Basketball player Toumani Camara became the highest-paid Belgian athlete this week. His new contract at the Portland Trail Blazers sees him earning around €17.5 million a year in the NBA. Even so, his salary “isn’t that huge by NBA standards”.
The 25-year-old signed a four-year contract extension worth €70 million this week. He will initially earn just over €15 million a year, growing to around €19 million.
In comparison, Belgium’s best-paid footballer, Thibaut Courtois, earns around €15 million a year at Real Madrid.
“Does that surprise me? No, not at all,” says basketball expert Dennis Xhaët. “In my opinion, Portland has actually done a very good deal,” he says, adding: “Let me be clear: it is an enormous amount of money.”
Let me be clear: it is an enormous amount of money
It has to be seen in the context of the highly lucrative NBA, he points out. Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry will be the league’s highest earner next season with an annual salary of just under $60 million, around €51.4 million.
“So his salary isn’t that huge by NBA standards. Certainly not with his potential,” says Xhaët. “Because Camara is a young talent who will be one of the best defenders in the NBA for years to come. He is also part of Portland’s future as one of its building blocks.”
How is it that the American basketball league can throw around such astronomical salaries?
“Everything depends on revenue,” says Xhaët. “The clubs have to spend 50% of all basketball-related revenue on the players. That includes everything from match tickets to television rights. When you consider that the television deal generates $7 billion per season, that says it all.”
An additional factor is the salary cap rulebook. This determines the maximum amount players can earn within the NBA.
“This prevents cowboy situations like in football, with clubs throwing around huge sums of money,” says Xhaët. “At the same time, teams have to spend 90% of that maximum amount on player salaries. And that amount only increases every year due to growing revenues.”
Born in Brussels, Camara moved to the US aged 16 after representing the Belgian U16 national team. He was drafted by Portland in 2023.
The outlook is promising after he earned a spot on the NBA All-Defensive Second Team last season.
“I’ve never let go of that role; defending has brought me to where I am today,” Camara said. “But this summer, I worked extremely hard. I studied videos to play smarter and make fewer mistakes. And now I also want to show what I can bring offensively.”