Highest Paid NBA Player

If you happen to follow professional basketball, you don't need an introduction to the National Basketball Association (NBA) - the premier league for professional basketball in North America. Even though the multi-million dollar league traces its roots to North America, its fan base spans across the five continents of the world and the global viewership that it boasts of speaks in volumes about its popularity. This popularity of NBA is not just restricted to on-field events, but goes well beyond it to off-field events, and when we talk about these off-field events one of the most talked-about issue is player salaries. Every basketball fan out there is more than eager to know who the highest paid player in the world is or how much his favorite player earns.

Top 10 Highest Paid NBA Players

In National Basketball Association (NBA), there is a concept referred to as NBA salary cap which limits the amount of money that any of the teams involved can use for paying their players. The amount stipulated in NBA salary cap changes on a year-to-year basis. In 2008-09 season, the salary cap was $58.68 million, in 2009-10 it was raised to $57.7 million and at present (2010-11 season) it is $58.44 million. Even though there is a limit on how much the team can spend, it doesn't stop these teams from spending generously to get the best possible talent and that shows when you go through the list of top ten highest earning players in the NBA.

Rank	Player	Team	Amount
1	Kobe Bryant	LA Lakers	$24,806,250
2	Rashid Lewis	Orlando Magic	$19,573,511
3	Tim Duncan	San Antonio Spurs	$18,835,381
4	Kevin Garnett	Boston Celtics	$18,832,044
5	Michael Redd	Milwaukee Bucks	$18,300,000
6	Pau Gasol	LA Lakers	$17,823,000
7	Andrei Kirilenko	Utah Jazz	$17,822,187
8	Gilbert Arenas	Washington Wizards	$17,730,694
9	Yao Ming	Houston Rockets	$17,686,100
10	Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas Mavericks	$17,300,000

Highest Paid NBA Player

As you can see in the aforementioned list, the distinction of being the highest paid player in NBA as of 2010-11 season goes to Kobe Bryant- the shooting guard for Los Angeles Lakers. He led the Lakers to their 4th and 5th championship in the last 15 years in 2008-09 and 2009-10 NBA seasons respectively. On both the occasions, Bryant was named NBA Finals MVP. This dream run made Bryant one of the most sought after players of the league and bagged him a $24.8 million deal with the Lakers thus making him the highest paid player for 2010-11 NBA season. In April 2010, Bryant signed a three-year extension for a whopping $83.5 million with the Lakers. This deal will run through the 2013-14 season, and make sure that he stays at the top of the list of highest paid NBA stars for the next three years to come (unless some other player bags a bigger deal.)

Michael Jordan $30 Million Deal

While Kobe Bryant happens to be the highest paid player in NBA today, the distinction of being the highest paid player of all time goes to Michael Jordan whose one year contract with Chicago Bulls earned him in excess of $30 million. Even though the terms of this deal were not disclosed, some news reports did estimate that this deal with MJ cost the Bulls a staggering $36 million. If speculations are to be believed, Bryant is slated to make a whopping $30,453,000 in 2013-14 NBA season. If that happens, Bryant will become only the second player to make it to the $30 million mark in NBA.

As of today, it is being said that Bryant will not just join Jordan in the elite $30 million club but also go ahead of him in terms of payment. These are mere speculations though, and the end result may be totally different. With NBA salary cap increasing by the year, it would be least surprising to see another player come up from nowhere and become the highest paid NBA star ever sometime in near future.