Lebron James Net Worth – The King of Sports! If you are wondering how much the Cleveland Cavaliers star is worth, you will want to dig a little further. His estimated net worth of 485 million dollars places him in the top echelon of most high rollers in the National Basketball League. Yes, Mr. James is on his way to playing in the Hall of Fame and becoming a permanent fixture in the history books. The question, of course, is how long can he stay on top?
It appears as if Lebron James has already established himself in the top echelon of NBA basketball players with his recent championship run in Miami. He is now the lone remaining candidate for the league’s Most Valuable Player award. There is no doubt that he deserves this honor considering all he has achieved as a premier player for the Cavaliers. However, will he ever reach the heights of David Stern and Walt Frazier in terms of total earnings from sports-related earnings?
It is true that Lebron James’ earnings from sports endorsements are not anywhere near the amounts of Wilt Chamberlain or Magic Johnson. However, these professional basketball players also have to worry about endorsement deals after retirement. In most cases, they receive six-figure salaries just to continue playing at an elite level in the NBA. Lebron James may have to accept a lower pay cut to stay in the top echelon of professional basketball players, but it is not out of the question that he could surpass these other players over the course of time. How long will it take for him to achieve such lofty earnings in professional basketball?
If Lebron James was to play another season in the NBA, he would certainly reach the level of Wilt Chamberlain in terms of earnings. Chamberlain had to retire in 1980 after playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers for the previous three seasons. During his time in the NBA, he earned a salary of almost forty million dollars, which is close to half a billion dollars in today’s dollars. Considering that he played for several years, he should be in the company of Michael Jordan, although he probably did not earn as much as the Chicago Bulls legend did.
The question then becomes, how long will Lebron James continue to be a top-notch, American professional basketball player? Will, he still be in the league next year, or will he decide to call it quits after this season? His answer to the latter question should provide the readers with some insight as to how long he plans to be in the NBA. His answer to the question of how much he is worth could very well determine if he earns as much as Chamberlain did.
If Lebron James is worth the amount of six million dollars that he is currently earning, he would have to earn another six million dollars in the next ten seasons in order to equal Chamberlain’s total annual income. Assuming that he plays the same number of seasons that Chamberlain did, that would mean that he will make about forty times what Chamberlain made in his first ten seasons in the NBA. That may not seem like a huge difference, but when you consider how much in endorsements deals and such that he is earning, it really adds up. Lebron James is being paid about one hundred grand a year just from receiving Nike’s advertisements alone. Compare that to Chamberlain who was being paid about seventy grand a year, and you start to see a huge disparity in earnings.
How does Lebron James stack up against other athletes in the world of sports, especially those who have been paid millions of dollars in endorsement deals during their careers? At the time of this writing, Lebron James was being paid about thirty-five million dollars a year in royalties alone. That is right, he was being paid off three times what Chamberlain was being paid at the time. Obviously, Lebron James has managed to squeak out ahead of many other professional athletes simply due to his massive popularity, but is that enough?
The real key to Lebron James’ success is his ability to leverage his fame and his net worth to create multiple streams of income. By having several different ways to generate income, including but not limited to playing basketball, signing multiple endorsement deals, and earning royalty payments, Lebron James is far beyond just another basketball star. He is a true business person, someone who not only sees his success as something that can be duplicated for him but also as something that will set him apart from everyone else in the field of professional sports. If you want to break into the world of professional sports, consider taking Lebron James as your mentor and using his system to create multiple streams of income while enjoying your own set of unique circumstances.
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