The salary of every Team USA and Boomers player at the 2025 Paris Olympics

For the price of the entire Boomers squad, you could not cover the cost of US superstar Steph Curry. But despite the financial gulf, the gap in results has never been smaller. SEE EVERY SALARY.

The gulf in annual salaries between Team USA and the Boomers is bigger than ever before with one NBA superstar earning more than the entire Aussie squad combined.

A Team USA side featuring the likes of future Hall of Famers LeBron James and Kevin Durant takes home more than $809 million, based on the 12-man squad’s collective annual salaries for next season.

In comparison, the Boomers’ squad will earn about $81 million.

Incredibly, that is less than Steph Curry salary, with the legendary three-point shooter to earn $82.4 million to suit up for the Golden State Warriors next season.

And the gap is going to grow exponentially in the coming years with NBA supermax contracts to skyrocket thanks to a new broadcasting deal that could be worth up to $112 billion over 11 years. Yes, that billion with a b.

Jayson Tatum will next season earn $52.1 million when he lines up for the NBA champion Boston Celtics.

But that’s spare change compared to the $465.9 million contract extension he signed earlier this week – the biggest in basketball history.

In the final season of the deal, 2029/30, Tatum will be paid an eye-watering $106 million. That’s almost as much as the $128.7 million the greatest player ever, Michael Jordan, earned in his entire career.

Patty Mills scored a game high 30 points as the Boomers stunned USA in 2019. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

In comparison the top-paid Aussie at the Olympics will be Josh Green, who will earn $18.8 million when he joins the Charlotte Hornets next season.

The salary discrepancy would not have been quite so alarming had Ben Simmons made the Boomers squad – he’s due to be paid $59.8 million by Brooklyn next season. Unfortunately for Simmons that contract is regarded as among the worst in the NBA and he faces a massive pay cut on his next deal.

The salaries highlight the star power on a USA side that is being compared with the legendary 1992 Dream Team that swept through the Barcelona Games undefeated with an average winning margin of 44 points.

Boomers coach Brian Goorjian said his players couldn’t match the skill level of the Americans but he was backing his team’s toughness.

“We’re not the most talented team, and maybe not even one of our guys makes that USA side, but we’ve got a team if we display these characteristics of pride and our culture of never taking a backwards step,” Goorjian said before the Olympic warm-up clash against Team USA in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday morning.

“The 50/50 ball has to be yours and if you do that, then it can take you places you can only dream of.

“This Boomers group has not only talked about it, they’re living it.”

The Americans are shooting for a fifth straight gold in Paris and while they are the overwhelming favourites to do so again, Australia’s recent results against the USA have been largely respectable.

In 2019, before the World Cup in China, the Boomers recorded their first win over an American side in 55 years.

The 98-94 triumph was just a warm-up game but it ended the USA’s 78-game win streak in a major international tournament or exhibition game since 2006.

The win against a rising yet star-studded USA side that featured Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell and Khris Middleton also signified how far the Australians had come in bridging the gap.

The Boomers won a tight tussle on the day thanks to a team-high 30 points from star guard Patty Mills, including a crucial 13 in the fourth quarter.

Swingman Joe Ingles added 15 points, while big man Andrew Bogut dominated in the paint with 16 points and nine rebounds.

The Boomers produced another upset warm-up win against Team USA in Las Vegas before the 2021 Tokyo Games.

The Australians again bullied their more fancied rivals with tough, physical defence.

Goorjian’s men didn’t let the likes of Damian Lillard (22 points), Kevin Durant (17 points) and Bradley Beal (12) have any space to work the magic that had earned them NBA championships, All-Star appearances and big contracts.

While basketball fans around the world were picking their jaws up off the floor, Ingles wasn’t ready to call it an upset.

“We walked into this game tonight expecting to win,” he said.

Joe Ingles knew the Boomers could push the US in 2021.

The result meant the Boomers went into their semi-final against Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics full of confidence.

It showed on the scoreboard when the Boomers surged to a 41-26 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half, largely on the back of Mills and Dante Exum.

For more than a fleeting moment, it felt like the Australians were poised to knock the Americans off their perch on the biggest stage.

The optimism soon turned sour when the USA produced a powerful 32-10 run in the third quarter to turn the game and end the Boomers’ dreams of a gold medal.

Despite the 97-78 loss, US coach Gregg Popovich paid tribute to the dogged Australians.

“It was a very good win against another outstanding basketball team with great culture and great tradition,” Popovich said.

“They’re like a machine and that really bothered us to start the game. They just sliced us and diced us. We looked like we’d never played together before.

“But in the last five minutes (of the half) … we understood that was what it was going to take to beat a fine team like that.”

Three years on, the Boomers have another chance to take on Team USA in a pre-Olympic warm-up game in Abu Dhabi.

This time they will face one of the strongest American sides in history.

Goorjian knows it won’t be easy to beat generational talents such as James, Curry and Durant but he is banking on the Boomers’ famed fight to make it a contest.

He uses last year’s World Cup in Japan as an example of how close world basketball can be.

Australia lost to Germany by a basket in the pool rounds before the Europeans went on an undefeated run to lift the trophy.

“We were right there and we can get better as well,” Goorjian said.

“Every team in our pool in Paris will think they can win the gold medal, so if you get out of the pool, you’ve got a chance to do it.

“That will be our mentality.”