NBA Players with the Most Career Earnings of All Time

Over the last few decades, the NBA has become an especially large business. Media contracts, sponsorships and other revenue streams have led to teams and players collecting many billions of dollars.

And being a superstar is awfully lucrative. Eleven players have already surpassed $349 million in total NBA earnings, and that number is guaranteed to rise in the coming years.

The list of the NBA's highest-paid players of all time, which unsurprisingly ends with LeBron James, is based on career NBA earnings through the 2025-26 season and is in ascending order.

All contract data is from Spotrac.

11. Russell Westbrook

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Career Earnings: $349,531,249

Russell Westbrook is a prime example of players who have benefited from the NBA's enormous revenue growth.

As his rookie deal on the Oklahoma City Thunder neared its conclusion, Westbrook signed a five-year max extension worth $78.6 million. Five years later, he signed a five-year, $206.8 million deal, which surpassed Curry's as the largest in NBA history.

Good work if you can get it!

Though he retired ring-less following the 2025-26 campaign, Westbrook is headed for the Hall of Fame as a nine-time All-NBA selection who was named the league MVP in 2016-17.

10. Damian Lillard

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Career Earnings: $364,166,141

The last time we saw Damian Lillard, he'd been helped to the locker room as the Milwaukee Bucks drifted closer to elimination from the 2025 playoffs.

The next time he's on the court, he'll have a new—albeit familiar—uniform.

Lillard rose to stardom with the Portland Trail Blazers, who brought him back on a three-year, $42 million deal in 2025 after the Bucks waived and stretched him. He'd been dealt to Milwaukee in the summer of 2023 after his initial Portland run of 11 seasons, which included a pair of max contracts.

Recovering from an Achilles tear is no simple task, but Lillard is back in a comfortable environment for his return in 2026-27.

9. Anthony Davis

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Career Earnings: $364,454,284

Anthony Davis has been involved in two blockbuster trades.

First, the New Orleans Pelicans shipped the All-NBA superstar to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2019 offseason. Then, on a quiet February 2025 night, news broke out of nowhere that the Lakers were sending Davis to the Dallas Mavericks, with Luka Dončić heading out to Hollywood.

In short, Davis has already navigated a fascinating 14-year career. And it shouldn't be ending anytime soon.

Davis is earning nearly $58.5 million in 2026-27 and has a $62.8 million player option for the 2027-28 campaign. The 33-year-old might have one more substantial contract in his future, too.

8. Jimmy Butler

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Career Earnings: $366,174,318

Jimmy Butler, the newest addition to the $350 million tier, has been the centerpiece of multiple trades throughout his career.

Butler made his NBA debut with the Chicago Bulls in 2011, developed into a star and signed a $90 million-plus max deal in 2015. The Bulls shipped him to the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2017, but a deteriorating relationship led to another trade—this time to the Philadelphia 76ers—in 2018.

After that lone season in Philly, he landed a four-year, $140.8 million deal with the Miami Heat via a sign-and-trade.

Butler sustained his All-NBA impact over five-plus seasons in Miami and agreed to a three-year, $146.4 million max extension in 2021. Prior to the expiration of that contract, he forced a trade to the Golden State Warriors and immediately declined a player option in favor of a two-year, $111 million extension.

While he enters the 2026-27 campaign rehabbing from a torn ACL, Butler is owed $56.8 million in the second and final year of his Golden State deal.

7. Kawhi Leonard

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Career Earnings: $375,772,011

Once a defense-first stopper for the San Antonio Spurs, Kawhi Leonard quickly developed into an all-around nightmare in the NBA.

"The Claw" earned two Defensive Player of the Year honors and a Finals MVP over seven years in San Antonio. He forced a trade, landed with the Toronto Raptors and carried them to a championship in his lone season there.

Kawhi then signed a max contract to lead the Los Angeles Clippers, his first of three such agreements with the organization.

After an offseason trade sent him back to Toronto in 2026, Leonard is set to earn $50.3 million in 2026-27 with a two-year, $115 million extension to follow.

6. Chris Paul

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Career Earnings: $404,526,572

Chris Paul parlayed being one of the best point guards of his era into several big paydays.

Following his rookie deal, Paul signed a $63.6 million max contract with the New Orleans Hornets in 2008. He got traded to the Los Angeles Clippers three years later and landed a five-year, $107.3 million max extension from them in 2013. He followed that with another four-year, $159.7 million max deal in Houston in 2018 and a four-year, $120 million contract with the Phoenix Suns in 2021.

