{"id":783734,"date":"2026-07-25T13:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/783734\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T13:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T13:02:09","slug":"nearly-20-college-players-and-almost-300-nba-players-will-make-more-than-lebron-james-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/783734\/","title":{"rendered":"Nearly 20 College Players And Almost 300 NBA Players Will Make More Than LeBron James Next Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Utah<\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 18: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts against the Utah Jazz during the second quarter at Crypto.com Arena on November 18, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Martinez\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

LeBron James<\/a> will make the veteran\u2019s minimum of about $3.9 million next season in the first year of his two-year, $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.<\/p>\n

Nearly 300 NBA players will earn more than James, according to USA Today, <\/a>while, in a sign of the changing times in college sports triggered by Name, Image and Likeness rules, almost 20 college players will take home more than the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer, per The Athletic.<\/a><\/p>\n

James made nearly $53 million last season with the L.A. Lakers, but will take a major pay cut this season to pursue his fifth NBA championship in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n

But he won\u2019t go hungry. Forbes named James<\/a>\u2014whose net worth is valued at $1.4 billion as of Friday\u2014a billionaire in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my final decision,\u201d James announced on X\/Twitter. \u201cI\u2019m not doing it for the money. I\u2019m not doing it for family. Why am I really playing right now? I still want to sacrifice. I still want to work. I still want to push myself. I still want to compete, win, and have a chance to feel the thrill of victory, another championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the NBA, Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors, one of the teams James spurned to sign with the 76ers, will be the NBA\u2019s highest-paid player next season at $62,587,158.<\/p>\n

But the list of players who will earn more than James also includes Knicks reserve guard Deuce McBride ($3,956,523) and San Antonio Spurs rookie and former Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintaince ($3,902,760).<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, LeBron chose to accept far less than his value,\u201d ESPN\u2019s Jay Bilas said. “He had a $50M player option with the Lakers. Two, the NBA has a CBA that is agreed upon by the players. You don\u2019t hear about lawsuits in the NBA because the league doesn\u2019t violate federal antitrust law. Third, college players have tremendous value in the marketplace, as evidenced by rising player salaries. When the NCAA illegally restricted players to a scholarship only, it told us only a few players were worth more than a scholarship. That was nonsense, and now proven to be false. College sports is a multi- billion dollar industry with multi-billion dollar media rights deals. Of course the revenue drivers should and will be compensated to the level of their value. That\u2019s why the NCAA is lobbying Congress to limit athletes, while not asking for a limit for anything or anyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeBron\u2019s decision to accept less from Philly isn\u2019t indicative of a problem or an issue. There are many NBA players that are not as valuable as LeBron that will make far more over the next two years. It\u2019s a choice from an individual player that had a choice. Until recently, college athletes were illegally denied choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

ATLANTA, GA – DECEMBER 20: Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance (21) reacts during the college basketball game between the St. John’s Red Storm and the Kentucky Wildcats on December 20th, 2025 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA. (Photo by Rich von Biberstein\/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Icon Sportswire via Getty Images<\/p>\n

As for the college game, there is no public list of salaries so information is harder to pin down. <\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s Thomas Haugh, who withdrew from the NBA Draft to return to college, could earn up to $10 million this season, more than double James\u2019 salary, per Matt Norlander of CBS Sports.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat obviously played into it, but for me it\u2019s not really about that,\u201d Haugh said when he decided to return to college. \u201cI\u2019m not a money guy like that. I love wearing the orange and blue and I want to represent my school. I think a lot of times now in college basketball, you see people chasing a check and chasing that stuff, but for me honestly, it\u2019s just pride. I love playing here and I want to give 100% to my coaches.\u201d<\/p>\n

Florida coach Todd Golden told ESPN<\/a>: \u201cThe unique angle that we were able to drive home to Tommy\u2019s family and [agent] Aaron Klevan, this dude has real bottom-line NIL value. That\u2019s an area right now where elite college athletes have an advantage over mid-tier pros. Tommy Haugh\u2019s legitimate NIL value at Florida is 10-20 times what his NIL value would be on an NBA team next year. Because of the brand awareness at Florida, he will have been here for four years, all of those things along with him returning, our supporters really appreciate the loyalty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other college players expected to earn more than James include Kentucky\u2019s Milan Momcilovic,<\/a> who is getting between $6-8 million after leaving Iowa State and withdrawing from the NBA Draft, depending on which source you believe.<\/p>\n

St. John\u2019s has two players who will make more than James in Baylor transfer wing Tounde Yessoufou (approximately $6 million) and point guard Quinn Ellis (north of $4 million).<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s wonderful and the reason being, 90 percent of these players making these salaries are helping their parents out that have struggled to raise these guys,\u201d Rick Pitino said via phone. \u201cNinety percent of them are helping their families out who are struggling to raise them.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 18: LeBron James #23 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts against the Utah…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":783735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-783734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=783734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/783734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/783735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=783734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=783734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=783734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}