Sunday, December 22, 2024

Steph Curry to Pass $1 Billion in Career Earnings With Warriors Deal

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Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors reached a one-year contract extension that will pay the two-time NBA MVP $62.6 million for the 2026-27 season, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The deal will push his career earnings from playing salaries and endorsements past $1 billion.

LeBron James is the only NBA player who has earned $1 billion during his playing career, and Curry and Kevin Durant will join him if they play out their current contracts and their endorsements don’t fall off a cliff. Michael Jordan hit 10 figures after he retired, and is the highest-paid athlete of all time at $2.7 billion through 2023 ($3.75 billion adjusted for inflation).

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Curry has two more seasons left on his current four-year, $215 million deal with the Warriors, who he helped lead to four NBA titles since he was drafted in 2009. He is set to make $55.8 million in salary this season, which will mark the eighth straight year he has the highest salary in the NBA.

The new extension will push his career salaries past $500 million, even with the escrow payments Curry and other NBA players relinquish as part of the NBA collective bargaining agreement that ensures a roughly 50-50 revenue split between owners and players. He will join James and Durant in that exclusive $500 million club, which will get more crowded as salaries soar on the back of the NBA’s new $77 billion media contract.

At $102 million, Curry ranked second behind James last season among the highest-paid NBA players, including endorsements. Curry earned an estimated $50 million off the court from a deep roster of sponsors, such as Callaway, CarMax, Rakuten and Subway.

Like most NBA stars, Curry’s biggest endorsement deal is his shoe contract. Last year, Curry extended his long-term partnership with Under Armour, and he became president of UA’s Curry Brand. The company announced that Curry would broaden his involvement with the brand to include golf, women’s and youth categories. He received $75 million worth of restricted stock units as part of the deal, which will vest in 2029 and 2034.

Curry will be 39 at the end of the 2026-27 season, but his off-court earnings prowess should remain robust over the next few years—similar to James, who turns 40 in December. The duo were the two leading scorers for Team USA that won gold last month at the Paris Olympics.

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