Those contracts put CP3 on the path toward joining an exclusive club.

After a $30.8 million year in Golden State in 2023-24, he joined the San Antonio Spurs on a $10.5 million deal in 2024-25. That contract lifted Paul past $400 million for his career.

The future Hall of Famer (briefly) returned to the Clips for a final season in 2025-26, appearing in 16 games before retiring.

5. Paul George

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Career Earnings: $406,203,976

Unfortunately for Paul George, a seemingly never-ending string of injuries has disrupted a once-incredibly promising NBA career.

Fortunately for him, the direct deposit keeps hitting.

George most recently inked a four-year, $211.6 million pact in free agency with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2024. He'd previously signed max extensions with the Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers.

Although injuries and a 25-game suspension led him to have two relatively disappointing seasons in Philly, the six-time All-NBA wing has two more $50 million-plus years ahead.

George will top a half-billion dollars in career earnings in 2028 if (when?) he picks up his $56.6 million player option for the 2027-28 campaign.

4. James Harden

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Career Earnings: $411,670,071

While splitting the 2025-26 season between the Los Angeles Clippers and Cleveland Cavaliers, James Harden joined the $400 million club and added another layer to his productive career.

His journey has been a fascinating one.

Harden began his NBA career on the Oklahoma City Thunder, who dealt him to the Houston Rockets after three seasons. The lefty became an elite scorer in Houston, where he stayed for eight-plus years. Harden has since played for the Brooklyn Nets, Sixers, Clippers and Cavs.

To date, Harden collected his highest single-year salary ($44.3 million) during the 2021-22 campaign, which he split between Brooklyn and Philly. Despite not receiving the huge single-year salaries like others in these rankings, Harden is poised to reach a half-billion in caeer earnings late in the three-year, $96.5 million pact he signed with Cleveland in the 2026 offseason.

3. Stephen Curry

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Career Earnings: $470,141,507

The greatest shooter in NBA history, Stephen Curry jumped past the $400 million threshold in the same year as CP3.

Soon enough, Steph could be atop the NBA's all-time earnings list.

Curry has spent all 17 seasons of his career with the Warriors, guiding them to four championships along the way. He's also won a pair of league MVPs, along with a Finals MVP honor in 2022.

Back in 2017, he signed a five-year, $201.2 million contract, which was the largest deal in NBA history at the time. After the 2022 season, Curry inked a four-year, $215.4 million pact.

Curry is far from finished cashing checks, too. He's due $62.6 million in 2026-27, and he just signed a two-year extension worth $116 million.

Kevin Durant may reach $600 million in career earnings first, but Curry is the first NBA player ever to ink a contract that would propel him beyond that incredible mark.

2. Kevin Durant

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Career Earnings: $501,135,653

You see that number. The wildest part is that Kevin Durant has actually left money on the table.

When he left Oklahoma City for Golden State, he didn't sign max contracts. Durant kept accepting below-market deals to keep the Warriors' core together, which helped lead to two NBA titles. He exited both of the Dubs' championship runs as the Finals MVP, too.

Durant finally inked a max offer in 2019, joining the Brooklyn Nets on a four-year, $164.3 million pact in a sign-and-trade.

His next extension—which he signed in Brooklyn before he joined the Phoenix Suns and was later traded to the Rockets—was worth $194.2 million over four seasons. He then re-upped with Houston on a two-year, $90 million agreement that runs through 2027-28, pending a player option.

1. LeBron James

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Career Earnings: $581,375,548

To absolutely nobody's shock, LeBron James headlines this list.

Not only is he LeBron freaking James, he's the longest-tenured player of this revenue-exploding era. The King entered the NBA in 2003, so he's signed 10 contracts across 23 combined seasons on the Cavaliers, Heat, Cavs again, Lakers and now 76ers.

LeBron, as Durant did in Golden State several years later, took a discount with Miami to allow a stronger roster. That strategy paid on-court dividends with two NBA titles, as well.

Over the last decade, James has prioritized short-term contracts that have maximized both his salary and flexibility (read: leverage).

While collecting $48.7 million in 2024-25, he made history as the first player to surpass a half-billion dollars in NBA earnings.

LeBron left L.A. for the Sixers in the summer of 2026, taking just $7.9 million over two seasons to play alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.