Overview of the career salaries of James and Durant: the eternal "big and small kings", the evergreen tree that never grows old

Adu renewed his contract with the Rockets for 2 years and 90 million until the 2027-28 season, thus surpassing LeBron (583.9 million) and becoming the NBA's historical salary leader (598.2 million).

LeBron is four years older than him and entered the league four years earlier. However, he earned two more seasons of salary than LeBron in one go (LeBron's salary only lasted until the end of the 25-26 season), which is just more than that.

Of course, this position is not stable. As long as LeBron does not retire this season, or Stephen Curry (536 million) renews his contract with the Warriors, it is estimated that he will be squeezed out.

However, the NBA of this era still belongs to the old three emperors.

In 2007, Durant was selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics and signed a four-year, $19.5 million rookie contract. That year, LeBron had just finished his rookie contract and began to receive his first tens of millions of annual salary in his career (four years, $60 million).

But in 2010, after executing the first three years, LeBron chose to skip the final year of player option execution decision 1.0 and join the Miami Heat.

At that time, both he and Wade Bosh chose to sign with a salary cut, and the contract was only 6 years and 110 million (can be jumped out of in 2014).

After the 2010-11 season, Durant also signed a five-year, 80 million maximum salary extension contract with the Thunder.

The subsequent big and small kings have all entered the "tens of millions annual salary club" since 2011.

In 2014, LeBron chose to jump out of his contract with the Heat, implemented Decision 2.0 (the one who sells alcohol does not count), returned to the Cavaliers and began to implement his classic "one-sign-a-year model."

The advantage of this is that it can maximize the initiative and not be coerced by the team, but the disadvantage is that as the actual number one player in the league at that time, he only had the highest salary in the league for one year (the 16-17 season).

When Durant joined the Warriors in 2016, his salary was not fully paid, 54.3 million in two years (second-year player option).

Even after winning the championship in the 16-17 season, he took a salary cut and renewed his contract with the Warriors for 53 million for two years to make room for the team's operations.

It can be said that Adu has been a good negotiation partner for most of his career, and money does not come first.

In 2018, after being overthrown by the Warriors in succession, LeBron executed the decision to join the Lakers in 3.0. At that time, he had already planned to retire and signed a four-year "3+1" contract worth US$153 million.

And Durant joined the Nets after rupturing his Achilles tendon in the 18-19 season. Boss Cai did not treat him badly by offering him US$164 million over four years, and then completed the contract extension ahead of schedule again in 2021 for US$194 million over four years. However, this still did not leave Adu's heart. In 2023, he chose to leave the team and join the Suns.

In recent years with the Lakers, LeBron has still implemented the "1+1" model of signing once a year. He not only firmly controls the initiative in his career, but also waits and sees whether the team management can operate according to his ideas until Doncic's arrival.

In fact, both of them only have one year left on their contracts this offseason.

The Lakers unexpectedly did not submit a contract extension to LeBron (confirmed by agent Rich Paul), and he could only choose to exercise his $52.6 million player option in the last year.

For the first time in his 23-year career, LeBron has truly entered a "contract year" with a one-year contract.

After Durant was traded to the Rockets by the Suns, there have been rumors that he would reach an early contract extension with the team.

Firstly, it is to secure the last "big pension contract" for oneself, and secondly, it is to facilitate the Rockets to determine the future salary space as early as possible and facilitate operations (such as renewing Ethan's contract).

The final amount of this contract extension is nearly 30 million less than the maximum value that Adu can get (120 million in 2 years). It can be said that Adu once again showed his style and frankness. For the sake of the championship and to play comfortably in the final stage of his career, he once again made financial sacrifices.

In fact, for James, Durant, and even Stephen Curry, the so-called salary is now a series of numbers, which can only reflect that their careers have been long enough and have always maintained high quality and competitiveness.

They are already sports tycoons with a net worth approaching ten figures. They have signed lifetime contracts with sneaker sponsors, ensuring that they have no worries about food and clothing.

For them now, being in a competitive team and still having a chance to hit the championship may be their only hope of staying on the court.

Money is still very important to them, but it is definitely not at the top of the list.