The World’s Highest-Paid Athletes

Source: Statista

In Giannis Antetokounmpo, newly-crowned NBA champion and finals MVP, another player may have dominated the sporting headlines this week, but Lebron James still made some waves beside the court. For one he’s currently starring in Space Jam 2, stepping into the enormous shoes of Michael Jordan, who appeared in the original Space Jam movie in 1996.

More importantly though, James made headlines on Thursday for becoming the first active NBA player to become a billionaire, a milestone that Jordan only surpassed after his playing career. According to Sportico, James surpassed $1 billion in career earnings from salaries and endorsement deals, putting him far ahead of Kevin Durant ($580 million) and Steph Curry ($430 million), the other two active players who could eventually join the billionaires club.

According to Forbes, James made a total of $97 million between May 1, 2020 and May 1, 2021, putting him fifth among the highest paid athletes. As the following chart shows, Conor McGregor took the money crown last year, taking home a whopping $180 million, mainly thanks to his sale of whiskey brand Proper No. Twelve.

WWE’s Highest-Paid Wrestlers

Source: statista.com

These days, WWE wrestlers earn massive amounts of money. Some of the biggest icons in sports entertainment, WWE superstars earn millions from their salary, cuts from WWE revenue and sales of their merchandise. Forbes put together a ranking of the highest-earning wrestlers in the 2017 calendar year with John Cena in first place.

Cena has won 25 championships with 16 reigns as world champion. He is also the champion in the WWE’s money league by a long distance, taking home $10 million last year. Brock Lesnar came second with $6.5 million while Roman Reigns came in third with $4.3 million.