Becoming an established NBA star isn’t easy and nor is spending the enormous wages the players get paid.
Today we won’t look at stats, points scored or players with the most technical fouls in NBA history. If you want to read about that, you can learn more here. Instead we are looking at another aspect of NBA players’ lives: their houses, or better, their mansions!
Look at the Golden State Warriors recently crowned record points scorer Steph Curry for example; he boasts the biggest salary in the league right now at over $43m. How do you spend that money?
Some will opt for investments, some will splash it on luxurious cars and others will go for extravagant houses. Here we focus on the latter with a look at NBA players’ plushest mansions.
Number 5. Dwight Howard, $5m
If you’ve read our opening paragraphs, then you might look at the word ‘investment’ and think that a house — or a mansion — is exactly that.
Try telling that to Dwight Howard. The 76ers star might be one of the best defensive players in the NBA but there is little defending his property choice. He splashed £8m on his five-bed Florida mansion whilst with the Orlando Magic.
The crowning feature of his property was the pool and attached slow-flowing rapids but the wider property market wasn’t so impressed. He sold the property five years ago and had to take a $3m hit on his ‘investment’.
Number 4. Chris Paul, $8.5m
In 2011, Chris Paul traded New Orleans for Los Angeles as he penned a deal with the Clippers. It’s a substantial relocation — over 2,000 km in fact — and a new house was a must. Did Paul go modest with his choice? Not so much; the point guard splashed $8.5m on an eight-bed monster in Bel Air. It wasn’t just any old mansion though.
The former occupant was pop star Avril Lavigne. As you might expect from two celebs having lived there, the mansion has some nice perks to it. What sort of things do we mean?
Well, the pool and hot tub is fairly standard but the wine cellar, open air bar and kitchen less so. Of course, there is also an in-house spa and gym for Paul to keep his mind and body fit and healthy.
Number 3. LeBron James, $13.5m
LeBron James had left the Cavaliers, moved to Miami, picked up a mansion for $9m before winning back to back NBA Championships and opting to return to Cleveland. It left him in a housing dilemma.
True, for people like us, it’s hard to see sitting on a multimillion-dollar house and a multimillion-dollar contract as a problem, but you try generating a bidding war on a house that boasts an ocean-view infinity pool and has room for two yachts to dock.
Of course, James is the master of doing the exceptional and he managed exactly that. He sold his mansion for $4.5m profit meaning somebody else now makes use of the library and cinema rooms.
Number 2. Dwayne Wade, $18m
From LeBron James to his former teammate Dwayne Wade and a look at another Miami mansion — the 2009 scoring leader managed to land himself a beauty too.
Then again, it is rumoured that he looked at nearly 50 different options. What did Wade need in a property to win him over then? Well, apparently he needed to be able to roll out of his house onto the beach whilst a basketball court on the premises was a must too.
It’s all fairly standard stuff but, hold on, Wade also wanted a guest house for his dog. Air conditioning for the pup was a necessity too! To be fair, they say dogs are a man’s best friend and at a cost of $18m it’s clearly true for Wade.
Number 1. Michael Jordan, $29m
Who else would sit at the top of our list of NBA mansions? The G.O.A.T. that is Michael Jordan of course. It wasn’t too long ago that he had his mansion on the market for $15m; it didn’t sell. Now it’s worth nearly double that at $29m. So, with such a big price tag what do you get for all your cash?
It begins with nine bedrooms and you’ll quickly find that you’ll have a choice of bathrooms with 25 to pick from. You’ve also got a plethora of indoor entertainment rooms including a full-size basketball court.
Outside you’ve got tennis courts, an extraordinary fish pond, an infinity swimming pool and to cap it all off a full-blown private golf course.
There you have it, the plushest mansions of the NBA stars.
