Sportoo has calculated a very important number to determine the highest paid athletes in 2022.
They have checked athlete salaries, prize money, and support for the past year.
And sweeping a very large $ 126.9 million, LeBron James took the top position – moved from No.5 to No.1 from the previous year.
The NBA legend is ranked in front of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, each of which gets $ 122 million and $ 115 million.
His teammate at Messi Neymar’s club ($ 103 million) was listing at No.4 in front of Canelo Alvarez and Stephen Curry.
Kevin Durant, Roger Federer, James Harden and Tiger Woods are ranked seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.
The top ten comprises of athletes from six different countries and five different sports in the list which you can check out below.
- LeBron James – $126.9 million
- Lionel Messi – $122 million
- Cristiano Ronaldo – $115 million
- Neymar – $103 million
- Canelo Alvarez – $89 million
- Stephen Curry – $86.2 million
- Kevin Durant – $85.9 million
- Roger Federer – $85.7 million
- James Harden – $76 million
- Tiger Woods – $73.5 million
who was the highest-paid athlete of 2021, drops out of the top ten having not fought in the UFC since last summer.
He earned a whopping $180 million, which is more than what James received this year.
As for ‘King’ James, he fell well short of expectations this season, but crushed it off the court.
On the 37-year-old being the highest-paid athlete of 2022, Sportico wrote: “The 18-time All-Star earned $127 million during the past 12 months from the Lakers and his expanding off-court empire, according to Sportico estimates.
It is the highest tally of his two-decade career and more than any other athlete on the planet.”