LeBron James was the highest paid athlete in the world during the past 12 months at $127 million. James finished ahead of Lionel Messi ($122 million), Cristiano Ronaldo ($115 million), Neymar ($103 million) and Canelo Alvarez ($89 million).

The off-court earnings for James totaled $90 million. James has direct access to his 200 million followers on social media and can promote his traditional sponsors, along with those brands where he also holds equity stakes, like Calm, Ladder/Openfit and Lobos 1707 tequila.

Stephen Curry ($86.2 million) and Kevin Durant ($85.9 million) rank sixth and seventh among the highest-paid.