Yesterday, Forbes Magazine released its list of the World’s 10 Highest Paid Athletes in 2023.
These are the four black athletes who made it to the list.
Kylian Mbappe
Earnings: $120 million
Nationality: France | Sport: Football (Soccer in America) | Age: 24
Mbappe is the world’s highest paid Black athlete. The Paris Saint-Germain player has the highest playing salary in all of football. On the field, Mbappe earns somewhere in the neighbourhood of $100 million. Off the field, he pocketed $20 million in the last year. Last year, he was appointed an ambassador for Sorare, a cryptocurrency-based fantasy game.
LeBron James
Earnings: $119.5 million
Nationality: U.S. | Sport: Basketball | Age: 38
Lebron James, the world’s first active athlete to become a billionaire, earned $44.5 million on the field and pocketed $75 million from his various off-field activities over the last year. The Los Angeles Lakers forward is the promoter of sports nutrition company Ladder and the SpringHill Company, which develops and produces TV and other entertainment content. Other assets include lucrative stakes in Blaze Pizza, Fenway Sports Group, Canyon Bicycles, Mitchell & Ness and climate-conscious dairy company Neutral Foods among others.
Stephen Curry
Earnings: $100.4 million
Nationality: U.S. | Sport: Basketball | Age: 35
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors earned a $48.1 million salary – the NBA’s highest this season, and he’s going to make $51.9 million in 2023-24, making him the league’s first $50 million man. He inked a long-term contract agreement with Under Armour in March that will last until his retirement from basketball, and he has a new collaboration with Chase Bank. Unanimous Media, the multimedia company he owns, is one of the makers of a documentary on him that will air on Apple TV+ in July, and he plans to start a graphic novel series next year. He has also recently aquired a stake in the VR platform Golf+ and TMRW Sports, a firm formed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy that aims to create a tech-infused golf league.
Kevin Durant
Earnings: $89.1 million
Nationality: U.S. | Sport: Basketball | Age: 34
Kevin Durant, now of the Phoenix Suns earned $44.1 million on the field this season. Off-field, he is an active investor and businessman. Over the last ten months, his private investment vehicle 35V has acquired stakes in the Premier Lacrosse League, Happy Viking – a nutrition brand, League One Volleyball, women’s sports league network Athletes Unlimited, a Major League Pickleball team, Fanatics’ Mitchell & Ness label, digital creator business Goldenset Collective, sports software startup ScorePlay and Tiger Woods’ TMRW Sports. He also has a valuable sneaker deal with Nike, which was recently upgraded to a lifetiime contract.
