Highest annual earnings for a basketball player (current year)

According to Forbes, the highest-earning basketball player is currently LeBron James (USA), who earned an estimated $128.2 m (£102.3 m) in the 12 months up to 1 May 2024.

This placed the LA Lakers forward fourth overall on the Forbes list of highest-earning athletes for 2023–24, behind footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) on $260 m (£207.6 m), golfer Jon Rahm (Spain) on $218 m (£174 m) and footballer Lionel Messi (Argentina) on $135 m (£107.8 m).

Of James' total earnings, it's estimated that $80 m (£63.9 m) came from sponsorship and endorsement deals with brands such as Nike, Epic Games, Sony, PepsiCo and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.

The next most lucrative basketball players of the year were Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) on $111 m (£88.6 m) and Stephen Curry (USA) on $102 m (£81.4 m).