NBA players are some of the highest paid professional athletes in the world today. These are the highest paid players in the NBA for the 2013 basketball season.
The money shown here is just for salary. Almost all of these players earn additional money each season through endorsements.
A couple, like LeBron James, earn more money each year from endorsements than they do through their NBA salaries. LeBron James earned an estimated $40 million from endorsements in 2012.
Highest paid players in the NBA
1. Kobe Bryant - $27,849,149
Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers is the highest paid player in the NBA for the 2013 season. Kobe is earning a whopping $27.9 million this season.
If you think that is impressive, Kobe Bryant is slated to earn over $30 million in salary next season. The only other NBA player that I know of who was paid over $30 million for one season is Michael Jordan.
2. Dirk Nowitzki - $20,907,128
Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks is the second highest paid player in the NBA today. Nowitzki is making $20.9 million this year. That is Dirk's highest ever salary in the NBA, and ironically, he is having his worst season since he was a rookie in 1999.
3. Carmelo Anthony - $20,463,024
Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks is the third highest player in the NBA. Melo is making $20.5 million this season, which is the highest salary he has yet made in the NBA. Carmelo Anthony is slated to make even more money in salary over the next two years too.
4. Amare Stoudemire - $19,948,799
Another New York Knicks player, Amare Stoudemire, is the fourth highest paid player in the NBA for the 2013 season. Stoudemire is making just under $20 million in salary this season. Amare is in the middle of a five year $100 million dollar contract that will pay him almost $22 million next year, and over $23 million in 2015.
5. Joe Johnson - $19,752,645
Joe Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets is making the fifth most money in the NBA this season, with a $19.8 million salary. Johnson's salary will keep going up every year through the 2016 season, when he is slated to make just under $25 million. I'm a Nets fan and I like Joe Johnson, but he is being wildly overpaid.
6. Dwight Howard - $19,536,360
Dwight Howard of the Lakers is the sixth highest paid player in the NBA this season. Howard is making $19.6 million in 2013. Dwight Howard can become a free agent after this season, and at this point, it's anyone's guess where he will end up next season.
7. Pau Gasol - $19,000,000
A third Lakers player, Pau Gasol, is the seventh highest paid player in the NBA. Gasol is making $19 million this season, and he has one year left on his contract for a little over $19 million next season.
8. Chris Paul - $17,779,458
Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers is eighth highest paid player in the NBA today. Paul is making $17.8 million this season, which is the last year of his current contract.
T-9. LeBron James - $17,545,000
How is it that the best player in the NBA today is only making the ninth highest salary? LeBron James agreed to a salary that was below the maximum amount he could be paid so that he could play alongside two other great players.
Recently, LeBron James complained that under the current collective bargaining agreement between the NBA players and owners he can't be paid what he is truly worth. LeBron is certainly underpaid this season making only $17.6 million.
T-9. Chris Bosh - $17,545,000
Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat is making the same salary as teammate LeBron James is at $17,545,000. The pair are slated to have the same salaries for the next few years also.
11. Dwyane Wade - $17,182,000
Dwyane Wade is the lowest paid of the Miami Heat's big three players, but only by a small amount of money considering the size of the contracts. Wade is earning $17.2 million this season, and he is slated to keep earning slightly less than LeBron James and Chris Bosh for the next few seasons.
12. Deron Williams - $17,177,795
Derom Williams on the New Jersey Nets is the 12th and last NBA player making over $17 million this season. As a Nets fan, Deron Williams is not playing like the 12th best player in the NBA this season. For the most part, he has been nothing but a disappointment since the Nets acquired him a couple years ago.
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