Four Nets, led by Kevin Durant, are among Sportico’s 100 highest paid athletes

Sportico, the sports business site, tries its hands at ranking the world’s 100 highest paid athletes and at the end of the process, only one professional team has four players on the list: your Brooklyn Nets.

As the story’s author tweeted...

The list includes salaries and endorsement from April 2020 to May 2021 as well as estimates of their endorsements, wrote Badenhausen who pioneered team valuation and player incomes while at Forbes. The list also includes the value of some high profile investments like Kevin Durant’s estimated $15 million stake in Postmates, which was bought by Uber in December, Sportico reports. (It apparently doesn’t cover his big gains in Coinbase.)

That said, KD’s estimated income from the period examined by Sportico is a whopping $80.1 million, $32.1 million in salary, $48 million in endorsements, sponsorships and profits from investments. That places him ninth overall, between Tom Brady and Steph Curry. Among team athletes rather than boxers, golfers and tennis players, KD ranks seventh and among NBA players second, behind only LeBron James who made an estimated $101.8 million.

James Harden is seven spots lower at No. 16, with $33.1 million in salary, $18 million for a total of $51.1 million. Kyrie Irving is ranked 24th at $43.2 million with $26.2 million in salary and $17 million in endorsements. At No. 62, Blake Griffin earned an estimated $30 million, all but $3 million in salary.

Only one other NBA team has three players on the list, the 76ers, with Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris ranking in that order.

Conor MacGregor ranks No. 1 with $208 million. FC Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is the highest paid team athlete at $126 million.

• Top 100 Highest-Paid Athletes in the World - Kurt Badenhausen - Sportico
• THE WORLD’S 100 HIGHEST-PAID ATHLETES SCORE $4.2 BILLION IN 2021 - Kurt Badenhausen - Sportico