paragraph_text: The highest - paid NBA players by season over the past twelve seasons have received contracts with salaries noted in the twenty - million - dollar range. In this twelve - year span, Kevin Garnett received $28,000,000, which was the highest salary payment of any NBA player, during the 2003 -- 04 season. Garnett has been the highest - paid NBA player per year in seven of the past twelve NBA seasons. Michael Jordan was the first NBA player to sign a contract worth over thirty million dollars in a season. During the 1997 -- 98 season, Jordan earned $33,000,000. Kobe Bryant become just the second player to reach this milestone when the 2013 -- 14 season began. LeBron James became the third in the 2016 -- 17 season. Stephen Curry became the first player to eclipse $40 - Million per year when he signed a record 5 year contract worth $201 - Million in 2017.

paragraph_text: The highest - paid NBA players by season over the past twelve seasons have received contracts with salaries noted in the twenty - million - dollar range. In this twelve - year span, Kevin Garnett received $28,000,000, which was the highest salary payment of any NBA player, during the 2003 -- 04 season. Garnett has been the highest - paid NBA player per year in seven of the past twelve NBA seasons. Michael Jordan was the first NBA player to sign a contract worth over thirty million dollars in a season. During the 1997 -- 98 season, Jordan earned $33,140,000, which still stands as the most any NBA player has earned on a 1 year contract, Jordan also holds the record for the second largest 1 year contract at $30,140,000 in the 1996 - 97 season. Kobe Bryant become just the second player to reach this milestone when the 2013 -- 14 season began. LeBron James became the third in the 2016 -- 17 season. Stephen Curry became the first player to eclipse $40 - Million per year when he signed a record 5 - year contract worth $201 - Million in 2017, starting with $34,682,550 in the 2017 - 18 season and ending with the largest earnings in the 2021 - 22 season with a record payout of $45,780,966.

paragraph_text: In 2006 -- 07, James's averages declined to 27.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6 assists, and 1.6 steals per game. Some analysts attributed the fall to a regression in his passing skills and shot selection, which stemmed from a lack of effort and focus. The Cavaliers finished the season with 50 wins for the second consecutive year and entered the playoffs as the East's second seed. In Game 5 of the NBA Conference Finals, James notched 48 points with 9 rebounds and 7 assists, scoring 29 of Cleveland's last 30 points, including the game - winning layup with two seconds left, against the Pistons. After the game, play - by - play announcer Marv Albert called the performance ``one of the greatest moments in postseason history ''and color commentator Steve Kerr described it as`` Jordan-esque''. In 2012, ESPN ranked the performance the fourth greatest in modern NBA playoff history. The Cavaliers went on to win Game 6 and claim their first - ever Eastern Conference championship, earning them a matchup with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals. During the championship round, James struggled, averaging 22 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game on just 35.6 percent shooting, and Cleveland was eliminated in a sweep.

paragraph_text: Jordan's individual accolades and accomplishments include six NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) Awards, ten scoring titles (both all - time records), five MVP Awards, ten All - NBA First Team designations, nine All - Defensive First Team honors, fourteen NBA All - Star Game selections, three All - Star Game MVP Awards, three steals titles, and the 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award. He holds the NBA records for highest career regular season scoring average (30.12 points per game) and highest career playoff scoring average (33.45 points per game). In 1999, he was named the greatest North American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN, and was second to Babe Ruth on the Associated Press' list of athletes of the century. Jordan is a two - time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, having been enshrined in 2009 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as part of the group induction of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team (``The Dream Team ''). He became a member of the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2015.

paragraph_text: The Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy is the championship trophy awarded annually by the National Basketball Association (NBA) to the winner of the NBA Finals. The name of the trophy was the Walter A. Brown Trophy until 1984.

paragraph_text: Player Salary Team LeBron James $30,963,450 Cleveland Cavaliers Al Horford $26,540,100 Boston Celtics DeMar DeRozan $26,540,100 Toronto Raptors James Harden $26,540,100 Houston Rockets Kevin Durant $26,540,100 Golden State Warriors Russell Westbrook $26,540,100 Oklahoma City Thunder Mike Conley, Jr. $26,540,100 Memphis Grizzlies Dirk Nowitzki $25,000,000 Dallas Mavericks Carmelo Anthony $24,559,380 New York Knicks Damian Lillard $24,328,425 Portland Trail Blazers

paragraph_text: NBA 2K18 is a basketball simulation video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is the 19th installment in the NBA 2K franchise and the successor to NBA 2K17. It was released in September 2017 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. Kyrie Irving serves as cover athlete for the regular edition of the game, Shaquille O'Neal is the cover athlete for the special editions, and DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors is the cover athlete for the game in Canada. While a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers when selected for the cover, Irving was traded to the Boston Celtics prior to the game's release. As a result, a new cover depicting Irving in a Celtics uniform was revealed alongside the original cover.

