LeBron James: King of the court

24:21Because John Lucas, who coached Cleveland in their losing season before the draft, later claimed that the Cavs tanked were bad on purpose. They deliberately made themselves the worst team in the league so they would go to the top of the list and pick the players and secure LeBron James. According to him, they traded out their best players, they sold them, they brought in injured ones, they made sure to only play the least experienced guys. And the team's majority owner at the time, a guy called Gordon Gunn, denied it, but Cleveland's general manager, Jim Paxson, later admitted, was it a plan to get LeBron?

24:55No. So was it a plan to step back and try for a difference maker at the top of the draft? Absolutely. Yeah. And actually, this kind of thing is a bit of an open secret in the NBA. You know, it's called tanking. So teams lose on purpose to secure the top draft picks. And, you know, obviously it's not how it's meant to work. So the league has tried to crack down on it. But, you know, let's say that can be tricky. Yeah. How do you prove it? How do you prove it? Like, oh, this guy just seems a little bit off his game. You guys suck intentionally. Yeah. So either way, Cleveland got the big star player, LeBron James, was theirs.

25:27And almost instantly, he starts delivering on the court. In his very first NBA game, he sets a record for the most points scored by a high school to pro rookie. By the end of the first season, he's rookie of the year. By 2005, he's an NBA all-star. That's basically you pick the best players from each of the teams and make up an all-star team. And he hasn't missed an all-star game ever since then. So that's almost 20 years running. And it wasn't just personal success. So LeBron basically transforms the Cavs. By 2006, he leads them to their first ever playoff appearance since 1998. And they rack up 50 wins that season.

26:04But there is a problem. Cleveland had a reputation for choking in the big games. And in 2006, they fall short. They lose the Detroit Pistons in the semifinals. Oh, and about LeBron's paycheck just to bring it back to the money. So for the first few seasons, LeBron's salary isn't widely listed, but by 2005, 2006, he's earning$4.6 million, which is solid, except, of course, when you compare it to the highest paid player that year, Shaquille O 'Neal, Shaq for short, who's pulling in$20 million with the Miami Heat. But LeBron is about to turbocharge that income with some off-court moves. Yes, right after signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he locks in a$12 million deal with Coca-Cola.

26:46In 2007, he launched Spring Hill Entertainment, named, remember, after the housing project where he grew up. The logo was a nod to the apartment buildings he once called home. And Spring Hill's first big project, More Than a Game, a documentary about LeBron and his fab four teammates. And behind the scenes, there was Maverick Carter. What a great name. Maverick Carter, LeBron's childhood friend and business brain. Now, Carter started out as a Nike intern. So he learned the tricks of the trade, the power of storytelling and branding. Really, Nike was at the top of its game for this at the time before he quit to become LeBron's business manager.

27:21And the pair together would build a global empire. I'm going to change my name to Maverick Carter. I think I'd be more successful on radio and television. And now the news with Maverick Carter. It also sounds sort of faintly like something from an 80s sci-fi film. It totally does. It sounds like a Tom Cruise film for sure. But let's go back to the court. LeBron finally gets his MVP. That's most valuable player for the season in 2009. That's the first time that's ever happened for someone from the Cleveland Cavaliers. He won it again in 2010 and Cleveland bumps his salary to nearly$16 million a year.

27:54But there is a problem, even though that is big money. There's no championship. LeBron's seven contracted seasons are up and now he is a free agent. So obviously the Cavs want him back, but also five other teams are making their pitch. So what does LeBron do? He turns his announcement into a live ESPN, there's a sports channel in the US, TV special called The Decision. On the 8th of July, 2010, fans tuned in to find out the answer to one question. Where will LeBron James play next season? He looks down. This is very tough. And then finally, this fall, I'm taking my talents to South Beach. That's for the Miami Heat.

28:34Quite interesting, the decision to televise this. Really, it's not a million miles away from wrestling. Yeah. Well, I remember that we've got a couple of other things. Tiger Woods at one point gave a live press conference. Woods off the scandal of what had happened to him. They interrupted news programmes there. It's not unprecedented, but LeBron James was, remember, the heir to Michael Jordan. And people wanted a hero like that. They really wanted someone to have that kind of presence. But, you know, understandably, turning us back on the hometown team did not go down well. You know, Cleveland lost its mind on the 11 o 'clock news.

