Top 10 highest salaries in NBA: Looking at LeBron James, Stephen Curry's purses amid rumors of Kylian Mbappe's mammoth $776M Saudi deal
With French superstar Kylian Mbappe seemingly on the way out of Paris St. Germain (PSG), fans were waiting to see if Real Madrid would work out a transfer. However, a surprise new player has emerged in Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Hilal, which according to soccer insider Fabrizio Romano, has offered a $332 million transfer fee.
Further reports have surfaced that Al-Hilal will sign Mbappe to a one-year, $776 million deal.
To give you an idea of how ridiculous this contract offer is, the highest-paid NBA player this season, Stephen Curry, would only receive less than 10 percent of what Al-Hilal is set to offer Kylian Mbappe.
NBA's 10 highest earners combined don't match Kylian Mbappe's contract offer
The Golden State Warriors superstar will make $51,915,615 this season.
The second-highest annual salary this upcoming NBA season is that of the Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James. Upon hearing the news of Kylian Mbappe's contract offer, James, who is set to make $47,607,350 this season, joked that he would quickly take a plane ride to Saudi Arabia to Al-Hilal if the club offers him the contract.
The total NBA earnings of the 38-year-old James are still not enough to match Al-Hilal's one-year contract offer to Mbappe.
The Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid and Denver Nuggets' Nikola Jokic are also set to receive $47,607,350 each this season.
At fifth and sixth places are Phoenix Suns superstars Bradley Beal ($46,741,590) and Kevin Durant ($46,407,433).
The LA Clippers' dynamic duo of Paul George ($45,640,165) and Kawhi Leonard ($45,640,084) are in seventh and eighth places, respectively.
The combined expected annual salaries of the aforementioned players would just be barely enough to match only the transfer fee Al-Hilal has offered to PSG for Mbappe.
Damian Lillard, who is currently embroiled in a trade impasse between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Miami Heat, and Milwaukee Bucks main man Giannis Antetokounmpo are both set to receive $45,640,084 this season.
Antetokounmpo poked fun at the Kylian Mbappe transfer issue as well, telling Al-Hilal that they could just sign a Mbappe lookalike instead if the deal falls through.
The combined expected salaries of the players above would just be barely more than half what Al-Hilal is offering Mbappe.