Introduction

Kevin Garnett is an American former professional NBA player with an estimated net worth of $120 Million.

Quick Facts

• Earned $334.3 million in salary during his NBA career
• Peak annual salary of $28 million in 2003
• Most valuable contract: 6-year, $126 million deal with the Timberwolves
• Typically earned $2 million per year from his Adidas endorsement

NBA Salary

Kevin Garnett’s 1995 NBA debut with the Minnesota Timberwolves saw him earn $1.6 million. In 1998, Garnett signed a new six-year contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves worth $126 million. Within just a couple of years, he was earning more than $20 million per season, with his career-high salary coming in 2003 at $28 million.

In 2004, Garnett signed another 9-figure contract with the Timberwolves, worth $100 million. Not many NBA players have signed multiple 9-figure contracts in the league’s history. At one point, Garnett was the NBA player with the most lifetime earnings in the sport’s history.

Kevin Garnett earned a jaw-dropping $334.3 million in salary during his NBA career. His time spent playing in Minnesota accounts for nearly $218 million.

After retiring from basketball, Kevin was looking for business opportunities to join. He was particularly interested in buying a basketball franchise as he felt that players who helped to build the business should get a shot at owning a piece of the action.

Endorsements

Garnett joined Nike after graduating from high school, departed after five years to join AND1, and then joined Adidas. He introduced the first Air Garnett at the 1998 All-Star Game, becoming just the 10th Nike player to do so. His most well-known pair would turn out to be the Air Garnett 3.

Kevin Garnett was the first All-Star player to secure a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal with Chinese sportswear company Anta in 2010. He had previously made around $2 million annually at Adidas when the Chinese sportswear giant approached him with a better offer.

AS Roma Planned Investment

In December 2011, Kevin Garnett had plans to acquire a minority stake in the Italian Serie A soccer team AS Roma. Unfortunately, this deal was blocked by the NBA due to a conflict of interest. James Pallotta, the club’s primary shareholder, also owned a minority stake in the NBA’s Boston Celtics. Since Garnett was playing for the Celtics at the time, the NBA viewed this as a conflict of interest. This is quite a shame, since AS Roma’s valuation has tripled since the proposed deal.

Real Estate

Unfinished Miami Mansion

In July 1997, Kevin Garnett paid $3.6 million for a 7-acre plot of land along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, California. Garnett spent many years designing and obtaining planning permission to build an 11,000-square-foot home on the property. He began construction but decided to sell before the mansion was fully completed. In 2018, he listed the property for $19.9 million. It sold for $16 million in 2021.

Minnesota Home

In August 2006, while playing for the Timberwolves, Garnett paid $6.05 million for a 12,129-square-foot home in Long Lake, Minnesota. Regarding the sale of this home, most news websites reported that he sold it in October 2022 for $9 million. However, according to public records, the house was also sold in February 2007 for $6.45 million, roughly four months before he was traded. 

Thus, he either bought the property for $6.05 million in August 2006, realized he would be traded, and sold the house for $6.45 million shortly after. Alternatively, he paid $6.45 million in February 2007 and waited until 2022 to sell.

Summary 

Garnett played twenty-one seasons in the NBA and achieved great things with every team he played for. He was regarded as one of the most valuable players in the NBA, and his huge contracts proved this. Now that he is retired, he still tries to help where he can and has invested substantial sums in sports to help others achieve greatness.

Introduction

Joe Johnson is an American retired professional basketball player with an estimated net worth of $90 Million.

Quick Facts

• Earned $215.2 million in salary during his NBA career
• Peak annual salary of $23.2 million in 2014
• Most valuable contract: 6-year, $123.7 million deal with the Hawks

NBA Salary

Joe Johnson earned $1.6 million in his first season in the NBA. A year later, when he was traded to the Phoenix Suns, his salary gradually increased over the next three years.

In 2005, Johnson signed a 5-year contract with the Atlanta Hawks worth $67.4 million. From 2005 to 2010, Johnson averaged $13.5 million annually before signing a new deal with the Hawks. This time, he signed a 6-year contract with the Hawks, worth almost double his last, at $123.6 million.

When Johnson was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2012, his annual salary was $19.7 million. In 2015, the Nets waived Johnson on the last year of his contract after agreeing to a buyout. He spent the last several seasons of his NBA career bouncing from team to team, netting another $20 million or so before retiring.

With a career spanning two decades, Joe Johnson made almost $190 million during his pro career. After a long and satisfying career, Joe decided it was time to retire in 2022 and played his last game mid-season before announcing that it was his last time on the court.

Endorsements

When Forbes ranked Joe Johnson as the world’s 77th highest-paid athlete in 2016, his endorsement income was estimated at $1 million per year. However, this wasn’t the first time that Johnson made the list. He was actually one of the world’s highest-paid athletes for four consecutive years. In each of these entries, Johnson’s estimated income from endorsement deals remained constant at $1 million per year. At the time, this equated to roughly 5% of Johnson’s annual earnings.

