The Highest-Paid Players in the NBA Finals: LeBron vs. Everyone Else

Despite a convincing win by underdog Miami Heat in Game 3, the Los Angeles Lakers are poised to bring a 17th NBA Championship home after a mismatched finals series against a depleted and so-far outclassed Heat.

Using data from Spotrac, GOBankingRates ranked all 10 starters by their average annual salaries in ascending order from lowest to highest. Here’s how the rest measure up against LeBron James, who is playing in pursuit of a historic championship with his third franchise and a highly competitive race for series MVP against one of his own teammates. Then see how James compares to the richest athletes in the world.

Kendrick Nunn

• Yearly contract value: $1,028,483

Miami shooting guard Kendrick Nunn started in all 67 games during the pre-shutdown regular season, averaging 15.3 points per game and earning runner-up for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Even so, he was a rare sight in much of the playoffs, missing six of the first 15 contests and getting only short court time when he did play. In the finals, however, he has emerged as a legitimate threat and was one of the only glimmers of light in an otherwise ugly start to the series by Miami during the opening two games.

Duncan Robinson

• Yearly contract value: $1,030,062

Duncan Robinson has failed to impress so far in the NBA Finals, including a scoreless Game 1 to start the series. Even before the current contest with Los Angeles, the Miami power forward/small forward emerged from the pre-finals postseason with a sub-11.5 point average—and the Lakers excel at defending against his style of play, according to CBS Sports.

Bam Adebayo

• Yearly contract value: $2,966,760

Edrice Femi “Bam” Adebayo is an All-Star whose presence is crucial to any chance of a Miami victory—which is exactly the problem. Adebayo was injured in Game 1 — along with another key player, Goran Dragic — and missed both Game 2 and Game 3 of the finals.

JaVale McGee

• Yearly contract value: $4,100,000

The Lakers benched JaVale McGee twice in the playoffs prior to their current series against Miami. Generally, L.A. fans can expect to see either McGee—a two-time NBA champion—or Dwight Howard starting at center alongside King James and the rest of the Lakers nucleus.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

• Yearly contract value: $8,291,514

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope replaced Avery Bradley when Bradley declined a place in the Lakers’ bubble for family reasons. Caldwell-Pope was slow getting started when play resumed, including into the early postseason. He got hot when it counted deep in the playoffs, however, and has largely been a positive presence for the Lakers despite a miserable Game 3.

Meyers Leonard

• Yearly contract value: $10,250,000

After suffering an injury in February, Meyers Leonard, who had been a full-time starter, was pulled from the Heat rotation for virtually all of the postseason in favor of Bam Adebayo. With Adebayo out with an injury of his own, however, the seven-foot, 260-pound Leonard is back in — and San Antonio is sure to be sizing up his performance. It’s likely that the Spurs will have their eyes on Leonard when he enters free agency in the offseason.

Danny Green

• Yearly contract value: $15,000,000

In Game 1 vs. the Heat, Danny Green displayed exactly the kind of talent and poise under pressure that the Lakers expected from the shooting guard when they signed him to a two-year, $30-million deal in 2019. If the Lakers do emerge from the finals victorious, Green will join James in the small and exclusive fraternity of players who have won NBA Championships with three different teams. It’s Green’s fourth trip to the NBA Finals.

Anthony Davis

• Yearly contract value: $25,434,263

One of the greatest subplots of the NBA Finals so far has been the race for the title of MVP between LeBron James and Anthony Davis — and there’s a good argument to be made for the center/power forward. After an already historic pre-finals postseason, Davis managed to up his output to Jedi levels vs. Miami, far outsourcing James. While scoring 33 points per game in the first two outings, he’s averaging an almost unheard of 60% from behind the three-point line and 63.4% from the field.

Jimmy Butler

• Yearly contract value: $35,197,650

While the acquisition of Jimmy Butler isn’t solely responsible for the Heat’s transformation into a team playing for an NBA Championship, it’s hard to imagine Miami would be where it is without the presence of the crafty shooting guard. According to CBS News, “Every team that has added Butler has been better for it, and worse after he left.” He’s lived up to that history so far in the finals, scoring a postseason-career-high 57 points in Game 2 and carrying the team to victory in Game 3 with smothering coverage of LeBron James and a 40-13-11 triple-double.

LeBron James

• Yearly contract value: $38,328,212

Not even LeBron James has been able to match the scoring spree of Anthony Davis, but in terms of assists, James has certainly created more offense. On the road to his historic run for championships with three different teams, James has been energizing the Lakers with a flurry of assists — far more than Davis — including many unsung but important would-be assists that turn into missed three-point tries.

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About the Author

Andrew Lisa

Andrew Lisa has been writing professionally since 2001. An award-winning writer, Andrew was formerly one of the youngest nationally distributed columnists for the largest newspaper syndicate in the country, the Gannett News Service. He worked as the business section editor for amNewYork, the most widely distributed newspaper in Manhattan, and worked as a copy editor for TheStreet.com, a financial publication in the heart of Wall Street’s investment community in New York City.

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