NBA players are known for being some of the highest-paid athletes in sports, with plenty of the league's biggest stars, including the richest NBA players of all time, on multi-year lucrative contracts.

Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry currently earns over $62.5m annually, while a number of players are making at least $50m for their contributions on the court each season.

However, the NBA has not always paid the kind of high salaries that now make its stars some of the highest-paid athletes in the world, and earnings were vastly different during the league's early years.

This is as the league's exposure was not particularly strong following its formation in the 1940s. It was only in the 1980s that the league really took off, with the battles between Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, two of the greatest NBA players of all time, in the backdrop of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers rivalry birthing a whole new wave of interest.

The NBA Player Who Never Got Paid

While the basketball players who played in the NBA's early years would not have earned a particularly large salary, they would still have been on a decent-paying contract.

However, that is not the case for one former NBA player, who shockingly did not earn a single cent in his very brief stint as an NBA player.

Carl McNulty was drafted by the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1952 NBA Draft after a very impressive three-year college career at Purdue University. The Indiana-born shooting guard averaged 18 points per game in his senior career, held the college's most rebounds per game record with 27, while he was a two-time Purdue MVP.

Unfortunately, his college achievements did not translate to the NBA and his professional basketball career was put on hold as he had to complete two years of military service with the United States.

Carl McNulty's Brief NBA Career

McNulty completed his military stint but was reluctant to return to professional basketball as he had lost the motivation to compete on the court. He was eventually convinced by the Hawks to play for the franchise and made his NBA debut during the 1954-55 season against the Detroit Pistons.

McNulty registered two points for the Hawks in a 14-minute spell but was ultimately unable to stop his team falling to defeat.

The Purdue alumnus quickly found out that the NBA lifestyle did not match with him, as he was not impressed with his teammates engaging in gambling and partying on the way back from Detroit. He quit the team following his debut. The player never had a written or oral agreement over what he would be paid and so walked away without a cent.

McNulty did not mind this, and he remained involved with basketball as he would go onto coach at high school level for 29 years. He won an impressive 13 sectional titles during his 18-year stint coaching at Kokomo High School.

McNulty would go on to pass away aged 89 in 2020.