paragraph_text: The 2016 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA) 2015 -- 16 season and conclusion of the 2016 playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors 4 -- 3 in a rematch of the 2015 NBA Finals. It was the 14th rematch of the previous NBA Finals in history, and the first Finals since 2008 in which the number one seed in each conference met. It was the second straight rematch in back - to - back years, as the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs played each other in 2013 and 2014.

paragraph_text: The team was originally established as the Seattle SuperSonics, an expansion team that joined the NBA for the 1967 -- 68 season. The SuperSonics moved in 2008 after a settlement was reached between the ownership group led by Clay Bennett and lawmakers in Seattle, Washington following a lawsuit. In Seattle, the SuperSonics qualified for the NBA playoffs 22 times, won their division six times, and won the 1979 NBA Championship. In Oklahoma City, the Thunder qualified for their first playoff berth during the 2009 -- 10 season. They won their first division title as the Thunder in the 2010 -- 11 season and their first Western Conference championship as the Thunder in the 2011 -- 12 season, appearing in the NBA Finals for the fourth time in franchise history and first since 1996, when the club was based in Seattle.

paragraph_text: The 2011 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2010 -- 11 season of the National Basketball Association (NBA) in which the Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks defeated the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat 4 games to 2 to win their first NBA championship. The series was held from May 31 to June 12, 2011. German player Dirk Nowitzki was named the Finals MVP, becoming the second European to win the award after Tony Parker (2007) and the first German player to do so. The series was a rematch of the 2006 NBA Finals, which the Heat had won in six games.

paragraph_text: Cleveland finished the regular season with a 57 -- 25 record, capturing the Central Division title and the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. They then advanced to the Finals after sweeping both the Detroit Pistons in the first round and the Atlanta Hawks in the second round, and defeating the Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference Finals in six games. The Cavaliers were the first team in history to go to two consecutive NBA Finals with rookie head coaches.

paragraph_text: Bryant currently ranks third both on the league's all - time post-season scoring and all - time regular season scoring lists. He has been selected to 15 All - NBA Team (eleven times to the All - NBA First Team) and 12 All - Defensive Team (nine times to the All - Defensive First Team). He was selected to play in the NBA All - Star Game on 18 occasions, winning All - Star MVP Awards in 2002, 2007, 2009 and 2011 (he shared the 2009 award with Shaquille O'Neal). He also won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest in 1997. He has had 1 eighty - point game, 6 sixty - point games (including his final game), 26 fifty - point games, and 134 forty - point games in his career. Kobe had been also in a three way tie with Stephen Curry and Donyell Marshall for most three pointers with 12 in a game until November 8, 2016 when Curry set a new record with 13. In his final game on April 13, 2016, at 37 years old, he became the oldest player to score 60 in a single game and set the highest point total in the 2015 - 16 regular season.

paragraph_text: The highest - paid NBA players by season over the past twelve seasons have received contracts with salaries noted in the twenty - million - dollar range. In this twelve - year span, Kevin Garnett received $28,000,000, which was the highest salary payment of any NBA player, during the 2003 -- 04 season. Garnett has been the highest - paid NBA player per year in seven of the past twelve NBA seasons. Michael Jordan was the first NBA player to sign a contract worth over thirty million dollars in a season. During the 1997 -- 98 season, Jordan earned $33,140,000, which still stands as the most any NBA player has earned on a 1 year contract, Jordan also holds the record for the second largest 1 year contract at $30,140,000 in the 96 - 97 season... Kobe Bryant become just the second player to reach this milestone when the 2013 -- 14 season began. LeBron James became the third in the 2016 -- 17 season. Stephen Curry became the first player to eclipse $40 - Million per year when he signed a record 5 - year contract worth $201 - Million in 2017, starting with $34,682,550 in the 2017 - 18 season and ending with the largest earnings in the 2021 - 22 season with a record payout of $45,780,966.

paragraph_text: The Queen opened the stadium on 18 July 1997 in front of 30,000 spectators. By this time the south west corner, which stood between the main stand and the horseshoe, had been completed. The interest from potential corporate clients had been so high that Pickering pressed the board to go the full distance with the stadium, raising the final initial costs of completing the stadium to £22 million. Work was still in progress on the remaining corner on the opening day, leaving Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh to jokingly ask Taylor Woodrow contract manager Ross Walters, ``Have n't you been paid yet? ''An overture to the opening ceremony came two weeks later, on 4 August 1997, with the first ever game at Pride Park Stadium being played against Italian side Sampdoria, the match ending in a 1 -- 0 defeat with Vincenzo Montella scoring the only goal of the game. The attendance of 29,041 was the highest for a Derby County home game in 20 years. The fixture kicked off a tradition of pre-season friendlies being held against European teams at the ground, with Barcelona (twice), CSKA Moscow, Athletic Bilbao, Lazio, Ajax and Mallorca all visiting the stadium over the next six years.

