“Nobody can really pay me what I’m worth,” Michael Jordan once said, and LeBron James, the modern-day icon, shares that same sentiment. Forbes 2025 ranked him as the sixth-richest athlete in the world, with earnings of about $581 million. Still, LeBron knows his value exceeds any figure placed on it, and he has never hesitated to demand exactly what he deserves. Even ex-Warriors star Gilbert Arenas recently took to his show to call out the fact that LeBron James has been underpaid throughout his career.

Gil Arenas said, “Cleveland owes him more money. Miami owes him more money from 2018 to even last year. We owe him money. We get it. But, we’re not going to handicap ourselves because he’s owed another 400–500 million. But that’s—that’s usually all the greats. All the greats were underpaid. Jordan was underpaid. Kobe was underpaid. Duncan was underpaid. Shaq was underpaid compared to who he was. Like, I mean, yeah. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

Even after earning max contracts almost every season since his rookie-scale deal, 17 years in total, LeBron is still considered underpaid by $220.7 million, according to the Real Value metric 2024. Looking at individual seasons, the 2023-24 campaign was only the fifth season in which James was technically overpaid. As per the metric, the four-time league MVP was overpaid by about $8 million. He earned $47.6 million, while his real value was $39.7 million. But it is a rare case.

On the flip side, James’ most underpaid season came in 2008-09, when he made $14.4 million with the Cleveland Cavaliers but had a Real Value of $44.4 million, a massive gap of $30 million. Back when he was in Miami, LeBron made it clear himself that he wasn’t thrilled about not being the top-paid player.

Across King’s four seasons with the Heat, he earned $14.5 million, $16 million, $17.5 million, and $19 million, according to Basketball-Reference. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst even reported that James went on a “rant about being underpaid.” The main reason? The NBA’s CBA rules.

In 2016, LeBron was set to sign a five-year, $200 million deal with Cleveland, but the “over-36” rule complicated things. Since he was 31, the money for the fifth year would have to be spread over the first four seasons, pushing him over the max salary limit. A similar scenario came up in 2020 with the Lakers under the “over-38” rule, which again restricted how his contract could be structured.

Arenas, however, believes this has always been the case with the NBA greats. Take Michael Jordan, for example. By the start of the 1996-97 season, Jordan had earned just $24.9 million over his first nine seasons, a number that sounds huge but was actually low compared to the value he brought. In the 1995-96 All-Star Game, he was only the 11th highest-paid player, making nearly $15 million less than Patrick Ewing.

Even with Jordan’s two $30 million contracts, he averaged only about $6.9 million per year. The NBA should pay royalties to the man who globalized the league. But how did this conversation even start? Apparently, the Lakers reportedly declined James’ contract extension.

With Doncic locked in, is LeBron now the second priority in L.A.?

For the first time in his career, James will be playing under an expiring contract, all because of a simple yet firm “no” from the Lakers when he asked for a contract extension earlier this summer. One NBA source put it plainly: “He obviously wanted an extension, and it’s also clear that the Lakers wouldn’t give it to him.”

With no deal in place, James chose to exercise his player option for next season, worth $52.6 million. Again, timing is everything. After acquiring Luka Doncic in a blockbuster trade last February, the Lakers quickly locked him in with a three-year, $165 million extension, including a player option for 2028. The team knows James doesn’t have endless fuel left, and they aren’t willing to commit a huge amount that could limit building around their future star.

Still, James’ camp has made it clear he “values a realistic chance of winning it all,” even while the team is clearly building around the young guard. Flexibility remains the priority for the Lakers, and holding off on LeBron’s extension keeps their options open. That’s where Gilbert Arenas’ argument hits home:

“Like, I think he’s going to get to probably year 24-25, but you know, to push out that much money on him. I know it’s LeBron. Listen, I get it. But the age is still age, right? And you know, at some point, even [year] 22-23, he averaging about 22-23. Do you want to pay $50-60 million for that?” But when it’s LeBron James, do you even hesitate? Maybe not, but as Josiah, many LeBron fans, too, feel, “LeBron James is your current and LeBron James Jr. is your future. Luka is the bridge in between the two LeBron eras.”