Dusseldorf When that ball falls through the net, the game suddenly doesn’t matter. The Los Angeles Lakers game against the Oklahoma City Thunder is interrupted, superstar LeBron James raises both arms in the air, runs across the field and is surrounded by dozens of cameras in the next second. Friends, family and emissaries of all stripes from the National Basketball Association (NBA) flock to the field.
LeBron James has broken many records, but the record for the most points seemed set to last forever. When basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar retired in June 1989, he was 41 years old. In 20 seasons in the US professional league NBA, he had scored 38,387 points – 6,968 more than the previous record holder Wilt Chamberlain. For decades, Abdul-Jabbar’s lifetime achievement was considered unattainable. Then came LeBron James – and at the age of 38 he has 38,390 points.
Records are James’ business. And if there’s one thing he’s collected more than points and records in his career, it’s money. Early in his career, US magazine Sports Illustrated ran “The Chosen One” on its February 2002 cover. The then 17-year-old James was so good that he was being discussed as Michael Jordan’s successor.
At the time, connoisseurs wrinkled their noses – they considered any comparison with the basketball icon to be blasphemy. Others felt sorry for the teenager. NBA history is filled with players who began their careers as The Next Jordan and then failed miserably.
James never had a problem with the comparison, in fact he challenged it. When he played his first NBA game for the Cleveland Cavaliers in October 2003, Jordan’s number 23 was emblazoned on his back. James scored 25 points and hit 60 percent of his shots. Surreal numbers for an NBA rookie – and far better than Jordan.
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20 years later, James again graced a cover story. On June 2, 2022, the business magazine “Forbes” dedicated the lead on its website to him and wrote: “LeBron James is officially a billionaire.”
60
percent
of all NBA players go bankrupt within a few years of their careers, according to studies.
That too was historic. Forbes has been compiling the richest people in the world for decades. Never before had an active NBA player made it into this society – and anyway, the athletes who accumulate such wealth can be counted on one or two hands. The lists of those who squander all their money are much longer.
Antoine Walker, for example, had earned $108 million in his NBA career when he filed for personal bankruptcy in 2010. He explained his ruin by bragging rights, gambling addiction, greedy friends and criminal financial advisers. According to studies, around 60 percent of all NBA players go bankrupt within a few years of their career.
Reebok check for $10 million rejected
In the football league NFL, this proportion is said to be even higher. Examples from other sports are Mike Tyson and Boris Becker. But James, who never went to college, also cut a brilliant figure in the world of business.
One of his earliest and best decisions started with a rejection. In 2003 James was being courted by Adidas, Nike and Reebok. Reebok manager Steve Stoute landed the first date and made the teenager an offer he found irresistible. After flying James to Boston on a private jet, Stoute placed a check for $10 million on the conference table.
The money is independent of the contract that Reebok wanted to complete with James, Stout explained. It is a gesture of goodwill. James could cash the check immediately if he promised to cancel his appointments with Adidas and Nike.
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James, who had moved from one relative and neighbor to another a dozen times in the previous three years because his single mother couldn’t afford the rent, left the check behind. “You can’t think about the first check when you do stuff like that,” he later said. “Think of everyone.”
Advertising icon and social media star
James signed with Nike. After more than a decade of mutual business success, in 2015 he signed a contract that secured him tens of millions a year – for life. Nike sells collections with him as a trademark for a profit. Just like Michael Jordan, to this day.
James’ NBA salary at the time of the Nike deal was a good $20 million per season. He turned down an offer from McDonald’s that would have netted him an estimated $15 million over the next four years. Instead, James chose fast-growing pizza chain Blaze. Here he had invested a million dollars three years earlier, which had since grown to 25 million. James became a brand ambassador and received additional shares in return.
Today, LeBron Inc. is a household name. James knows how to convert the tremendous attention he receives as an athlete into his business activities. 27 million people follow him on Facebook, 52 million on Twitter and 144 million on Instagram.
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James is the founder of the SpringHill film production company, which is credited with the hit film Space Jam 2 and the award-winning documentary More Than a Game about James’ high school gaming career. SpringHill was valued at $725 million in the 2021 investor round.
More than
100
million dollars
has been spent by James on charitable causes in recent years.
“King James” is his nickname – and that’s how he lives. James built a $10 million mansion near his hometown of Akron, Ohio. In Los Angeles, he bought a $23 million mansion in 2017 and most recently a $37 million mansion in Beverly Hills. James intends to demolish it soon to build a new one. At the same time, he is a big donor: James has spent more than 100 million dollars for charitable purposes in recent years – he built an entire school in Akron.
James is still compared to Michael Jordan. Many NBA experts consider the older man to be the superior player, but no one to be the better citizen. James has often spoken out politically – especially because of police violence against people of his skin color.
Jordan, on the other hand, was once asked if he would support the US Democrats’ African-American Harvey Gantt against the notoriously racist Republican Jesse Helms. Jordan declined, saying, “Even Republicans buy sneakers.”
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