paragraph_text: The highest - paid NBA players by season over the past twelve seasons have received contracts with salaries noted in the twenty - million - dollar range. In this twelve - year span, Kevin Garnett received $28,000,000, which was the highest salary payment of any NBA player, during the 2003 -- 04 season. Garnett has been the highest - paid NBA player per year in seven of the past twelve NBA seasons. Michael Jordan was the first NBA player to sign a contract worth over thirty million dollars in a season. During the 1997 -- 98 season, Jordan earned $33,000,000. Kobe Bryant become just the second player to reach this milestone when the 2013 -- 14 season began. LeBron James became the third in the 2016 -- 17 season. Stephen Curry became the first player to eclipse $40 - Million per year when he signed a record 5 - year contract worth $201 - Million in 2017.

paragraph_text: A Portuguese international, Ronaldo was named the best Portuguese player of all - time by the Portuguese Football Federation in 2015. Ronaldo made his senior international debut in August 2003, at age 18. He is Portugal's most capped player of all - time with over 140 caps, and has participated in seven major tournaments. He is Portugal's all - time top goalscorer. He scored his first international goal at Euro 2004 and helped Portugal reach the final. He took over full captaincy in July 2008, leading Portugal to their first - ever triumph in a major tournament by winning Euro 2016, and received the Silver Boot as the second - highest goalscorer of the tournament. One of the most marketable sportsmen, he was ranked the world's highest - paid athlete by Forbes in 2016 and 2017, as well as the world's most famous athlete by ESPN in 2016 and 2017.

paragraph_text: After a lackluster arrival to Oklahoma City for the 2008–09 season, the Oklahoma City Thunder secured a berth (8th) in the 2010 NBA Playoffs the next year after boasting its first 50-win season, winning two games in the first round against the Los Angeles Lakers. In 2012, Oklahoma City made it to the NBA Finals, but lost to the Miami Heat in five games. In 2013 the Thunder reached the Western Conference semifinals without All-Star guard Russell Westbrook, who was injured in their first round series against the Houston Rockets, only to lose to the Memphis Grizzlies. In 2014 Oklahoma City again reached the NBA's Western Conference Finals but eventually lost to the San Antonio Spurs in six games.

paragraph_text: The 2017 NBA Playoffs was the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association's 2016 -- 17 season, which began in October 2016. The playoffs began on April 15, 2017. The tournament concluded with the Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors defeating the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers 4 games to 1 in the NBA Finals. Kevin Durant was named the NBA Finals MVP.

paragraph_text: Initially, the BAA teams were aligned into two divisions, the Eastern Division and the Western Division. The Divisional Finals were first played in 1949, the league's third season. The first two seasons used a playoffs format where Eastern and Western Division teams would face each other before the BAA Finals, hence there were no divisional finals. In the 1949 -- 50 season, the league realigned itself to three divisions, with the addition of the Central Division. However, the arrangement was only used for one season and the league went back into two divisions format in 1951. The two divisions format remained until 1970, when the NBA realigned itself into two conferences with two divisions each, which led to the renaming to Conference Finals. The finals was a best - of - 3 series from 1949 to 1950 to; a best - of - 5 series from 1951 -- 56, and a best - of - 7 series since 1957. Currently, the Conference Finals are played in a best - of - 7 series like the NBA Playoffs and Finals. The two series are played in late May each year after the first and second rounds of the Playoffs and before the Finals. At the conclusion of the Conference Finals, winners are presented with a silver trophy, caps, and T - shirts, and advance to the NBA Finals.

paragraph_text: The 2011 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s 2010 -- 11 season, and the conclusion of the season's playoffs. The Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks defeated the Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat 4 games to 2 to win their first NBA championship. Dallas became the last NBA team from Texas to win its first title, after the Houston Rockets won back - to - back titles in 1994 and 1995, and the San Antonio Spurs won four NBA championships in 1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007, and a fifth one subsequently in 2014; all three Texas NBA teams have now won at least one NBA championship. It was also the first time in four years that the Los Angeles Lakers did not make the Finals, having been swept in the Western Conference semifinals by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks.

Question: When did the highest paid athlete in the NBA first go to the finals?
Answer: 2006 -- 07