The five all-time basketball greats below earned a combined $1.5 billion on the hardwood.
Bryant’s first contract with the Lakers was worth $3.5 million over three years, yet he knew early on that his salary potential was immense. He was one of only five players to vote against the NBA’s 1999 Collective Bargaining Agreement, which capped individual salaries. Bryant’s annual salary eventually topped $30 million, making him only the second NBA player at the time, after Michael Jordan, to hit that threshold. Bryant retired second only to Kevin Garnett in career salary.
Bryant built his first fortune on the back of two decades of rich playing contracts and endorsement deals. His path to becoming a billionaire was going to be paved in the investment world, and his first big score, BodyArmor, represented roughly one-third of his net worth.The Players’ TribuneIn addition to building Bryant Stibel, Kobe was focused on storytelling in different mediums during his post-NBA career.
Kobe wasn’t the only one to benefit from Kobe. The owners of the Lakers—the Buss family and Philip Anschutz—rank among the biggest beneficiaries of the NBA star’s popularity. The team’s 20-year, $4 billion TV deal with Time Warner in 2011 pushed annual operating profits north of $100 million. The value of the team, which was around $200 million when Bryant was drafted in 2006, is now $3.7 billion.
This is a picture of a purple Kentucky with numbers on it.
what y’all look like right now
Worth every penny.
How insensitively timed. A business using a man's death to fill part of their social media calendar.