List of most expensive basketball transfers

ttr The following is a list of most expensive basketball transfers, which presents the highest fees ever paid for players..

The list contains a few transfers which broke the world transfer record: those of Antonello Riva, Stefano Rusconi, Dino Rađa, Dino Meneghin, all broke the record, signing for Italian clubs and a Greek club. The list also features two players who, at the time of the transfer, broke the national record for the club they were signing for: Ricky Rubio and Milan Gurović.

Highest buy-outs

Most high-value transfers involve clubs in the Eurozone. The order in this table is based on the transfer amount in euros. Due to exchange rate fluctuations the order is different in $ which is also shown on the table.

As of 20 September 2023;

Fee broke the world transfer record at the time of the transfer

Fee broke the national club record

Fee broke the record for a US American player

Fee broke the record for a teenager

Rank	Player	From	To	Fee (M €)	Fee (M $)	Year	Notes
1	Yao Ming	Shanghai Sharks	CBA	€12.9	$15 ^[1]	2002
2	Dino Radja	Boston Celtics	Panathinaikos	€8.5	$10	1997	Panathnaikos paid Celtics 2,5 billion in former Greek drachma
3	Stefano Rusconi	Pallacanestro Varese	Benetton Treviso	€7.6	$15	1991	20 billion in former Italian lira (15 million cash plus two players: Dan Gay and Savio) or 1250 million in former Spanish peseta.
4	Andrea Niccolai	BingoSNAI Montecatini	Virtus Roma	€6	$12	1991	16 billion in former Italian lira or 1100 million in former Spanish peseta
5	Facundo Campazzo	Real Madrid	Denver Nuggets	€5.25	$6	2020	Nuggets officially paid $750k and Campazzo the rest through his contract ^[2]
6	Carlton Myers	Basket Rimini	Fortitudo Bologna	€4.5	$7.5	1995	12 billion in former Italian lira
7	Riccardo Pittis	Olimpia Milano	Benetton Treviso	€4.5	$8.1	1993	12 billion in former Italian lira
8	Riccardo Morandotti	Berloni Torino	Scaligera Basket Verona	€4	$9	1990	10 billion in former Italian lira
9	Paolo Moretti	Scaligera Basket Verona	Virtus Bologna	€3.8	$8	1992	9 billion in former Italian lira
10	Ricky Rubio	Joventut Badalona	FC Barcelona	€3.7 ^[3]	$5.1	2009
11	Ferdinando Gentile	Juvecaserta Basket	Stefanel Trieste	€3.3	$5.4	1993	8 billion in former Italian lira
-	Dominique Wilkins	Boston Celtics	Panathinaikos	€3.3	$3.6 ^[4]	1995
12	Davide Bonora	Scaligera Basket Verona	Benetton Treviso	€3.3	$5	1995	8 billion in former Italian lira
13	Antonello Riva	Pallacanestro Cantù	Olimpia Milano	€3.1	$5.7	1989	7.5 billion in former Italian lira
14	Carlton Myers	Victoria Libertas Pesaro	Basket Rimini	€3.1	$4.7	1994	7.5 billion in former Italian lira
15	Alessandro Fantozzi	Basket Livorno	Virtus Roma	€3.1	$6.25	1991	7.5 billion in former Italian lira
16	Gianluca Basile	Pallacanestro Reggiana	Fortitudo Bologna	€3.1	$3.9	1999	7.5 billion in former Italian lira
17	Milan Gurovic	Peristeri	FC Barcelona	€3	$1.8	1998	600 million in Greek drachma or 500 million in former Spanish peseta
18	Nenad Krstić	Triumph Lyubertsy	Oklahoma City Thunder	€3	$3.7	2008	Thunder officially $500k and the rest $2,5m paid by Scola through his contract
19	Sergio Rodriguez	Real Madrid	Philadelphia 76ers	€3	$3.3	2016
20	Darko Milicic	Hemofarm	Detroit Pistons	€2.6 ^[5]	$3	2003
21	Nikola Mirotić	Real Madrid	Chicago Bulls	€2.5	$3.25	2014
-	Donato Avenia	Viola Reggio Calabria	Virtus Roma	€2.5	$5.4	1990	6 billion in former Italian lira
-	Stefano Attruia	Pallacanestro Pavia	Virtus Roma	€2.5	$5.4	1990	6 billion in former Italian lira
-	Flavio Carera	Libertas Liburnia Basket Livorno	Virtus Bologna	€2.5	$5.4	1992	6 billion in former Italian lira (4 billion plus Leonardo Conti)