29:10A local anchor called it a betrayal. There were fans burning his jersey in the streets. Police had to be posted outside LeBron's house for his own safety. Yeah, you've got to love sports fans. They're so reasonable. They're well known for their sensible cool heads. The Cavs, the owner of the Cavs, Dan Gilbert, writes an open letter calling a shameful display of selfishness and promises that Cleveland would win a championship before LeBron ever did. Even NBA legends Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan criticise him, saying he should have fought for a title in Cleveland, not joined his rivals. That's probably going to hurt more than anything, actually.

29:44Yeah, given that he was positioned as the heir to Jordan. So LeBron obviously doesn't take this well. He feels it really hard. He said, I went from being the chosen one to the villain. It didn't feel good. I was still living in Ohio. You could feel it. I can imagine, you know, if you went down to a supermarket, you get a few dirty looks. For sure. But despite all this backlash, LeBron gets exactly what it was he wanted, which is victory. Miami Heat wins back-to-back NBA titles in 2012 and 2013. LeBron, the MVP, most valuable player in the finals both years. And in 2013, Miami goes on a 27-game winning streak, which is the second longest in NBA history.

30:22And off the court, the money keeps rolling in. So LeBron renews his$4 million a year deal with McDonald's. He makes his first investment in Blaze Pizza, a tiny fast-fired pizza chain in Atlanta. And then in 2013, he marries his high school sweetheart Savannah in San Diego, California. You know, a casual low-key affair with a performance by Jay-Z and Beyonce at the reception. Of course, they play crazy in love. Yes, and that Miami heat, that heat is beginning to cool down. By 2014, that streak of winning is over. They've dried up and you already know what LeBron's thinking is time to make a move.

30:59So there's a big homecoming for the king himself. In 2014, he returns to the Cleveland Cavaliers with no flashy TV specials, just a heartfelt interview for Sports Illustrated, where he explained, when I left, I was on a mission to win championships, and we did, but Miami already knew that feeling. Cleveland hasn't felt that in a long, long, long time. My goal, bring one back to Northeast Ohio. I love this. Storytelling. Storytelling. You can imagine him and his old friend Maverick kind of slapping each other on the back. Oh, a nice one. Yeah, this is a perfect story arc is just getting better and better and better.

31:36But being the star he is, he delivers. He takes Cleveland to the finals in 2015, but they lose to Golden State. So a crushing loss. But, you know, in terms of the finances, his paycheck is now$20.64 million, which makes him the sixth highest paid player in the league. I think that's pretty weird that he's only the sixth highest paid player, actually. Anyway, 2015 was a big year for business too, off-court business. LeBron and Maverick Carter launched a marketing agency called Robot Co. And then he makes a gamble. He walks away from McDonald's. He turns down$14,$15 million a year more to bet on Blaze Pizza.

32:15Now, you could argue that McDonald's is a bigger name than LeBron James, whereas LeBron James is a bigger name than Blaze Pizza. So he's clearly thinking that, like a lot of our stars, They realised that being a small part of a massive organisation is not as lucrative as being the owner. It's a bit like Oprah Winfrey was getting well paid, but she wanted to own the studio which produced her own show. And they ran the numbers. If they became franchise owners, they could make more than McDonald's was offering. And LeBron loved the idea of building something from scratch. And again, in professional sports, whenever there's a player strike or whatever, it's always the millionaires, the players versus the billionaires.

32:55The billionaires are the owners. The team owners. The team owners, exactly. And you know what? It actually worked. So by 2017, Blaze Pizza was the fastest growing restaurant chain in US history. It expanded from two locations to 200 in just four years. And his media platform, Uninterrupted, also got a$16 million boost from Warner Brothers and Turner Sports, which made it a major player in sports storytelling. So he's got all these kind of fingers in different business pies. Reminds me of Jay-Z as well, you know. But the biggest deal of that year, of 2015, was a record-breaking one. Nike offered LeBron a reported$1 billion lifetime deal, showing the brand sees value well beyond his playing career.

