of skill to BE an athlete it takes even more to be the BEST athlete. These athletes are some of the best athletes in sports. Many of them use a lot of their money for charity. A lot of them are also making lots from endorsements. These athletes make millions and millions of dollars and soon one of them could be a billionaire. The money keeps on coming.

7. Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant is an American Basketball player for the Brooklyn Nets. He has won 2 NBA championships and gotten 2 MVP awards. According to ClutchPoints, in 2020, he was paid around 65 million dollars. Kevin makes around 35 million dollars from his endorsements and another 30 million dollars from his winnings. After a 13 year career, he is estimated to have around 400 million dollars. Kevin is in a deal with Nike until 2024 although he was originally in a deal with Under Armour until 2014. Nike made a deal with him within 265-285 million dollars.

6. Stephen Curry

Stephen Curry is an American basketball player who plays for the Golden State Warriors. He won 2 MVP awards and 3 NBA championships. According to ESPN, he was paid about 79 million dollars in 2020. This makes him the second-highest-paid NBA player following LeBron James. Steph Curry donates 82 thousand dollars to a fight malaria foundation. His biggest NBA contract was worth a 201 million dollar extension with the warriors in 2017. Like most athletes, Curry also makes a lot of money from various endorsements. He made around 48 million dollars in 2019 from his endorsements. One major endorsement that he is involved in is Under Armour. It isn’t fully clear how much he made from it but it all adds up to hundreds of millions. Some other endorsements that he is involved in include Brita, Unilever, JP Morgan Chase, Infiniti, Palm, and Rakuten.

5. LeBron James

LeBron James is an American basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers. He has won four NBA championships and 4 MVP awards. He has made many contracts over his 17-year NBA career. He made around 88 million dollars in 2020. In 2018 he signed a four-year contract with the Lakers costing up to 153 million dollars. He also has a lifetime deal with Nike costing 1 billion dollars. James has made 23 million dollars from his earnings in 2020and has made over 65 million dollars in 2020 from his endorsements. Those being, Coca Cola, Beats, Heavy Motors, and NBA2K.

4. Neymar Jr

Neymar Jr is a Brazilian soccer player for Paris Saint Germain. He is paid around 96 million dollars and makes over 700,000 dollars a week in 2017 but it just has started to decrease over the years. 78 Million came from his winnings and earnings and the other 18 million comes from his endorsements. Neymar has also donated 5 million dollars to a Covid-19 charity in Brazil. He also donated a lot of money to UNICEF. His 18 million comes from various endorsements including Redbull, Gillette, McDonald’s, Beats, and Puma.

3. Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is an Argentinian soccer player for FC Barcelona. He was paid around 104 million dollars in 2020 and around 610,000 dollars a week. 32 million dollars came from his endorsements and 72 million dollars from his winnings. Messi has always been involved with UNICEF. In February 2019, he donated 218,000 dollars to UNICEF in Kenya. Messi’s pay went up after Neymar Barcelona to Paris Saint Germain. In 2019, Messi took part in prominent campaigns with Pepsi, Gillette, and Turkish Airlines costing 35 million dollars.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo is a Portuguese soccer player for Juventus. He has won 5 ballon D’ors. He was paid 105 million dollars in 2020 just barely beating Messi by 1 million dollars. Ronaldo earns 663,00 dollars a week. Like Lebron James, Cristiano Ronaldo has a lifetime contract with Nike worth 1 billion dollars. He also has deals with Herbalife Nutrition, KFC, American Tourister, and Tag Heuer. Ronaldo has his own brand called CR7. As the 2nd most followed Instagram account, Cristiano Ronaldo makes a whopping 975,000 dollars on average per advertised post on Instagram.

1. Roger Federer

Roger Federer is a Swiss Tennis Player. He is the highest-paid athlete in the world. Being one of the most known tennis players in the world and winning 20 grand slams, he would be paid a lot. He has been paid around 129.9 million dollars in 2020. Federer’s overall career has added up to around 900 million dollars and by the end of 2020, he is likely to be a billionaire. Roger Federer also has his own non-profit charity foundation that donates to many schools in Africa to improve their education. Between 2018 and 2019, Federer has made about 86 million dollars from endorsements. Rolex is one of his oldest endorsers. They have been endorsing Roger since 2004. Rolex made a deal with Federer worth 15 million. He has a few other endorsements including Uniqlo, Credit Suisse, Sunrise, Lindt, and Jura elektroapparate.

As you can see, these athletes are extremely wealthy. Basketball, Soccer and Tennis. Some of the highest paying sports. You might want to be an athlete when you grow up. You will have to work very hard but it could be worth it if you succeed.