The richest NBA player, how does his net worth compare to Cristiano Ronaldo?

European soccer might be well and truly more popular and global than basketball but the financial strength of the two competitions are almost the same with players from both sports earning huge salaries and developing enterprises.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the richest soccer player and according to Forbes has a net worth of $500m which is about $100m richer than the next player, his long time rival Lionel Messi who has a fortune of about $400m.

LeBron James is NBA's richest player and according to Forbes has a net worth of about $850m, he has accumulated this over a career of almost two decades, endorsements, sponsorship and also investment in sports merchandise amongst others.

Both Cristiano Ronaldo and LeBron James have crossed the billion dollars mark in earnings before tax but a gap of $350m in their net worths shows how mighty the financial strength of the NBA is.