Most people are familiar with the fact that professional athletes make enormous amounts of money. The minimum salary for an NBA player is 500,000 USD, which is about 10 times higher than the average salary for a normal worker. Many players in the league make a lot more than that with some players yearly salary topping 30 million dollars and a handful of others in the 20 million dollar range. As if their salaries weren’t high enough, most of these players receive money outside of their contracts from endorsement deals.
Lebron James is sponsored by many companies including Sprite, Nike, and Hubba Bubba. Lebron James’ salary last year was 33.3 million, but he received 52 million dollars through endorsements. His endorsements paid him almost 20 million dollars more than his salary and in 2015 he signed a deal with Nike worth over 1 billion dollars. Stephen Curry has a massive deal with Under Armour and he is also sponsored by Infiniti, while boasting a salary of 34.7 million, and his endorsements paid him 42 million (Statista, 2019).
Most fans want to embody the talent of their favourite players and will not hesitate to spend money on the latest sneakers or jerseys from them. These companies make huge profits off of the merchandise that these players wear and therefore it benefits them to have endorsements with them.
Superstar athletes are no different from celebrities and whenever someone is able to build a big following of fans companies will be sure to try and make a profit of their popularity. There is millions of dollars to be made being a professional athlete and a lot of it is behind the scenes and not part of their salary. Would anyone else like to trade bodies with Lebron James and sign a billion dollar deal with Nike, or is that just me?
References:
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The World of Basketball 
