Devin Booker, SGA, Shohei Ohtani and the Biggest Contracts in Sports
The idea of an athlete making $70 million in one season would have been outrageous not long ago. Now, it's happening in multiple sports.
On July 1, Oklahoma City Thunder star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander agreed to a four-year supermax extension that's projected to be worth roughly $285 million, according to ESPN's Shams Charania. That would be the highest contract in the major North American sports in terms of average annual value (AAV).
Roughly one week later, the Phoenix Suns topped it by handing star guard Devin Booker a two-year, $145 million extension, per Charania.
Are either of those new deals the biggest across all sports? You're about to find out.
In the wake of SGA and Booker's new deals, we've ranked the biggest contracts across all sports from an AAV perspective. This includes both current contracts and already-signed extensions that will kick in down the road.
Just Missed the Cut
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Josh Allen, Joe Burrow, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence: $55M AAV
This is pretty much the going rate for any starting quarterback who is at least average. Tua Tagovailoa ($53.1M), Jared Goff ($53M), Brock Purdy ($53M), Justin Herbert ($52.5M), Lamar Jackson ($52M) and Jalen Hurts ($51M) are also in the $50 million AAV club. That makes the Kansas City Chiefs' deal for Patrick Mahomes ($45M AAV) a bargain.
Only one QB is in the $60 million AAV club, which we'll get to later.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton: $55M AAV
There are no official numbers for these contracts, but according to ABC News the two biggest F1 stars are earning $55 million annually.
Devin Booker ($55.1M), Karl-Anthony Towns ($55.1M), Bam Adebayo ($55.1M, starting in 2026), Nikola Jokić ($55.2M), Jimmy Butler ($55.5M), Jaylen Brown ($57.1M)
As you're about to see, the NBA is well-represented on this list. If Booker signs a two-year, $150 million extension this offseason, he'd jump to No. 2 on this list.
LIV Golfers
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The contract terms for LIV golfers are confidential, so we're leaving them off this list.
But if the reported totals are accurate, Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson would make the cut.
T-9. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis: $58.5 AAV
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Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis have identical three-year, $175.4 million max extensions starting this upcoming season.
Davis, 32, signed his extension with the Los Angeles Lakers in August 2023 before he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks this past February.
Antetokounmpo, 30, signed his extension with the Milwaukee Bucks in October 2023. Will he also eventually get traded and play out the rest of the extension with another team? Trade rumors involving him are one of the biggest stories of the NBA offseason.
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8. Dak Prescott: $60M AAV
4 of 11.jpg?w=684 "Cowboys 49ers Football")
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott became the NFL's highest-paid player of all time when he signed a four-year, $240 million extension in September 2024.
The three-time Pro Bowler has had plenty of regular-season success, but he has yet to guide the Cowboys past the divisional round of the playoffs. In nine seasons as their starter, he has only two playoff wins.
Given how the quarterback market has exploded in recent years, Prescott's contract might not look so bad by its conclusion in 2028. But the 31-year-old needs to have far more playoff success moving forward for this contract to be a decent value.
7. Stephen Curry: $62.6M AAV (Starting in 2026)
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Curry signed a one-year extension with the Golden State Warriors in August 2024 that will kick in next season. That's the contract we're ranking here.
The two-time NBA MVP already has more than $400 million in career earnings and ranked second on Forbes' list of highest-paid athletes in 2025. That list combines on-field earnings and off-field earnings, and Curry's off-field portfolio (estimated $100M) is one of the most lucrative of any athlete.
Curry's one-year extension will start when he's 38 years old. It'll be interesting to see what his next contract looks like. Aside from LeBron James, there's no precedent for giving a massive contract to an NBA superstar in his late 30s.
6. Jayson Tatum: $62.8M AAV
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Jayson Tatum's five-year, $313.9 million supermax deal starts this upcoming season. Unfortunately, he might miss the entire season due to the torn Achilles that he suffered in the playoffs.
When healthy, the 27-year-old is worth every penny. He's earned four straight first-team All-NBA selections, and he helped guide the Boston Celtics to their 18th championship in franchise history in 2023-24.
Tatum can opt out of the final year of this deal (worth $71.4 million) and become a free agent in 2030, although the Celtics will likely sign him to another extension before it gets that point.
5. Joel Embiid: $64.3M AAV (Starting in 2026)
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Joel Embiid finished in the top two of MVP in voting three consecutive years, and he won the award in 2022-23. The following season, he averaged more than a point per minute played (34.7 points in 33.6 minutes per game), but injuries limited him to only 39 games.
That didn't stop the Philadelphia 76ers from signing Embiid to a three-year, $192.9 million extension last offseason. After all, MVP candidates don't exactly grow on trees. You typically pay them and hope they have better injury luck going forward.
But after Embiid played only 19 games in 2024-25 due to lingering issues with his left knee, you have to wonder if they already regret that contract.
The extension kicks in for the 2026-27 season and contains a massive $69.1 million player option in 2028-29.
4. Shohei Ohtani: $70M AAV
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Ohtani famously deferred $680 million of the 10-year, $700 million contract he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023. He will receive $68 million per year from 2034 to 2043.
"By structuring the contract in this way, the idea is to give the Dodgers more financial flexibility in the short term, but also ease their burden relative to the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT)," Mark Feinsand of MLB.com explained.
For the Dodgers, it's a coup. They get the best all-around player in baseball in his prime for a reduced rate, allowing them more money to spend on other parts of their roster.
Thanks in part to Ohtani's unique contract structure, the Dodgers are favorites to repeat as World Series champions this year.
3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: $71.25M AAV (Starting in 2027)
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander completed one of the best individual seasons of all time with 29 points and 12 assists in a Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. He led the league in scoring and was named both regular-season and Finals MVP, making him only the fourth player in NBA history to accomplish all of that in one season.
The other three? Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem-Abdul Jabbar.
The Oklahoma City Thunder rewarded Gilgeous-Alexander this offseason with a record four-year extension worth a projected $285 million, which will begin in the 2027-28 season. That is the highest AAV contract in NBA history to date.
2. Devin Booker: $72.5M AAV (Starting in 2028)
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One week after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander signed his historic deal, Phoenix Suns star guard Devin Booker made NBA history of his own. His new two-year, $145 million maximum extension is the highest annual salary for any player in the league, according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
Booker already had three guaranteed years left on the four-year, $220.4 million supermax extension that he originally signed with the Suns in July 2022. His new deal won't take effect until the 2028-29 season, and it keeps him under contract for the remainder of the decade.
Booker is a four-time All-Star and has averaged at least 25 points per game for seven straight seasons. As the Suns begin their post-Kevin Durant era, they're clearly committing to Booker as their franchise cornerstone moving forward.
1. Cristiano Ronaldo: $244M AAV
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There are conflicting reports on how much Cristiano Ronaldo's new two-year contract with Al Nassr is worth. Regardless of which one you trust, he's the highest-paid athlete in team sports by a mile.
We're going with this report from The Sun that says he'll make $244 million in average annual value.
One would think this is the last contract for the 40-year-old, but he's still an elite player, so don't rule out another big contract in two years.
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