I’d imagine by the time LeBron retires he will surpass this, but for now Kobe is the King. The crazy thing is he would have made even more money if the rape allegation never came up.
There was a dip not in NBA salaries but endorsements at that time, but NIKE stayed with him and eventually he made a lot of that money back.
Here is how Forbes breaks it down.
One area that Bryant did pass his boyhood idol was at the bank. Jordan earned an estimated $465 million during his playing career from his playing salary and endorsements, while Bryant’s tally will hit $680 million by the end of the season. On an inflation-adjusted basis, the two are closer with Bryant holding the edge $762 million to $720 million in 2015 dollars.
The biggest benefactors of Bryant’s historic 20-year career might be the Buss family, which owns 70% of the Lakers. The Lakers signed a 20-year TV deal with Time Warner in 2011 worth $4 billion, pushing annual operating profits north of $100 million for the team. The franchise was worth around $200 million when Bryant was drafted in 1996 and was valued at $2.6 billion in Forbes’ latest look at the business of the NBA.
Kobe is also the only player besides Jordan to ever have a $30 million a year salary at any point in their career.