33:38And as we've seen from Jordan, that is possible. The exact figures are kept private, but Maverick Carter hinted it's more than a billion dollars. Lifetime deals like this are very rare. This is thought to be Nike's first ever official one. Only a few athletes actually land these kind of big money deals. So, you know, footballer David Beckham got it with Adidas. Basketball player Allen Iverson got it with Reebok. And the question, of course, is did it pay off for Nike? Well, at the time, Nike's annual sales were 10.3 billion. After the deal with LeBron, they shot up to 30.6 billion dollars. That's a crazy increase.

34:12I know. I mean, could you attribute that all to LeBron? It'd be hard to do that, but I mean, he's clearly a big part of it. In 2015, LeBron finally becomes the highest paid player in the NBA, not before time, I would say, with a salary of$31 million. In 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers won the NBA Finals. LeBron was named Finals MVP. The following year, however, the Golden State Warriors defeated the Cavs in the Finals. And remember, LeBron is a man who does not like to lose. So you may already be guessing what comes next. Yes, he gets itchy feet, LeBron, doesn't he? because in 2018, LeBron signed a four-year,$153 million contract with the LA Lakers, even though he previously said he always believed he would return to Cleveland to finish his career.

34:58So even though Stephen Curry became the highest paid player that year, LeBron still earned$36 million in his first season with the Lakers. And that same year, he became the youngest player to score 30 ,000 career points surpassing Kobe Bryant or undershooting age-wise Kobe Bryant. So in 2020, the Lakers won the NBA finals. They defeated the Miami Heat. That's his old team, remember? And LeBron was named finals MVP for the fourth time. And that remains his most recent finals MVP as of now. But his career is actually far from over. Yes. Remember, LeBron is 35 years old when he wins that NBA championship.

35:36So pretty old for a top level sports player. Average retirement age in the NBA is just 28. So it makes sense that he's already been to future-proof financially his career. In 2020, he merged his company Spring Hill Entertainment, Uninterrupted, and Robot Co. to found Spring Hill Co., which is a development and production company with Maverick Carter. They raised$100 million from outside investors to get it off the ground. And investors quickly jump on board. So Guggenheim Partners, Elizabeth Murdoch's, that's Rupert Murdoch's daughter, her production company's sister is in, Stacey Snyder, Jane Featherstone, even Serena Williams joined the board.

36:13So really a kind of almost like an MVP list of people you'd want to get money from if you were launching a production company. Sport, investing and show business royalty there. Spring Hill Co. gets a glowing write-up in Bloomberg, the financial news service. It described it as, this is quite good I think, part Disney storytelling power, part Nike coolness and part Patagonia social impact. They focus on sports-themed projects like a 2019 documentary about Muhammad Ali and the 2021 sequel to Space Jam that features in our Michael Jordan episode with LeBron stepping into the shoes of his old icon.

36:49They also produce shows like Self Made about black hair care mogul Madam C.J. Walker. And a year later, LeBron sold a minority stake in Spring Hill to investors, the company who's valued at that point at$725 million. Among the new backers, Redbird Capital, Fenway Sports Group, Nike and Epic Games. LeBron, who serves as chairman, Carter as CEO, they retain a controlling interest. LeBron is still the company's largest single shareholder, although we think he's got less than 50%. And then in 2021, LeBron makes a business move that mirrors his basketball career. He jumps ship for a rival team. He leaves Coca-Cola for Pepsi to promote Mountain Dew.

37:30And the exact sum was not disclosed, but you can bet it was a lot of money. Do you think it wasn't about the money? I just like the long-term vision of Mountain Dew. I, yeah, I've never actually drunk Mountain Dew. What? What even does it taste like? It's kind of like a kind of... Sprite? It is unusual. It's different from anything. It's not like Sprite, no. Anyway, all these ventures drive LeBron's wealth skyward. By 2022, Forbes declares him a billionaire. They estimate his net worth at$1.2 billion. Of that,$385 million comes from basketball, while the rest, over 900 million, come from endorsements and business ventures that we have just been discussing.

