At least 18 men’s college basketball players are set to out-earn LeBron James next season, a wild marker of how far the compensation race has pushed in the college game.
James will make a career-low $3.8 million with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2025-26, his 24th NBA season. That number now sits below the paydays for nearly 20 college players, a sharp contrast from the early days of his career and a reminder of just how high the ceiling has climbed.
The last time this was true goes all the way back to the 2002-03 season, when James was still a senior at St. Vincent-St.
Mary High in Akron, Ohio. Sure, college players on scholarship were technically “making” more than him then, but that was a different world entirely - one where the biggest names in the sport were still operating far from the millions now flowing through the college ranks.
James’ rookie deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003-04 was worth just over $4 million, and that was once the kind of money no college player could touch. Next season, though, even that figure gets eclipsed.
The spending surge has been fueled in part by players who returned to school after being draft-eligible, forcing programs to compete with the NBA’s rookie salary scale to keep them on campus. Former Kentucky forward Jayden Quaintance became the line that separated the two worlds. Drafted 20th overall in June, the 6-foot-10 big man is set to make $3.9 million as a rookie with the San Antonio Spurs - just ahead of what James will earn in Philadelphia.
Florida forward Thomas Haugh is expected to be the highest-paid player in college basketball next season. He withdrew from the 2026 NBA Draft despite being projected as a first-round pick, and Matt Norlander of CBS reported his earnings could top $10 million with the Gators. That would put him at more than double James’ salary.
After speaking with multiple college coaches, general managers and NBA scouts on the condition of anonymity to protect competitive interests, the list of players set to make at least $3.9 million next season includes:
Aiden Sherrell, forward, Indiana, No. 20
David Punch, forward, Texas, No. 7
Flory Bidunga, center, Louisville, No. 1
Jackson Shelstad, guard, Louisville, No. 9
John Blackwell, guard, Duke, No. 3
JT Toppin, forward, Texas Tech, Returned to team
Juke Harris, guard, Tennessee, No.
2
Massamba Diop, center, Gonzaga, No.
29
Milan Momcilovic, forward, Kentucky, No.
4
Moustapha Thiam, center, Michigan, No.
13
Nikola Kusturica, forward, UCLA, Freshman
PJ Haggerty, guard, Texas A&M, No. 8
Samet Yigitoglu, center, Indiana, No. 51
Sananda Fru, center, Marquette, No. 39
Thomas Haugh, forward, Florida, Returned to team
Tounde Yessoufou, guard, St.
John’s, No. 5
Tyran Stokes, guard, Kansas, Freshman
Zoom Diallo, guard, Kentucky, No.
45
It’s a remarkable group of college players, some of whom may never make much of an NBA impact and all of whom will still be collecting bigger checks than one of the greatest players ever next season. And there’s one more twist: none of them were born by June 26, 2003, the day James was drafted.
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