LeBron James' business partner hints that lifetime Nike deal is worth $1B
Previous estimates on LeBron James' lifetime deal with Nike announced in December put the Cavaliers star's compensation in the range of $500 million to $1 billion.
In an interview with James' longtime business partner and childhood friend Maverick Carter that appears in the current issue of GQ Style Carter hints that the deal is indeed worth $1 billion:
We thank Kanye West for facilitating the disclosure.
Keep in mind Nike isn't writing James a Powerball-style check for a billion. It sounds as if he'll be collecting percentage of sales annually (like Michael Jordan), perhaps in combination with a fixed payment over a term of years.
Whether James' line of sneakers, already in their 13th iteration, will have the same steam as Jordan's after he hangs them up, we shall see. Sales of James' line were in the $400 million range in 2015 according to ESPN.
Nike may have been motivated in part to keep LeBron in the Nike family — where he's been since before he even entered the NBA — after losing Stephen (Stef-on) Curry to Under Armour in embarrassing fashion.
