LeBron James in unquestionably one of the most successful athletes in the world. He’s earned millions upon millions of money throughout his basketball career, and is also one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet.
James has been a Nike client since entering the NBA in 2003, much to the knowledge of most fans. But what many fans likely don’t know is which apparel company James first met with as his career was first starting out:
Following from Craig Webb of ohio.com:
Before ever stepping foot on the NBA hardwood as a pro, LeBron James said on a digital series released Wednesday that the first real big financial decision of his life came in 2003 when he met with then-Reebok head Paul Fireman.
James recalls being flown to meet with Fireman and bringing along his longtime friend, business partner and fellow St. Vincent-St. Mary alumnus Maverick Carter for the endorsement meeting.
“Being, like, the first generational moneymaker in the household is a scary thing,” James recalled. “For an 18-year-old, I went from sitting in a classroom in May and graduating high school to being a multimillionaire a month later.”
But first he had an important decision to make in the Reebok boardroom in Massachusetts.
“It was one of the longest damn tables I have ever seen in my life,” he said. “I had no idea what he [Fireman] was doing on the other end of the table. I just saw him writing. He was talking. He had his head down. He was making sure he didn’t get anything wrong on that check.”
And when Freeman slid the check in front of James it had lots of zeros — seven to be exact.
James and his partner, Maverick Carter, were in a sudden shock of excitement and disbelief. They had just landed a $10 million offer for a high school player (a phenom, nonetheless). But James gave it some more thought, and eventually made the decision to seek even more money.
“I was lost for words at the beginning,” James said. “I mean [expletive]. I flew in from Akron, Ohio, from Spring Hill, from the projects. I mean our rent was like $17 a month and now I’m looking at a $10 million check and I had to go back to the classroom the very next day.
“I’m going to homeroom the next morning. Holy [expletive].”
Carter said he was not at a loss for words. He had one word in mind — YES!
“It was like, holy [expletive], we are sitting in this room and this [expletive] is real,” Carter said.
This is the second Kneading Dough episode in the digital series for Carter, who hosts it in partnership with James and Chase bank, in which athletes talk frankly about their finances. It’s part of Carter and James’ Uninterrupted digital entertainment venture.
“He wrote you a $10 million check in that room and you turned it down,” Carter recalled the fateful meeting. “I can’t think I would have turned it down. I think in the room I said, ‘let’s take this check and get the hell out here.’?”
But James said something clicked in his mind as he stared down at the check.
“If he is willing to give me a $10 million check right now,” James said, “what is it to say Nike or Adidas aren’t willing to give me 20 or 30 upfront?”
So he walked away from the table empty-handed and eventually signed with Nike prior to his rookie season. As of the end of last year, he’d earned somewhere in the area of at least $240 million over the years from the shoe giant.
LeBron James is one of the top faces of the Nike brand in the present day, and has now earned over $400 million during his playing career.
