MANILA, Philippines — Lebron James has been identified as the highest earning NBA player through Instagram, a recent report said.
With his 54.7 million followers, the Los Angeles Lakers forward, now on his 16th year in the league, reportedly earns $300,850 per sponsored post, a study by Online Gambling Canada revealed.
Following him for the second spot is Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who has some 28.2 million followers and earns $155,100 with each post.
The two are trailed in the rankings by Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving, who rake in $83,000, $79,750 and $74,800 per post, respectively.
"Whether it’s shooting hoops or enjoying their multi-million dollar homes, it’s safe to say the players know how to entertain their audiences, on and off the court. However, the entertaining doesn’t come at a cheap price," Online Gambling said.
Of the study's methodology, the website said, "Using Instagram we were able to compile a list of the highest followed NBA players, sports athletes & celebrities. We used the Hopper HQ Instagram Rich List combined with Later to establish how much all of individuals earned per sponsored Insta post."
"From this we were able to compare earnings across the different verticals, which allowed our client to form their piece," they added.
Despite the eye-popping numbers, the NBA superstars' Instagram earnings are still no match for their celebrity counterparts.
For instance, Kylie Jenner tops the list of celebrity Instagram earnings with a whopping $1,266,000 earned with every Instagram post.
Professional footballer Cristiano Ronaldo, too, rakes in $975,000 every time he posts on the social media platform.
