Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant will each cross $1 billion in cumulative NBA salary by the end of the 2025-26 season, according to Sportico projections published this week. Curry arrives first—his four-year, $215 million extension signed in August 2021 pushes him over the threshold midseason. Durant, whose current Phoenix Suns deal runs through 2025-26 at $51.2 million annually, hits the mark by season's end. No player in league history has previously earned ten figures in NBA salary alone.
Both players entered the league under the old wage scale—Curry's 2009 rookie deal paid $12.7 million over four years; Durant's 2007 pact, $16.4 million—and rode three structural tailwinds. The 2011 lockout introduced the designated veteran extension. The 2016 cap spike, fueled by the Turner-ESPN nine-year $24 billion rights deal, let Curry sign for $201 million over five years in 2017. The 2017 CBA's over-38 rule relaxation enabled Durant's latest Phoenix contract at age 34. Timing was architecture.
The $1 billion milestone reframes endorsement negotiations for both. Curry's Under Armour lifetime deal, signed in 2013 and restructured in 2020, pays an estimated $20 million annually plus equity in the Curry Brand sub-label, which posted $1 billion in retail sales in 2023. Durant's Boardroom media venture, co-founded with Rich Kleiman in 2016, now values north of $200 million after investing in Coinbase pre-IPO and NWSL expansion. The salary floor—not ceiling—becomes the negotiating posture. Shoe companies and venture syndicates now bid against players who bank $50 million per season in wages. The comp set tightens: Messi at $20 million annually from Adidas, Ronaldo at $1 billion lifetime from Nike. Basketball's top two now argue from the same balance sheet.
Sponsor categories shift accordingly. PepsiCo added Curry to its Gatorade roster in 2018 at $6 million per year after he turned down BodyArmor's pre-Coke acquisition equity offer—now worth $200 million had he taken it. Durant's recent crypto endorsements with Coinbase ($4 million annually, signed 2021) and Weedmaps (undisclosed, signed 2022, terminated 2023) show the risk of chasing adjacencies without salary pressure. Wealth changes risk appetite; $1 billion in career earnings lets both players now take Board seats instead of appearance fees. FTX paid $135 million for naming rights to Miami's arena; players who banked $50 million that season didn't need Sam Bankman-Fried's term sheet.
LeBron James, the prior NBA career earnings leader at $479 million through 2023-24, entered the league in 2003 and maxed under different caps. His current Lakers deal pays $48.7 million this season, his age-40 year. He finishes around $580 million in NBA salary if he retires in 2026. His SpringHill Company sold a minority stake to RedBird Capital and Fenway Sports in 2021 at a $725 million valuation. Off-court income—$1.2 billion from Nike, Blaze Pizza equity, Liverpool FC stake—subsidized on-court team-building. Curry and Durant, arriving six and four years later, ride higher floors into the same leverage.
Curry's extension expires in 2026. He'll be 38. Golden State's payroll already sits at $220 million with luxury tax penalties exceeding $176 million this season. Owner Joe Lacob has publicly committed to paying, but the Warriors' Chase Center debt service runs $40 million annually through 2039. A final Curry contract—two years, $100 million—would push cumulative salary past $1.1 billion and test whether the franchise values nostalgia or cap flexibility. Durant, meanwhile, holds a player option for 2025-26 worth $51.2 million. Phoenix's new owners, led by Mat Ishbia, paid $4 billion for the Suns in December 2022. Ishbia's United Wholesale Mortgage posts $4.8 billion in quarterly origination volume; he treats luxury tax as marketing spend. Durant opts in.
The 2025 CBA's second apron penalties—restricted mid-level exception, frozen draft pick trading—make max contracts on aging stars operationally expensive beyond the payroll number. Teams now model whether a $50 million player delivers $75 million in sponsorship activation, playoff gates, and local media rates. Curry does: Warriors' RSN deal with NBC Sports Bay Area pays $35 million annually through 2032, locked in during his 2017 extension. Durant's value in Phoenix remains speculative—the Suns haven't advanced past the second round since his arrival, and their Bally Sports RSN filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Ishbia renegotiates local rights this summer.
Watch Durant's 2025-26 option decision, due by June 2025. If he declines and tests free agency at 37, it signals confidence in a final payday elsewhere or retirement planning. Curry's 2026 extension talks begin this summer. Chase Center's naming rights deal with JPMorgan Chase, signed in 2016 for $300 million over 20 years, comes up for renegotiation in 2028—leverage if Curry's still rostered. Under Armour's Curry Brand sub-label launches its first retail flagship in San Francisco in late 2025, timed to his potential farewell tour.
Both players' sons—Canon Curry, 13; Durant's son, name undisclosed, 16—are already tracked by youth scouts. The next negotiation isn't with Nike or the Warriors. It's with family offices deciding whether basketball's first salary billionaires should advise on the next generation's deals.