From 1995 to 1999, the highest paid players were either Ewing or Jordan.

From 1999 to 2009, it was Garnett or Shaq.

From 2009 to 2016, it was Kobe.

For 2016-17, it was LeBron.

From 2017 to now, it's been Curry.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_highest-paid_NBA_players_by_season

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/rankings/player/_/year/2016/sort/cap_total

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/rankings/earnings-career

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/player/earnings/_/id/2257/lebron-james

39 comments

  7. I believe Stephen Curry has the longest consecutive run of being the highest paid player in the NBA, ever.

  9. LeBron‘s rookie contract could’ve been for 100m per year and scaled with inflation every year since then and he still would be underpaid

  10. He took less money to go to Miami. If he stayed with the Cavs, those years would’ve been his super duper max years.

  15. Someone calculate if Bron maximized his career earnings what they would be right now. I am too lazy and dumb.

  16. No matter how you feel about him, Jordan, whoever. Have to give him props for becoming a billionaire while still active. And all the longevity talk. While he may have only been the highest paid player for 1 year, playing at such a high level for so long has allowed him to have the highest career earnings in NBA history.

  20. When Lebron and Bosh joined D Wade in Miami Lebron took a huge paycut, he was making less than Gilbert Arenas, Joe Johnson and Rashard Lewis lmao

    You have all these smooth brain fans mad at him saying he should’ve taken a paycut this year despite being all-nba still and putting up prime Grant Hill numbers, meanwhile he’s making less than Jimmy Butler who he’s still outplaying at his age, even KAT and Jaylen Brown are making more money than he is, his contract isn’t stopping Rob from doing his job

  21. It’s gotta be grating to LeBron’s ego that ne’er do wells like Bradley Beal was paid more than him.

  22. What’s crazy is his salary his first year in miami was $17m.

    Nowadays that’s considered a steal for Austin Reaves.

  29. Can someone eli5 to me how Curry is the highest paid player in the league? I thought supermax contracts were all the same percentage of the cap so all mega stars worth would therefore be paid the same set amount.

  32. Also interesting: despite owning the NBA career scoring record, he has only led the NBA in scoring once in his career.

  36. I don’t know shit about contracts and salary caps, and have been following NBA since 1997. Can someone tell me how much Lebron would have made if he stayed on the cavs the entire time, since 2003?

  37. He has also left a team multiple times. There is a built in incentive when it comes to max salaries of for a player to stay with their current team.

    That is why you see the list is made of of guys who played their entire careers it why team outside of probably KG.

  39. All these comments talking about bullshit dont understand that my number 23 in Ohio played the long game and won.

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