Highest-Paid NBA Players 2026: Curry Is Basketball’s First $200 Million Man

0:26This episode is brought to you by Google Chrome. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed Sponsored Jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a$75 sponsored job credit at Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Today on Forbes, highest paid NBA players 2026. Curry is basketball's first$200 million man. Stephen Curry was the NBA's first unanimous MVP in 2016.

1:13The first player to lead the league in three-pointers four times, then five times, then six and seven and eight times. The first player to launch 10 ,000 attempts from beyond the arc, and the first to drain 4 ,000 of them. But for all the ways the Golden State Warriors 38-year-old sharpshooter has transformed basketball, he is just as much of a game-changer financially. Curry was the first NBA player with a$40 million salary in 2019-20, and a$50 million salary in 2023-24. Now, Curry is set to cross the$60 million threshold this season, banking$62.6 million on the court. Meanwhile, after splitting with his longtime sponsor Under Armour last fall and unveiling a new deal with Chinese shoe brand Li Ning in June, Curry projects to earn an estimated$141 million from endorsements and other business endeavors.

2:14That figure demolishes the NBA record$100 million he made off the court in 2024-25. Put the two numbers together, and Curry is poised to haul in$203.6 million over the coming year, becoming the first active NBA player to surpass$200 million. In fact, since Forbes began tracking athlete income in 1990, only three other sports stars have cleared that bar in the course of 12 months, unadjusted for inflation. Boxer Floyd Mayweather, soccer legend Cristiano Ronaldo, and golfer Jon Rahm. The historic windfall keeps Curry on top of Forbes' list of the highest-paid NBA players for the second straight year.

3:02LeBron James, who led the ranking for 11 consecutive seasons before slipping to number two in 2025, now slides to number four, with an estimated$93.9 million after signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in July for the veterans' minimum of$3.9 million this season. Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant, who is due to collect an estimated$104.9 million, and Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will pocket a total of$103.5 million after being traded to the Miami Heat over the summer, slot in ahead of James on this year's list. Rounding out the top five is Anthony Edwards of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who is set to collect$87.9 million this year.

3:52Edwards is the leader of a new-look Timberwolves squad that traded for LaMelo Ball in July. He's entering the third season of a five-year contract worth a projected$244.6 million. Edwards is due to earn$48.9 million on the court this year and$39 million off the court. Together, the NBA's 10 highest-paid players are expected to bring in $958 million this season before taxes and agent fees. That's a 6 % increase from the 2025 list's record$902 million and more than double the$449 million total from a decade ago. The group's combined$469 million in off-court income is nearly$90 million beyond last year's record$380 million.

4:45And it's light years ahead of the comparable numbers for the 10 highest paid athletes in other sports. That includes soccer at$281 million, MLB at$144 million, the NFL at$84 million, and the NHL at$16 million. And while the$489 million this year's top 10 or earning on the court is down from the past two seasons, that is almost entirely a function of the 41-year-old James' last decision to accept less money for a shot at another championship, as his illustrious career winds down. The NBA's salary cap is set at$165 million this season, up 75 % from 10 years ago. A strong growth across the league's business drives up the value of players' roughly 50 % share of basketball-related income, as ensured by their collective bargaining agreement.

5:44A decade ago, as some league observers fretted that a one-year cap spike had produced out-of-whack contracts, James had the NBA's highest salary at$31 million. This season, 59 NBA players are set to exceed that mark, according to SpotTrack. Still, after an 11-year,$76 billion national broadcast package that was signed in 2024 and began last season led some around the league to assume the salary cap would jump by the maximum of 10 % for the foreseeable future, the reality has been a bit less robust. This season, the cap climbed by 6.7%, and it is projected to rise by a similar percentage in 2027-28.

6:30Hampering the growth is the turbulence in the local media market after the collapse of regional sports network operator Main Street Sports Group cost 16 NBA teams tens of millions of dollars in annual revenue, each. For full coverage and to see the whole list, check out Brett Knight's piece on Forbes.com. This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes. Thanks for tuning in.

7:20Thank you.