10Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant retired in 2016 as the NBA’s third all-time leading scorer behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone. His career earnings were second to none though. Bryant banked $680 million in salary and endorsements during his two-decade career. It is the most ever for a team athlete during their playing career. Bryant had the highest salary in the NBA for the last six years. The five-time NBA champion still has his endorsement relationships with Nike, Hublot and Panini though he has moved away in recent years from straight endorsement deals in favor of being a business owner. In August he and entrepreneur Jeff Stibel officially set up a $100 million venture-capital fund, Bryant Stibel, to invest in technology, media and data companies. They have already invested in 15 companies together since 2013 including sports media website The Players Tribune, legal-services company Legal Zoom, mobile game designer Scopely, Alibaba Group.
