Forbes Ranks The World's Richest Athletes

This may come as a surprise, but none of the top five highest paid athletes in the world last year play in America's 'Big Four' sports - football, basketball, baseball or hockey.

However, there are dozens of stars from America's favorite past-times in Forbes' 100 highest paid athletes in the world list. From the Forbes list, here are world's highest paid athletes based on their income over the past 12 months:

10. Kobe Bryant- $49.5 million

Injuries have kept Kobe off the court much of the past two seasons; he's played in a total of just 41 games over the last two seasons combined. But that hasn't stopped 'The Black Mamba' from earning, to the tune of $49.5 million with more than half of that coming from his endorsement deals with Hublot, Nike and others.

9. Tiger Woods - $50.6 million

Far from his long held throne as the world's No.1 ranked golfer, Tiger Woods would be golf's No.1 ranked-earner if he'd win a tournament once in a while. Woods has missed three cuts and withdrawn once, and hasn't finished better than 17th through the first half of 2015. Of the $50.6 million he made in the last 12 months, only $600k of it has been won on the PGA Tour.

8. Phil Mickelson - $50.8 million

Lefty's wrist keeps him a tick ahead of Tiger on the Forbes' list this year. Phil Mickelson's endorsement deals with companies like Rolex, Exxon Mobile and Callaway reeled in $48 million this year.

7. Kevin Durant - $54.1 million

In the past year, the Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant has earned more than $2 million for every year he's been alive. At just 26-years-old, KD is making $19 million on the court, and $35 million in endorsements off of it. That includes his deal with Nike, '...the richest endorsement deal of any active athlete,' Forbes reports.

6. LeBron James - $64.8 million

It should comes as not surprise that the king of the NBA court has a king-sized bank account, as well. His ability to drain buckets has helped LeBron James earn buckets of cash - more than $20 million from the Cleveland Cavaliers this year and another $44 million in endorsements.

Top 5 Highest Paid Athletes In 2015