38:10Now, his largest earner is Spring Hill Coal. Now, that rakes in an estimated 300 million. He's also pocketing 90 million from his stake in Fenway Sports Group, 80 million in real estate, 30 million from Blaze Pizza and over 500 million from other investments like Beats by Dre and Beachbody. And LeBron has been dreaming of billionaire status for years. In 2014, he told GQ, if it happens, it's my biggest milestone. Obviously, I want to maximise my business. And if I happen to get it, hip, hip, hooray. Oh, my God, he says, I'm going to be excited.

38:54So let's take a beat here. LeBron James, officially a billionaire. and it seems like he actually likes the business bit more than the basketball bit. I don't remember many of our billionaires sort of having billionaire status as the target. It sort of happened along the way. The friends were the billions we made along the way. But he clearly had this kind of figure in mind. So he's our kind of billionaire because, you know, this threshold matters to him. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because it seems like even from a very young age, who I was already thinking with a business hat on. Yeah, for sure.

39:29So let's take LeBron to beyond a billion. So in 2024, LeBron James fulfilled a long-time ambition by playing alongside his 20-year-old son, LeBron James Jr., aka Bronny. So they actually become, this is quite sweet, the NBA's first ever father-son duo. I can't think of that happening in any other sport. Maybe it has. I'm sure people will get in touch with it if they have. Quite weird too. Yeah, I mean, you wouldn't expect to see Beckham's son playing alongside Beckham. Although maybe, you know, I'm sure that has been mooted to them in the past. Yeah, but not everything has been smooth sailing.

40:02No. So Bronny hasn't exactly wowed the crowds with his performances. So they've been sparking accusations of nepotism, you know, neeple baby, that's a term you hear hurled around all the time nowadays. Opposing crowds, and this is quite cruel, I think, have even mocked him. They've begged the Lakers coach to put him on. And this has all understandably triggered a rather protective side to his dad. LeBron actually got into a courtside argument with an ESPN commentator after he criticised Bronny. And according to his son, LeBron swore at the commentator telling him to stop messing with his son. The whole incident was filmed by fans.

40:36It got quite ugly. Yeah, I love the idea of the opposition fans begging them to bring him on, because this happens in football, in soccer, where basically if you're trying to taunt a really good side, you say, can we play you every week? They start singing that, which I love as a put down, can we play you every week? You have to give it to sports fans. They can be very creative. Creative, cruel and hilarious sometimes. Meanwhile, Spring Hill, the company, made waves in November 2024 with its merger with Fullwell 73. This is the British production company behind Carpool Karaoke and live events like the Grammy Awards and backed by big investors like Fenway Sports Group, who, by the way, own my team, Liverpool FC.

41:17And I understand LeBron James is a big Liverpool fan. I'm not going to let that influence my judgment whether he's good, bad or just another billionaire, but just saying. Redbird Capital Partners, Nike and Epic Games have some big names. The deal didn't involve any immediate financial exchanges, but existing shareholders are putting in an extra$40 million into some new growth initiatives. As of now, the merge company doesn't even have a name. And then on December 30th, 2024, LeBron James turned 40 years old. He actually became the first NBA player in history to play professionally in his teens, 20s, 30s and 40s.

41:54So that is four decades worth of being on the court. Amazing. And at 40, he's well beyond the average NBA retirement age of 28. But he's not ready to ride off into sunset just yet. On his birthday, he mentioned he could keep playing for another five to seven years, although he has hinted he might retire sooner, adding he hopes to finish his career with the LA Lakers. But the clock's ticking. You know, LeBron's been battling injuries recently. So maybe, just maybe retirement is closer than we think. Although playing into your late 40s for the NBA is quite the achievement. Yeah, it's a very, very high intense physical game.

42:30And also he says he hopes to finish his career with the Lakers. He said that about 10 years ago, didn't he, with the Cavs. So who knows, maybe he's got one more move left in him. A few more years to jump ship back to the Cavs. But congratulations for being the only active NBA player ever to be a billionaire.

42:50And now we're going to have a look and rate him out of a few categories, which we like to do at the end of these shows. Yes. So we usually score our billionaires from zero to 10 on a number of categories, including, you know, wealth, villainy, whether they give back, how much power they have. So let's start with the first category, wealth. So how rich is LeBron James? Well, he owns at least three properties together worth around$80 million. Got that$2 million Akron House bought at$18 million. That was later torn down, by the way, to build a 30 ,000 square foot mansion featuring a recording studio, a movie theatre, aquarium, barbershop, bowling alley, sports bar and two-story walk-in closet.

