That's a pretty relative thing. Of course, no player is worth that kind of money in term of their value to society. However, there are athletes that do deserve that kind of money in relation to how much money those athletes generate for their organizations. Lebron James makes a pretty obscene $17+ million a year from the Miami Heat. I guarantee you that he generates a hell of a lot more money for that organization than that. In that regard he is underpaid. By comparison, baseball and football players don't have as much of an impact on their teams as NBA players do. Although a great quarterback is close, if the defense sucks and he has nobody to throw it to or no running game to keep the defense honest, his impact is greatly limited.