List of most expensive basketball transfers

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 an 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	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
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	$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	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	$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	1993	The release 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
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	$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	$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	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	$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
-	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	$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	1989	Blazers paid the fee and also agreed to play two exhibition games in Spain.