31-year-old basketball player Lebron James is receiving a lot of blessings as his team, Cleveland Cavaliers, won the 2016 NBA Finals fulfilling his promise to his city and as he won his third time MVP award. On top of that, all those hard work pays off with, not only awards and recognition, but also an enormous amount of money.
Lebron did not get all his earnings from basketball. His genius allows him to lure top-tier sports brands and companies such as Nike, Coca- Cola, Samsung, and Kia.
According to Forbes, he is in the top three highest paid athletes with a salary of $23.2 million and another $54 million from endorsements which amounts to $77 million in total.
Celebrity Net Worth listed endorsement deals coming from dozens of companies and royalty payments as sources of Lebron's income. The most apparent endorsement is his deal with Nike which amounted to $20 million per year. His endorsements alone can make up half of his estimated net worth. Taking account of everything his net worth is roughly $340 million and his salary is roughly $70million per year.
According to Maverick Carter in an interview with GQ, Lebron's recent deal with Nike could rise up to a billion dollars. When asked to give figures, Maverick hesitated. GQ suggested Kanye's guess of a billion dollar figure made in the deal, to which he pointed his finger to the sky while smiling. Does that suggest a yes or that only God really knows?
Carter sayid, "Yeah. It's a fantastic deal. Nike feels great about the deal. That's the most important thing. As great as I feel, as great as LeBron feels—Nike feels fantastic about it. It's the largest deal in the history of the company. Their hope is he makes even more. And our hope is that, too, obviously."
With this, Lebron James could become the highest paid athlete of the world.
