Hoops rule the almighty dollar

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Sports Illustrated just released its list of Top 50 highest-earning American athletes, which includes salaries and endorsements.

One thing we ballaz can be proud of: 4 of the top 10 are hoopsters Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James (who will surely move up now that his NBA salary is set to be the max), and Kevin Garnett. Just goes to show you that hoop rules the almighty dollar. Aside from LeBron, each of the stars was making about $20 million in salary and $15 million in endorsements, with KG making "only" $8 million in endorsements.

And before you start suggesting otherwise, don't forget about the recent $4 billion cash buyout of Glaceau, maker of Vitamin Water, by Coca-Cola. The May issue of Swish Magazine profiled Vitamin Water and not only did rapper 50 Cent make out with 10% or $400 million from the acquisition, but so did a large handful of NBA stars...

"I've got shares of stock, they give everybody shares in the company," says Dallas Mavericks swingman Josh Howard of his relationship with Glaceau. "They've also shown my camps a lot of support over the last year and a half. They come out to my underprivileged camps. When I was out there in Vegas (for All-Star) I did some events for them, just trying to help put their name out there. I'm pretty involved and I appreciate them. It's really a family-oriented business and an up-and-coming company, so Gatorade better watch out."

Whoa, Howard's gonna appreciate them, you bet. Back in my days as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, it wasn't uncommon for startup companies to give out 0.25% in stock to people who sit on the Board or help out in other ways.

Let's see, 0.25% of four billion is TEN MILLION DOLLARS. OK, even if it was as low as 0.1% (I'd be surprised if it was that low), that's still four million! Just for pitching Vitamin Water, getting a few cases stocked in your fridge each month for free, and doing all of that for all stock and no cash. Howard, Chauncey Billups, Tracy McGrady, Shaq, Gilbert Arenas, Allen Iverson, Ray Allen, Tony Parker, Elton Brand, and Shawn Marion -- far outnumbering stars from other sports on the Vitamin Water roster -- just blew the Sports Illustrated average for endorsements out of the "water".

If they included the Vitamin Water deal, you'd probably see that at least 6 or 7 of the top 10 American athlete moneymakers are NBA stars.

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