43:28I mean, it doesn't sound like a mansion. It sounds like a small town. A big hotel or a small town, yes. I mean, he's big into property. There was also a Beverly Hills mansion that he bought for$37 million. That has ocean views, two guest houses, movie theatre, tennis court. You know, he knows how to spend money. Yeah, he's also got an eight bedroom estate in Brentwood, LA for$23 million. I feel like an estate agent here. Yeah, he does own quite a lot of houses, but he also owns cars. He compares it to his wife's collection of handbags. So he's got Rolls Royce, Porsche, Bentleys, Lamborghinis. You know, he is living the life of a billionaire.

44:04And he's got some hobbies. He competes in something called the UIM E1 World Championship, which is the world's first all-electric racing boat championship. He invested in his own electric race boat team in 2025. Other famous investors include Tom Brady, big American football star, Will Smith, needs no introduction, Rafael Nadal, Virat Kohli, Indian cricketer, and Mark Antony, who I think is a singer. Am I right? Yes, he is a singer. A few. And LeBron, he wants to own his own NBA team at some point. Yeah, he's already an investor, as we say, in Fenway Sports Group, which owns stakes in basketball, football and hockey teams.

44:39But of course, wealth isn't just about how much money they have and how they like to spend it. We also talk about their journey to earning a billion and beyond. How far have they come from where they started? And he's come quite a way. Miles. I mean, he definitely scores pretty highly here. Remember, he talks about drugs, killings, gangland, whatever they were living in. the projects. Even when they moved up a gear, they were still living in the place where people called the bottom. Yeah, his mum's home life was so unstable at one point she just gave him up. Yeah. He didn't know his biological father.

45:12The stand-in father was in and out of jail. So a very tough upbringing for him. So I think I'm going to give him a high score for this. I'm going to give him a solid seven for this. I think I would go a bit higher and give him an eight because we haven't had that many billionaires who've come from truly quite modest, humble beginnings. Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey was one of them. Jay-Z was another one of them. You know, I think the figure's probably in single digits by now. Okay. All right. Seven from me, eight from you. Villainy, this is when we sort of say what sharp moves have they made? Where have they sort of pushed the boundaries a little bit?

45:48He does have a habit of jumping ship every time a team starts losing. Yes, exactly. I mean, loyalty is not something. If there was a loyalty category, I'd be giving him a very low score. But, you know, in terms of sporting ruthlessness, you know, some people would say that is the right thing to do. You can't hitch your wagon to a losing team. Sometimes you've got to make that move. And also there's always the money. But understandably, the fans are not always happy with that because, you know, if you're coming from a fan perspective, you think you want someone who puts the graft in, who works with the team to make them better.

46:18You know, LeBron was described as immature, disrespectful, bossy, difficult to work with by some critics after that big decision kind of TV special where he decided to jump ship. Yeah. And also with commercial partnerships, there's been a few criticisms, for example, not being critical of China's human rights record. He has been known as a pretty vocal advocate for human rights issues in the US. But China is a key market for the NBA and for sellers of basketball related products like Nike, like other stars, his commitments would both see lebron traveling to the country pretty regularly and you know i think a lot of um sports stars would say some of this is above their pay grade even though they are paid phenomenal amounts of money you know nike is the number one sporting label in the world and counts countless sports stars among its roster of indoor seas so i don't think he can be singled out for that particularly so for villainy i'm going to give him one maybe if i was a calves fan i'd be pretty annoyed I mean, I would agree.

47:20So, you know, one out of 10, I'm sure if you are a fan of one of the teams that LeBron jumped ship from in search of greater teams, you'll probably disagree with that. If you were one of the people who was burning his shirt after he left for the Miami Heat, you would be giving him a 10. But we're going to give him one. Giving back, this is their sort of philanthropy, their kind of helping people. Yeah, so he's launched the LeBron James Family Foundation. They focus on education, co-curricular initiatives with young people. They've helped around 1 ,600 students and their families in his hometown in Ohio.

