Of George Lampiris
At a time when world basketball and the recognition of the business demon are finally focusing on the face of LeBron James, as just a few days ago it became known that he became the first active NBA player to enter the list of billionaires, a Greek player, Giannis Antetokou , is one of the highest paid athletes in the world right now.
In the case of James, it is worth mentioning that Michael Jordan and Coby Bryant had entered the closed club of billionaire NBA players earlier than him, with the difference that they both succeeded after completing their athletic careers.
The “golden” deals
But let us now come to the case of a Greek player, Giannis Antetokoumpos. The basketball player signed a new five-year contract worth $ 228 million in December 2020 with the right to terminate after the fourth year.
He had already been named the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) for the 2018-19 and 2019-20 seasons and was also the best defensive player of the year last season.
The first time he won the MVP title, he was offered high bonuses by sponsors such as Nike, which extended its deal with Greek Freak in 2017.
Nike released Zoom Freak 1 in 2019. And this was the largest shoe show in Nike history in the history of basketball.
In addition, Disney secured a deal in 2020 to make a film about Antitokunbo’s life. The name of the movie is “Rise” and the initial planning was that it would be released this summer.
In the top ten highest paid athletes in the world
For 2022, Giannis Antetokoumpos is in the top ten of the highest paid athletes in the world according to Forbes. It specifically occupies the tenth place.
In first place is Lionel Messi – by far the most accomplished footballer of all time – and in second place is LeBron James, whose name was heavily covered in the basketball news – and not only – last week.
If one looks at the data in more detail, the total amount of earnings of Giannis Antetokoumpos for 2022 is 80.9 million dollars. Of that, $ 39.9 million comes from his annual Milwakee Bucks player earnings and the remaining $ 41 million from sponsorship deals and other business deals.
At the same time, the top ten, Lionel Messi, has a total revenue of $ 130 million, with $ 75 million coming from his racing career and $ 55 million from his extracurricular activities.
LeBron James’s second-in-command for $ 201.2 million is $ 121.2 million, with $ 41.2 million in game revenue and its non-competitive revenue, $ 80 million.
Antitokunbo: The largest total contract to date
Antetokoumbo’s renewed contract with the Bucks in 2020 was the NBA’s largest in total value to date.
In addition, Antetokumbo was among the investors in a $ 165 million financing round of WatchBox, the watch resale platform, and also signed a licensing agreement with the NFT platform, known as NFTSTAR, and became the face of the Google campaign. Pixel phone 6.
Last February, the WhatsApp platform signed an agreement with Antetokunbo to promote the brand worldwide with the Greek player as ambassador. Antitokunbo will soon be able to watch his life story in the biopic Rise, which will be released on Disney +.
The methodology for calculating the income of athletes
It is noted that the data of the earnings of the players inside the stadiums collected by Forbes, include all the cash prizes, salaries and bonuses obtained between May 1, 2021 and May 1, 2022.
In cases where players continue to be paid beyond May, such as for the NBA and European football – the full salary of the year is taken into account. Playoff bonuses are for the NFL 2021 season and the 2020-21 NBA season.
Off-field earnings data is an estimate of sponsorship deals, appearance fees and license revenue for the 12 months to May 1, 2022, plus cash returns from any business managed by the athlete, based on conversations with experts. of the industry.
Forbes does not include investment income, such as interest payments or dividends, but does take into account potential earnings from shares sold by athletes.
In addition, it does not deduct taxes or agent fees. The list includes athletes who are active in any sport for a period of 12 months.
Source: Capital

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