When it comes to shoe contracts, Nike's stable still dominates the top of the list

LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the top active players, but Michael Jordan is still No. 1

In a world of multimillionaire athletes, NBA players make a sizable chunk of money thorough endorsements, and shoes are the biggest of those deals. When LeBron James or Kevin Durant release a new shoe it's always worth talking about, and that's what every player strives for: that signature shoe deal.

Forbes recently ranked which shoe deals make players the most money. It was Michael Jordan at the top at $110 million, but that's not surprising considering he has an entire brand of shoe named after him. Following Jordan were mainly active players. The top of the list were James ($32M), Durant ($25M), Kobe Bryant ($16M), James Harden ($14M) and Stephen Curry ($12M). 

What's noticeable about these rankings is how dominant Nike is at the top. James and Durant both have comfortable leads at the top with Bryant behind them at $16 million. Harden, who is with Adidas, is only $2 million behind Bryant. Curry, with Under Armour, is another $2 million behind Harden.

Nike's dominance only continues to grow down the list. Half of the 10 active players on the list are Nike/Jordan athletes, three are Adidas, Curry is with Under Armour, and Dwyane Wade is with a Chinese company called Li-Ning. 

Nike still dominates the shoe game, but Adidas has enough high profile athletes to make some noise, especially if it manages to take Giannis Antetokounmpo away from Nike. Under Armour is far behind the pack with Curry as its only major name.