Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is, of course, known best for his talent on the basketball court. However, he is also highly regarded as a brilliant businessman.
Since becoming a massive brand, James has managed to take his fame and the fortune that he’s made playing basketball and turn it into a business empire.
Perhaps that’s why he’s become the first active NBA player to reach a net worth of $1 billion. Forbes discussed the momentous occasion in a recent article.
“After another monster year of earnings–totaling $121.2 million last year–Forbes estimates that James has officially become a billionaire, while still playing hoops,” Chase Peterson-Withorn wrote.
“The 37-year-old superstar has a net worth of $1 billion, by Forbes’ count. James, who’s missing the playoffs for just the fourth time in 19 seasons, is the first active NBA player to make the billionaires list. (Michael Jordan, the only other basketball billionaire, didn’t hit ten figures until 2014, more than a decade after he retired, thanks to a well-timed investment in the Charlotte Hornets basketball team.)”
While it is just an estimate, it’s likely quite accurate. For James to go from incredibly humble beginnings to a billionaire by the age of 37 is downright miraculous. The incredible part is that he is likely just getting started. Though his NBA career is now nearing its later stages, his business career is just taking off.
Whenever James does decide to hang up his jersey for good, chances are solid that he will commit more of his time, energy and intellect into his many different business involvements. For that reason, his net worth is likely to only grow from here.
Until then, however, James is surely still focused primarily on improving as a player and teammate so that his Lakers can enjoy a resurgent season in the 2022-23 campaign.
