At least 18 men’s college basketball players will earn more than LeBron James next season.
Among the list is incoming Gonzaga transfer Massamba Diop, a Senegalese international coming off a standout freshman season at Arizona State.
Gonzaga won a bidding war for the 7-foot-1 center, who chose the Zags over St. John’s after entering the portal with a “do not contact” tag. Diop averaged 13.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and ranked second in the Big 12 Conference at 2.1 blocks per game last season. His 69 total blocks also ranked third among college freshmen.
The last time a college hooper made more than James? Try the 2002-03 season, when he was a senior at St. Vincent-St. Mary High in Akron, Ohio. Technically, any college hooper on scholarship “made” more than James at the time, though prominent players were getting more than room, board and tuition long before the current era of compensation in the millions.
It’s safe to say James’ rookie salary of just over $4 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2003-04 was much more than anyone playing the college game – discreet bags of cash and keys to an SUV leased to an uncle were no match for NBA contracts. But James will make a career-low $3.8 million with the Philadelphia 76ers next season, his 24th in the NBA, and that will put him behind nearly 20 college players.