LeBron James Becomes The First Billionaire in U.S. Team Sports

 

The Billion Dollar Club now has one active member in U.S. professional team sports, and not surprisingly, it's Los Angeles Lakers—and Space Jam 2—superstar LeBron  James.

LeBron is 1st NBA star with $1 billion in career earnings--salary/endorsements--while still active. Next up among current players:

KD: $580 million
Curry: $430 million https://t.co/zrfncDk7Lf via @sportico

— Kurt Badenhausen (@kbadenhausen) July 22, 2021

Taking into account career salary plus endorsements, LeBron has become the first athlete in American professional team sports to break the billion-dollar mark in career earnings. 

In addition to his player contracts, which currently tops the $40 million a year mark, and about $330 million in total, add in his Nike deals and other endorsements, plus his new stage on the silver screen that all add up to over $700 mill, and that makes him the first member of the "three comma club", according to "sports valuations" reporter Kurt Badenhausen.

LeBron has many other income streams, including part-ownership of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC through the Fenway Sports Group.

The sports valuations report says that Kevin Durant and Steph Curry would be next in line to make it to the 9-zeros club, at $580 million and $430 million respectively. 

If you ever needed a good reason to have your kid play basketball early, there's a billion of them. 

Photo Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports