List of most expensive basketball transfers explained

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;

data-sort-type="number"	Rank	Player	From	To	Fee (M €)	Fee (M $)	Year	Notes
1		Shanghai Sharks	CBA	€12.9	$15	2002
2		Boston Celtics	Panathinaikos	€8.5	$10	1997	Panathnaikos paid Celtics 2,5 billion in former Greek drachma
3		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		Real Madrid	Denver Nuggets	€5.25	$6	2020	Nuggets officially paid $750k and Campazzo the rest through his contract^[1]
6		Basket Rimini	Fortitudo Bologna	€4.5	$7.5	1995	12 billion in former Italian lira
7		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		Scaligera Basket Verona	Virtus Bologna	€3.8	$8	1992	9 billion in former Italian lira
10		Joventut Badalona	FC Barcelona	€3.7^[2]	$5.1	2009
11		Juvecaserta Basket	Stefanel Trieste	€3.3	$5.4	1993	8 billion in former Italian lira
-	Dominique Wilkins	Boston Celtics	Panathinaikos	€3.3	$3.6^[3]	1995
12		Scaligera Basket Verona	Benetton Treviso	€3.3	$5	1995	8 billion in former Italian lira
13		Pallacanestro Cantù	Olimpia Milano	€3.1	$5.7	1989	7.5 billion in former Italian lira
14		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		Pallacanestro Reggiana	Fortitudo Bologna	€3.1	$3.9	1999	7.5 billion in former Italian lira
17		Peristeri	FC Barcelona	€3	$1.8	1998	600 million in Greek drachma or 500 million in former Spanish peseta
18		Triumph Lyubertsy	Oklahoma City Thunder	€3	$3.7	2008	Thunder officially $500k and the rest $2,5m paid by Scola through his contract
19		Real Madrid	Philadelphia 76ers	€3	$3.3	2016
20		Hemofarm	Detroit Pistons	€2.6^[4]	$3	2003
21		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^[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
-		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
-		Saski Baskonia	Brooklyn Nets	€2.2^[6]	$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
-		Golden State Warriors	Panathinaikos Athens	€2	$2.7	2007
-		FC Barcelona	Orlando Magic	€2^[7]	$2.2	2015
-		Valencia Basket	FC Barcelona	€2	$2.2	2016
-		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^[8]	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^[9]	$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
44		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		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^[10]
-	José Antonio Paraíso	Caceres	Valencia Pamesa	€1.2	$1.25	2001
-	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^[11]	$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^[12]	1989	Blazers paid the fee and also agreed to play two exhibition games in Spain.

See also

• List of most expensive American soccer transfers
• List of most expensive association football transfers
• List of basketball players with most career points

External links

• ACB Most expensive transfers ever (2009)
• Barcelona's most expensive transfers of all time
• Top Italian transfers
• http://www.marca.com/2009/08/26/baloncesto/1251306846.html
• http://www.marca.com/2009/08/26/baloncesto/acb/1251278631.html

Notes and References

1. Web site: Campazzo signing a two-year deal with Denver, Real Madrid to get $6 million buyout. eurohoops.com. 21 November 2020.
2. Web site: Ricky al Barça, el traspaso más caro de la historia. marca.com. es .
3. Web site: Wilkins says goodbye Boston, hello Greece - Tampa Bay Times. tampabay.com. 13 August 1995 .
4. Web site: ESPN.com: NBA - Hemofarm lowers Milicic buyout request. 6 July 2003.
5. Web site: KUKOC ANXIOUS TO START LIFE WITH THE BULLS. chicagotribune.com. 17 July 1993.
6. Web site: How Mirza Teletovic sacrificed millions to play for the Nets. netsdaily.com. 24 July 2015.
7. Web site: Agent: Magic draft pick Mario Hezonja, Barcelona agree to buyout. si.com. 25 June 2016.
8. Web site: American Dream : A Star in Italy, Kukoc . The New York Times. 22 December 1992.
9. Web site: Papaloukas leaves CSKA. cskabasket.ru.
10. Web site: Beverly recalls buyout. fadeawayworld.net. 27 December 2022.
11. Web site: Dario Saric' buyout tricky situation. eurohoops.com. 11 October 2014.
12. Web site: SPORTS PEOPLE: BASKETBALL; Agreement on Petrovic. The New York Times. 22 August 1989.