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Damian Lillard would have made $104 million more than LeBron James through age 36 in a crazy comparison

Arun Sharma
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Damian Lillard would have made $104 million more than LeBron James through age 36 in a crazy comparison

Damian Lillard signed a contract extension with the Portland Trail Blazers – that makes his career earnings a whopping $450 million when he turns 36.                                                                                      

Should Damian Lillard be paid top dollar? Absolutely. Is he worth the 2-year, 122 million contract extension? Probably so. To Portland at least, he is. They haven’t had a guy like Lillard for the longest time, and they have been trying to build a project around him since he won Rookie of the Year. With his current extension, he will have made 50 million short of half a billion dollars just in salaries.

That puts him at a total career earning above LeBron James. Yes, the 4-time champion, 4-time Finals MVP has career earnings lesser than a man who has a lone RoTY trophy. Is he worth 100 million more than arguably the greatest player of all time? That is very subjective because Dame is probably the greatest Trail Blazer of the last 20 years.

To a normal fan, he may be one of the most overpaid stars, with no end product delivered for the price they’ve paid for him, but to the team, it is their way of thanking him. Another player would have demanded a trade years ago, but Lillard has stuck to his team from day 1. He was treated right, and not like DeMar DeRozan or Isaiah Thomas, getting traded as their reward for loyalty.

Also Read: Damian Lillard and Michael Jordan are the only two players to make $60 million in a year and end two playoff series with game winners

 

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Damian Lillard may end his career without a ring – but his bank account will have a lot of zeroes

The times have changed over the last 10 years because we are going to see more players reach the 500 million mark in salaries. This year alone we’ve seen multiple 200 million extensions, and they are still in their prime years. Out of them, none of them have won a ring yet – yet their teams value them so highly. Will Nikola Jokic or Bradley Beal ever win a championship? They may, but they just hit the jackpot.

The game of Basketball is cruel – 400 something players fight for 1 trophy. But that is what makes the game we know great – the emotions run high come playoffs. Legenda have gone their whole careers without getting one, and there are role players who no one will remember with multiple championships. Life may be cruel in terms of achievements, but every single player gets paid.

How much they get paid depends on how much they contribute. Some may end up like Damian Lillard, while the others may end up like Delonte West. LeBron is a billionaire, but Dame made his DOLLA.

Also Read: Damian Lillard’s two-year $122M extension is more than the former champion and Finals MVP Chauncey Billups career earnings

About the author

Arun Sharma

Arun Sharma

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Arun Sharma is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. A double degree holder and a digital marketer by trade, Arun has always been a sports buff. He fell in love with the sport of basketball at a young age and has been a Lakers fan since 2006. What started as a Kobe Bryant obsession slowly turned into a lifelong connection with the purple and gold. Arun has been an ardent subscriber to the Mamba mentality and has shed tears for a celebrity death only once in his life. He believes January 26, 2020, was the turning point in the passage of time because Kobe was the glue holding things together. From just a Lakers bandwagoner to a basketball fanatic, Arun has spent 16 long years growing up along with the league. He thinks Stephen Curry has ruined basketball forever, and the mid-range game is a sight to behold. Sharma also has many opinions about football (not the American kind), F1, MotoGP, tennis, and cricket.

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