The only sponsor ever mentioned in any of these lists was Nike. For the majority of Joe Johnson’s career, he was signed to Nike’s Jordan Brand. Based on this information, we assume the $1 million-per-year figure applies solely to his earnings from Nike.

Child Support

Joe Johnson was previously in a relationship with Shannon Becton in the late 2000s, and in 2007, Shannon gave birth to their son, Gavin. However, the situation was somewhat complicated, and in 2012, Johnson filed a lawsuit against Becton, requesting a paternity test to prove that he was the biological father.

A year later, Joe and Shannon signed a child support agreement, in which he would pay $5,000 per month to rent an apartment for her in New York, plus an additional $2,500 per month in child support. At the time, Johnson had just signed with the Brooklyn Nets and wanted to keep his son close. The agreement also stipulated that Shannon’s child support would drop to $2,000 per month upon her arrival in New York City. 

Several years later, with court intervention, Johnson’s child support payments had increased to $6,250 per month. However, in 2019, when Johnson wasn’t quite retired but also wasn’t the same active, high-paid player he had been, he filed another lawsuit. This time, he was requesting a reduction in his child support payments due to a significant decrease in income. The outcome of the lawsuit is unknown.

Real Estate

Atlanta Mansion

In October 2005, Joe Johnson purchased a $3.8 million, 13,860-square-foot, seven-bedroom mansion in Sandy Springs, Georgia. He currently still owns the property, although he’s been trying to sell it for $4.7 million for over a decade. Johnson had also regularly listed the property for rent at $25,000/month. 

Introduction

Danielle Steel is an American professional writer with an estimated net worth of $600 Million. 

Quick Facts

• Earned an estimated $201 million between 2010 and 2018
• Peak annual income of $35 million in 2011
• A former bookkeeper allegedly stole $2.7 million from her in 2009
• 67th richest self-made woman in America

Net Worth History

Although not a billionaire, Forbes has been tracking Danielle Steel’s net worth for over a decade because she is a member of America’s Richest Self-Made Women. In 2016, she had an estimated net worth of $310 million, and for the next several years, this figure grew by $10-20 million annually. In 2024, her net worth jumped from $420 million to $500 million, and at the time of writing, she’s ranked as the 67th richest self-made woman in America, with an estimated net worth of $600 Million.

Earnings History

According to reports, between 2010 and 2018, Danielle Steel earned approximately $201 million from all endeavors. She often earned substantial annual sums from book advances, film and TV rights, and royalties. This included estimated earnings of $32 million in 2010 and $35 million in 2011, which were her highest-earning years of the decade. During the 2010s, Steel’s earnings gradually declined, dropping to between $22 million and $26 million in the mid-2010s and to $12 million by 2018. 

Legal Issues & Lawsuits

In 1993, Steel filed a lawsuit against author Lorenzo Bene, who was going to disclose that her son had been adopted by her husband at the time, John Traina. California law states that adoption records must remain sealed to protect adoptive families and can only be opened under very special circumstances. Generally, the records can be disclosed for medical purposes or with the consent of the adopted child once they reach adulthood. Steel believed that if her son’s adoption went public, it would violate her family’s privacy.

Despite her arguments, the state supreme court ruled in favor of opening the adoption record, which was highly unusual given that her son was still a minor at the time. Controversially, the court decided that, because of Steel’s public profile, privacy standards didn’t apply to her and therefore agreed that the records could be opened.

Theft By Former Assistant

In 2009, Steel was the victim of theft after her bookkeeper stole approximately $2.7 million from her. Kirsty Watts had worked for Steel for 15 years when, in November 2008, Steel discovered irregularities in the way Watts had handled credit cards and subsequently terminated her employment. An investigation later revealed that Watts had stolen the money by writing herself cheques and paying herself bonuses. She also used Steel’s credit card reward points to buy flights and gift cards for her family.

Watts was sentenced to 33 months in prison after pleading guilty to stealing over several years and agreed to surrender her assets to help repay the money. So far, she has returned the majority of what she stole, mainly through the sale of her home, its contents, and her family’s vehicles.

Real Estate

Danielle Steel and her husband, Thomas Perkins, own the Spreckles Estate in San Francisco, California. The property has a significant history. It was initially split into four units before Steel acquired it and began her restoration efforts. She also reportedly purchased approximately 25 parking permits for guests in the adjoining streets.

While we don’t know precisely how much Steel paid for the home, recent estimations place its current valuation at roughly $19.2 million. Public records show that the annual property taxes range from $130,000 to $140,000. Over at least twenty-five years of ownership, the couple is estimated to have spent at least $2.5 million on property taxes alone.