This year, the Greek freak Giannis Antetokounmpo takes 5th place in the 2024 Forbes list of the world’s highest-paid athletes, raking in a whopping 111 million dollars between his salary at the Milwaukee Bucks and endorsements.
Antetokounmpo’s assent to the top 5 is even more impressive considering his rags-to-riches story, which originates on the streets of Greece where Antetokounmpo was an irregular migrant selling CDs with his Nigerian family.
According to Forbes, the basketball player gets paid 46 million dollars for a salary and rakes in another 65 million dollars in endorsements from brands like Amazon, Breitling, Google, Nike, PepsiCo and more.
Dec 13, 2023; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) scores a basket against Indiana Pacers center Bennedict Mathurin (00) in the fourth quarter at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Antetokounmpo ranks below soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo (260 million dollars), golfer Rahm (218 million dollars), soccer player Lionel Messi (135 million dollars), and basketball player LeBron James.
Taking a look at the big picture, Forbes notes that, “in total, the world’s 50 highest-paid athletes hauled in an estimated $3.88 billion over the last 12 months before taxes and agents’ fees, up 13% from last year’s record mark of $3.44 billion.”
Some “financial highlights” of Antetokounmpo’s career include his signing of a 5-year 228 million dollar extension contract with the Bucks, which was boosted by another 3-year extension in October of 2023.
The player was named MVP of the NBA in 2018-2019, which attracted the attention of sponsors like Nike and led to the creation and launch of a shoe baring the nickname of Antetokounmpo called “Zoom Freak”.
Capitalizing on the player’s inspirational story from streets of Greece to the NBA, Disney made a movie about it called “Rise”, which was released on Disney+ in 2022.