26
27	Toni Kukoc	Benneton Treviso	Chicago Bulls	€2.35	$2.5 ^[6]	1993	The reease fee was paid by Kukoc
27	Pau Gasol	FC Barcelona	Memphis Grizzlies	€2.3	$2.5	2001	$2,15 million was paid by his agent and rest $350k by Grizzlies
-	Luis Scola	Tau	Houston Rockets	€2.3	$3.2	2007	Rockets officially $500k and the rest $2,7m paid by Scola through his contract ^[7]
27	Maciej Lampe	Real Madrid	New York Knicks	€2.2	$2	2003	$350k was paid by the Knicks
-	Mirza Teletović	Saski Baskonia	Brooklyn Nets	€2.2 ^[8]	$2.8	2012	Majority of the amount was paid by the player himself
29	Hugo Sconochini	Viola Reggio Calabria	Olimpia Milano	€2	$3.7	1993	5.5 billion in former Italian lira
-	Šarūnas Jasikevičius	Golden State Warriors	Panathinaikos Athens	€2	$2.7	2007
-	Mario Hezonja	FC Barcelona	Orlando Magic	€2 ^[9]	$2.2	2015
-	Victor Claver	Valencia Basket	FC Barcelona	€2	$2.2	2016
-	Alex Abrines	FC Barcelona	Oklahoma City Thunder	€2	$2.2	2016
-	Tomáš Satoranský	FC Barcelona	Washington Wizards	€2	$2.3	2016
35	Toni Kukoc	KK Split	Benneton Treviso	€1.9	$2 ^[10]	1991	The 6-year contract of $4.25m per annum made Kukoc the highest-paid basketball player in the world above Patrick Ewing.
36	Thodoris Papaloukas	CSKA Moscow	Olympiacos	€1.8 ^[11]	$2.8	2008
-	Raül López	Joventut Badalona	Real Madrid	€1.8	$1.9	2000	275 million in former Spanish peseta
-	Davide Pessina	Pallacanestro Cantù	Olimpia Milano	€1.8	$3.6	1991	5 billion in former Italian lira
-	Nino Pellacani	Auxilium Pallacanestro Torino	Benetton Treviso	€1.8	$3.6	1991	5 billion in former Italian lira
-	Brad Oleson	Baloncesto Fuenlabrada	Real Madrid	€1.8	$2.5	2009
-	Carlos Jiménez	CB Estudiantes	Baloncesto Málaga	€1.8	$2.3	2006
39	Jorge Garbajosa	Baloncesto Málaga	Toronto Raptors	€1.7	$2.25	2006	Majority of the fee was paid by the player and his agent
40	Alberto Herreros	CB Estudiantes	Real Madrid	€1.5	$1.6	2001	350 million in former Spanish peseta or 500 million in Greek drachma
-	Kostas Papanikolaou	Olympiacos	FC Barcelona	€1.5	$2	2013	400 million in Greek drachma
-	Juan Carlos Navarro	Memphis Grizzlies	FC Barcelona	€1.5	$2.3	2008
-	Goran Dragic	Saski Baskonia	Phoenix Suns	€1.5	$2.3	2008	Suns officially paid $500k and Dragic the rest through his contract
-	Felipe Reyes	CB Estudiantes	Real Madrid	€1.5	$1.8	2004
-	Iñaki de Miguel	CB Estudiantes	Olympiacos]	€1.5	$1.6	1999	252 million in former Spanish peseta or 400 million in former Greek drachma
44	Ricky Rubio	FC Barcelona	Minnesota Timberwolves	€1.4	$1.9	2011
-	Gregor Fucka	Olimpia Milano	Fortitudo Bologna	€1.4	$1.7	1997	3.5 billion in former Italian lira
46	Milos Teodosic	Zeleznik	Olympiacos	€1.3	$1.7	2007
-	Thodoris Papaloukas	Panionios	Olympiacos	€1.3	$1.4	2001
-	Bogdan Bogdanovic	KK Partizan	Fenerbahce	€1.3	$1.7	2014
-	Milos Teodosic	Olympiacos	CSKA Moscow	€1.3	$1.8	2011
-	Bo McCalebb	Siena	Fenerbahce	€1.3	$1.6	2012
49	Patrick Beverley	Spartak St Petersburg	Houston Rockets	€1.2	$1.6	2013	Rockets officially paid $250k and the rest $1.35m paid by Beverley through his contract ^[12]
-	José Antonio Paraíso	Caceres	Valencia Pamesa	€1.2	$1.25	2001	275 million in former Spanish peseta
-	Andrea Meneghin	Pallacanestro Varese	Climamio Bologna	€1.2	$1.5	2000	3 billion in former Italian lira
-	Dario Saric	KK Cibona	Efes Pilsen	€1.2 ^[13]	$1.5	2014
-	Nemanja Bjelica	Fenerbahçe	Minnesota Timberwolves	€1.2	$1.5	2015
-	Pablo Prigioni	Tau	Real Madrid	€1.2	$1.7	2009
-	Drazen Petrovic	Real Madrid]	Portland Trail Blazers	€1.1	$1.15 ^[14]	1989	Blazers paid the fee and also agreed to play two exhibition games in Spain.