47:54They do seem to do kind of a lot of outreach in his local neighbourhood. So, you know, they support third graders at risk of falling behind in schools. They've provided families with need of safe, stable shelter. You know, they've opened a kind of housing initiative with 50 affordable apartments for families on the programme. You know, he seems very, I guess he gives back to the local community. He opened his first elementary school in 2018 and pledged over$40 million to help students attend college. So, you know, real grassroots stuff rather than big gesture, kind of, you know, giving pledge Warren Buffett style.

48:29I think that's pretty OK, tossing this all up. I'm guessing something around 100 million maybe, which out of 1.2 billion, pretty good. Yeah, it's not that bad. So I think, you know, I would score him quite highly. So maybe seven out of 10. Yeah, maybe I'll go with seven as well. So giving back seven. And then we have power. Interesting one with sports stars. This one is quite hard to quantify. Yes, exactly. Because, you know, LeBron has come out in support of specific politicians. He Clinton in 2016, Biden-Harris in 2020. You know, he's actually been very vocal about Trump. He's criticised Trump's use of sports to divide.

49:08And he actually also in 2024 told his followers on Exit to vote for Kamala Harris. He's actually, unlike a lot of billionaires, actually endorsed politicians. Yeah, and he's got into spats with Donald Trump. And they've exchanged insults on Twitter in the past. He's also been a figurehead in 2020's more than a vote movement, which stressed the need for people, particularly black people, to vote to fight disenfranchisement. Yeah, he consistently speaks out on issues like police violence, racial injustice. He honoured Trayvon Martin in 2012. Trayvon was, of course, the young man fatally shot by a neighbourhood watch captain.

49:42He had a hoodie out commemorating Trayvon. In 2014, he wore I Can't Breathe t-shirts of the Cavaliers. So power, I mean, it's difficult, isn't it? I mean, hugely inspirational, a great hero to many people. He's becoming quite a big noise in the sports world and with ownership stakes as well as his playing record. But I still wouldn't give him a lot in terms of power. Well, it's interesting because I think if this was pre 2024 US election, I would have said celebrity endorsements are really important in politics. And then you get the 2024 election and Kamala Harris had so many people line up behind her.

50:22And, you know, Trump had a few country stars, some people that probably if you weren't in the States, you wouldn't know the names of. And he still won. So I think I would actually kind of score him lower than I would have done maybe two years ago. I agree. I agree. I'm going to give him a two for power. Yeah, I'm going to give him three. Okay. Three out of 10. Okay. And so we have to decide if we think and we're interested in what you think, whether he's good bad or just another billionaire um listen i'm a huge sports fan so i think sports heroes are great generally speaking i like them but that doesn't um weigh on their merit or morality or whatever so i'm going to say lebron james is just another billionaire i mean i am not a sports fan i feel like i almost shouldn't weigh in on this because i don't follow basketball at all i'm sure people listening in may have very strong opinions on lebron james okay so for me he is just another billionaire.

51:16So that's it for this episode. That's the slam dunk. We're over. Yeah, we've decided we're each other's MVPs.

51:29So who have we got next episode? Mining magnate, playboy, man who attended meetings being wheeled in on a gurney attached to a drip with a sports car in his living room. Who is this incredible person? He was at one point Brazil's richest man, the Brazilian, our excellence. And seventh richest person in the whole world. He said he wanted to unseat Bill Gates, who at that time was the richest man in the world. Didn't quite get there, but pretty close. Yeah, he did get pretty close and he did uncover a lot of gold while doing it. That is Aiki Batista. Listen out for him on the new episode of Good Bad Billionaire.

52:07Take a moment to share your thoughts by sending a text, voice note or WhatsApp to plus one nine one seven six eight six one one seven six. Or you can send us an email to goodbadbillionaire at bbc.com. You can find both linked below in the episode description. Thanks for joining us. You've been listening to Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. This episode was produced by Louise Morris. Our researcher was Annie Rose Harrison Dunn and our editor Paul Smith.

53:02Transcription by CastingWords your expenses? Yes, and self-defense classes are out of policy. I'll need self-defense classes? You will. For what? It's a big dog. SAP Concur helps your business move forward faster. Learn more at concur.com