LeBron James was awarded a lifetime contract with Nike this week, worth somewhere in the vicinity of $60 million per year for as long as James has a breath in his body. To put that in perspective, that’s approximately a freak ton more than you will ever make in your lifetime. While it may be impossible to comprehend that, even I hate to admit that James’ ridiculous work ethic at making himself the most marketable athlete on the planet made him deserving of that type of reward from a sports giant.
James may never be as popular as Michael Jordan. Jordan sort of became more of a myth due to the generation he played in. There was no social media, if you didn’t see the game, or have the luxury of having cable, you only heard second hand about the greatest basketball player ever. While James has played in the social media explosion of our world where every single play and word has been dissected with intense scrutiny, basically since James was 16 years old.
And that’s what makes his marketability the most impressive, is that despite living underneath a microscope for majority of his life, he’s been able to navigate himself to this point while being able to survive even “The Decision.”
Congrats, LeBron. Any chance you’d like to take a little off the top so The Guys don’t have to work again, either?