Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is undoubtedly one of the most influential athletes in the world. James has a whopping 134 million followers on Instagram. And he uses Instagram to promote a number of brands that he has endorsement deals with. And that is why James is the highest-paid social media influencer in the NBA.  

James ends up earning more than $300,000 per sponsored post on his Instagram page. However, that is nothing compared to the soccer great Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has a staggering Instagram fanbase of 488 million followers, which rounds off his earnings to around $2.3 million per sponsored post on Instagram, over six times more than LeBron James. 

LeBron James earns the most per post among NBA players

Big multinational brands end up paying millions in advertising, and now in the digital age, they use social media influencers to promote their products or services. And since fans buy into the premise of their favorite superstars’ lives, this ends up as a huge plus for both the brands and the athletes. 

While LeBron James is the most followed NBA player on Instagram, Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed personality on Instagram, period. So it is natural for brands to pay huge amounts of money to athletes to promote them on their social media platforms.

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James has endorsement deals with Nike, GMC, Walmart, AT&T, and PepsiCo. to name a few. And the amount of reach James has with his Instagram fan base exceeds any other form of branding on social media. 

Ronaldo on the other hand has endorsement deals with Nike, Herbalife, Tag Heuer, and Clear Shampoo. And since Ronaldo is the most followed person on Instagram, his posts reach a much larger audience than that of LeBron James.

James’ current contract is for about $40 million this year. Which breaks down to nearly $500,000 per game over an 82-game span for the season. Just two sponsored posts on Instagram end up making him more money than his NBA salary per game. 

More money is earned by endorsements rather than salaries

Following James, Stephen Curry is the second most-followed NBA player on Instagram with about 47 million followers. He is also the second highest-paid social media influencer from the NBA. It truly is astonishing to see how much athletes are now able to make from just their brand endorsements as opposed to their salaries from their respective sports.

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The highest-paid celebrity is Kylie Jenner, who has 371 million followers on Instagram. She earns around $1.5 million per sponsored post on Instagram.