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NBA Players From These Colleges Make the Most Money

August 4, 2021

6 min Read

Written by George Malone

Edited by Cooper Bernier

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One reason students attend college is to learn skills that help them land jobs and maybe even find careers.

So for any aspiring professional basketball players, this list is for you. These are the universities that produce players that make the most money.

Some schools churn out many NBA talents, such as Kentucky and Duke, each with over 20 active players. Others, such as Arizona State, have only a few players in the league, but they make the list because one star has landed massive contracts: James Harden accounts for 99.26% of the total earnings by Sun Devils.

Read on to see which schools head the list, and to see if your favorite college makes the top 25.

Last updated: August 4, 2021

25. Memphis

Total earnings: $214,167,776
Active Players: 4
Top Earner: Derrick Rose
Top Earner’s Team: New York Knicks
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $155,051,613
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 72.4%

24. Michigan State

Total earnings: $216,670,772
Active Players: 8
Top Earner: Draymond Green
Top Earner’s Team: Golden State Warriors
Top Earner’s Position: Power Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $105,729,003
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 48.8%

23. Arizona State

Total earnings: $226,023,362
Active Players: 2
Top Earner: James Harden
Top Earner’s Team: Brooklyn Nets
Top Earner’s Position: Shooting Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $224,349,734
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 99.26%

Today’s Top Offers

22. Villanova

Total earnings: $232,284,248
Active Players: 8
Top Earner: Kyle Lowry
Top Earner’s Team: Toronto Raptors
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $190,048,698
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 81.82%

21. Fresno State

Total earnings: $233,815,918
Active Players: 3
Top Earner: Paul George
Top Earner’s Team: Los Angeles Clippers
Top Earner’s Position: Shooting Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $177,854,610
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 76.07%

20. Georgia Tech

Total earnings: $239,223,625
Active Players: 3
Top Earner: Thaddeus Young
Top Earner’s Team: Chicago Bulls
Top Earner’s Position: Power Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $121,213,318
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 50.67%

19. Michigan

Total earnings: $261,855,670
Active Players: 7
Top Earner: Jamal Crawford
Top Earner’s Team: Brooklyn Nets
Top Earner’s Position: Shooting Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $122,587,577
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 46.81%

18. Oklahoma

Total earnings: $281,453,847
Active Players: 3
Top Earner: Blake Griffin
Top Earner’s Team: Brooklyn Nets
Top Earner’s Position: Power Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $223,359,012
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 79.36%

17. Ohio State

Total earnings: $287,035,915
Active Players: 4
Top Earner: Mike Conley
Top Earner’s Team: Utah Jazz
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $206,087,986
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 71.8%

16. Texas A&M

Total earnings: $288,967,188
Active Players: 5
Top Earner: DeAndre Jordan
Top Earner’s Team: Brooklyn Nets
Top Earner’s Position: Center
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $149,247,051
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 51.65%

Today’s Top Offers

15. Stanford

Total earnings: $289,427,676
Active Players: 6
Top Earner: Brook Lopez
Top Earner’s Team: Milwaukee Bucks
Top Earner’s Position: Center
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $144,840,372
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 50.04%

14. Marquette

Total earnings: $299,654,384
Active Players: 5
Top Earner: Jimmy Butler
Top Earner’s Team: Miami Heat
Top Earner’s Position: Small Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $144,395,731
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 48.19%

13. Indiana

Total earnings: $360,186,481
Active Players: 8
Top Earner: Eric Gordon
Top Earner’s Team: Houston Rockets
Top Earner’s Position: Shooting Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $138,786,115
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 38.53%

12. Kansas

Total earnings: $381,365,152
Active Players: 11
Top Earner: Joel Embiid
Top Earner’s Team: Philadelphia 76ers
Top Earner’s Position: Center
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $100,775,877
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 26.43%

11. Syracuse

Total earnings: $389,252,457
Active Players: 6
Top Earner: Carmelo Anthony
Top Earner’s Team: Portland Trail Blazers
Top Earner’s Position: Power Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $259,881,402
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 66.76%

10. Arizona

Total earnings: $396,176,804
Active Players: 11
Top Earner: Andre Iguodala
Top Earner’s Team: Miami Heat
Top Earner’s Position: Small Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $179,672,344
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 45.35%

9. North Carolina

Total earnings: $400,732,041
Active Players: 12
Top Earner: Harrison Barnes
Top Earner’s Team: Sacramento Kings
Top Earner’s Position: Small Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $127,522,137
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 31.82%

Today’s Top Offers

8. USC

Total earnings: $419,160,229
Active Players: 9
Top Earner: DeMar DeRozan
Top Earner’s Team: San Antonio Spurs
Top Earner’s Position: Shooting Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $175,709,827
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 41.92%

7. Florida

Total earnings: $433,013,793
Active Players: 5
Top Earner: Al Horford
Top Earner’s Team: Oklahoma City Thunder
Top Earner’s Position: Power Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $212,136,768
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 48.99%

6. Connecticut

Total earnings: $482,861,864
Active Players: 6
Top Earner: Rudy Gay
Top Earner’s Team: San Antonio Spurs
Top Earner’s Position: Small Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $162,706,820
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 33.7%

5. Wake Forest

Total earnings: $582,429,158
Active Players: 7
Top Earner: Chris Paul
Top Earner’s Team: Phoenix Suns
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $299,909,419
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 51.49%

4. Texas

Total earnings: $680,249,495
Active Players: 10
Top Earner: Kevin Durant
Top Earner’s Team: Brooklyn Nets
Top Earner’s Position: Small Forward
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $264,153,846
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 38.83%

3. Duke

Total earnings: $781,776,239
Active Players: 27
Top Earner: Kyrie Irving
Top Earner’s Team: Brooklyn Nets
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $158,426,099
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 20.26%

2. UCLA

Total earnings: $941,478,881
Active Players: 13
Top Earner: Russell Westbrook
Top Earner’s Team: Washington Wizards
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $244,370,524
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 25.96%

Today’s Top Offers

1. Kentucky

Total earnings: $1,219,309,400
Active Players: 29
Top Earner: John Wall
Top Earner’s Team: Houston Rockets
Top Earner’s Position: Point Guard
Top Earner’s Career Earnings: $184,827,108
% Top Earner Makes of Total Earnings: 15.16%

More From GOBankingRates

Methodology: GOBankingRates used Spotrac’s NBA College Tracker data to find the 25 colleges that turned out players who make the most total NBA money. For each of these colleges, GOBankingRates found the following data points: (1) university name; (2) total active players in the NBA; (3) total career earnings from these players, (4) top career earner from each school; (5) top earner’s career earnings; and (6) percent top earner’s career earnings make of the (3) total career earnings for the school. All data was collected on and up to date as of April 26, 2021.