Top 10 Highest-Paid Athletes in the World

Which player’s salary shocked you most?

10. Giannis Antetokounmpo

$80.9 million

Antetokounmpo, 27, joined the NBA in 2013.

The all-star athlete was born and raised in Athens, Greece, to Nigerian immigrants.

Antetokounmpo began playing basketball for the youth teams of Filathlitikos in Athens. In 2011, he began playing for the club’s senior team before entering the 2013 NBA draft, and was ultimately chosen as the 15th overall pick by the Bucks.

In 2016–2017, he led the Bucks in all 5 major statistical categories and became the first player in NBA history to finish a season in the top 20 in all five statistics of total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. The athlete received the Most Improved Player award in 2017.

Antetokounmpo has received 6 All-Star selections, including being selected as an All-Star captain in 2019 and 2020. In the last two years, he has led the Eastern Conference in voting.

The athlete is constantly mentioning how important family means to him, and recently welcome two children with his partner, Mariah Riddlesprigger.

9. Tom Brady

$83.9 million

Tom Brady is generally known as being the greatest football quarterback of all time…

The athlete spent his first 20 seasons in the NFL with the New England Patriots

After playing football at UMichigan, Brady was selected as the 199th overall pick by the Patriots in the 6th round of the 2000 NFL Draft.

He became the starting QB during his 2nd season, and led the Patriots to winning their first Super Bowl in history in 2001.

Brady is married to model Gisele Bündchen, and has 3 children.

8. Canelo Alvarez

$90 million

Santos Saúl Álvarez Barragán (Known as Canelo Alvarez) is a Mexican professional boxer who has won multiple world championships in four weight classes from light middleweight to light heavyweight, including unified titles in 3 of those weight classes and lineal titles in two.

Álvarez is the first and only boxer in history to become undisputed champion at super middleweight.

7. Roger Federer

$90.7 million

Roger Federer, 40, is a Swiss professional tennis player.

He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, including a record 237 consecutive weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 five times.

He has won 103 ATP singles titles, the second most of all time after Jimmy Connors, including 20 Grand Slam titles, a record eight men’s singles Wimbledon titles, and a record six year-end championships.

6. Kevin Durant

$92.1 million

KD is known as one of the best NBA players of all time…

Durant was a heavily recruited high school prospect and won numerous year-end awards in college.  He played one season of college basketball for the Texas Longhorns, and was chosen as the 2nd overall pick by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007’s NBA Draft. KD played 9 seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics, which ultimately became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.

He then signed with the Golden State Warriors in 2016, winning consecutive NBA championships in 2017 and 2018.

After the player suffered from an Achilles injury in the 2019 finals, he joined the Brooklyn Nets as a free agent that summer and continues to play with the team.

5. Stephen Curry

$92.8 million

Steph Curry, 34 is another player who will go down in history as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Many believe him to be the greatest shooter in NBA histroy.

Curry is credited with revolutionizing the sport by inspiring teams and players to frequently utilize the three-point shot.

He is an eight-time NBA All-Star and eight-time All-NBA selection. Curry has been named MVP twice and won 4 NBA championships, a an NBA Finals MVP Award, and an NBA All-Star MVP Award.

4. Neymar

$95 million

Neymar da Silva Santos, 30, is a Brazilian professional soccer player, or “footballer,” (for literally everyone outside of the United States), who plays as a winger for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Brazil national team.

The legendary athlete made his professional debut aged 17 and is a central striker, second striker, winger and occasionally an attacking midfielder. Neymar is only one of three players to achieve at least 100 goals for three different clubs.

He helped the club win two successive Campeonato Paulista championships, a Copa do Brasil, and the 2011 Copa Libertadores; the latter being Santos’ first since 1963.

3. Cristiano Ronaldo

$115 million

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United and captains the Portugal national team. Many consider Cristiano to be the best player in the world and greatest players of all time. Ronaldo has won five Ballon d’Or awards and four European Golden Shoes, the most by a European player.

He has won 32 trophies in his career, including seven league titles, five UEFA Champions Leagues, and the UEFA European Championship. Ronaldo holds the records for most appearances (183), goals (140), and assists (42) in the Champions League, goals in the European Championship (14), international goals (117), and international appearances by a European (189).

He is one of the few players to have made over 1,100 professional career appearances, and has scored over 800 official senior career goals for club and country.

2. LeBron James

$121.2 million

LeBron James, 37, is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Nicknamed, “King James,” he is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. James has won four NBA championships, four NBA MVP awards, four NBA Finals MVP awards, three All-Star MVP awards, and two Olympic gold medals. The all-star athlete has scored the most points in the playoffs, the second most career points, and has the seventh most career assists.

He has been selected an NBA All-Star 18 times, to the All-NBA Team a record 18 times, to the NBA All-Defensive First Team five times. Lebron has competed in ten NBA Finals, the 3rd most all time, including 8 consecutively between 2011 and 2018.

In 2021, James was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, and in 2022 became the first player in NBA history to accumulate 10,000 or more career points, rebounds, and assists.

1. Lionel Messi

$130 million

Lionel Andrés Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team.

Many consider Messi to be the best player in the world. Messi has won a record 7 Ballon d’Or awards, 6 European Golden Shoes, and in 2020 was named to the Ballon d’Or Dream Team.

Until his exit from the club in 2021, he had spent his entire professional career with Barcelona, where he won a club-record 35 trophies, including ten La Liga titles, 7 Copa del Rey titles, and 4 UEFA Champions Leagues.

Messi has scored over 750 senior career goals for club and country, and has the most goals by a player for a single club.

ABOUT THE WRITER:

Elena Patestas is a journalist and writer for Valuetainment media. She attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. She was born and raised in Roslyn, New York, and currently lives in Miami, Florida.

Elena is passionate about bringing positive change to our world and believes education is the root to solving many societal problems. After overcoming a chronic health condition, Elena became passionate about health and believes food is the key to preventing dis-ease and achieving optimum health.

Amongst her many goals, she hopes to bring positive, impactful change to our world to create a healthy, financially sound, and unified society.