LeBron James is the greatest basketball player on the planet, and with the mix of athleticism, physique, as well as how he takes care of his body, you could also make the case that he’s one of, if not, the greatest athletes ever. One thing he isn’t, however, is the highest paid athlete in 2018.
Forbes released their list of highest paid athletes from the 2018 calendar year, and there are actually six athletes ahead of James. Here is the list of the top 10 paid athletes of the year.
1. Floyd Mayweather, Boxing – $275M salary, 10M endorsements
2. Lionel Messi, Soccer – $84M salary, 27M endorsements
3. Cristiano Ronaldo, Soccer – 61M salary, 47M endorsements
4. Conor McGregor, Boxing – 85M salary, 14M endorsements
5. Neymar, Soccer – 73M salary, 17M endorsements
6. LeBron James, Basketball – 33.5M salary, 52M endorsements
7. Roger Federer, Tennis – 12.2M salary, 65M endorsements
8. Stephen Curry, Basketball – 34.9M salary, 42M endorsements
9. Matt Ryan, Football – 62.3M salary, 5M endorsements
10. Matthew Stafford, Football – 57.5M salary, 2M endorsements
LeBron James earned $33.5 million off of his NBA salary for the 2017-18 season, as well as $52 million just off endorsements alone. Still, however, that amount only gets him as high as six on the highest paid athletes of 2018 list.
James could be in line to earn a whole lot more money if he opts to remain in Cleveland and sign a supertax contract with the Cavaliers this summer. As of now, however, no one knows what exactly he’s going to do in terms of his free agency decision. We’ll certainly know more on July 1st.