LeBron James
According to Forbes, LeBron James takes the spot as the second highest-paid black athlete in the world with an estimated net worth of 119.5 million. His total earnings comprised $44.5 million in on-field earnings and $75 million in off-field earnings.
James is a basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the first NBA player to become a billionaire with a total net worth of $1 billion as of 23/01/2023. The 38-year-old athlete has sponsorship deals with 2K Sports, AT&T, Beats Electronics, Blaze, Pizza PepsiCo, Walmart, Calm, CRYPTO.com, GMC, Nike, and RIMOWA.
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Born on December 30, 1984, in Akron, Ohio, James started playing basketball since infancy. Basketball soon became a way of life for him, and he excelled when he joined his elementary school basketball team.
At St Vincent-St Mary high school, James became the youngest person ever to join the USA Today All-USA First Team and was later named the Gatorade National Player of the Year.
While in high school, he was tipped as the next big thing in the NBA as he began to appear on the cover of “SLAM” magazine and Sports Illustrated. Therefore, it is not much of a surprise that he is one of the biggest stars in the NBA, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
The four-time NBA champion is also behind TV and movie studio, SpringHill Entertainment, which helped produce “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” a movie he starred in, which earned $163 million in box office receipts worldwide.
He also has endorsement deals from companies such as McDonald’s, Microsoft, State Farm, Beats by Dre, Coca-Cola, Dunkin-Donuts, Baskin Robbins, Samsung, and Nike. James has a 1% stake in Beats by Dre; he made at least $1 million in royalties, and when the company was sold to Apple, he got a cut of $30 million.
In 2003, he entered the NBA draft and became the first pick of his hometown team, the Cleveland Cavaliers. He earned $1.4 billion over four years. Following the expiration of his contract, he signed a three-year $60 million extension with the Cavs before the 2007-2008 season. The contract extension upped his annual salary from $5.8 million to $15.8 million for the 2009-2010 season.
In 2011, he announced his decision to join the Miami Heat in a dramatic broadcast that reportedly generated some $6 million for charity. At Miami, he took $110 million over six years. He returned to Cleveland ahead of the 2014-2015 season after four years with The Heat. Upon his return, he signed a one-year contract and extended it to three years after winning the NBA championship in 2015. The three-year contract extension reportedly fetched him $100 million, making him the highest-paid player in the NBA for the first time in his career.
Prior to the 2018/19 season, he made another switch to the Lakers from Cavs. The deal was worth $153 million with an annual salary of $38 million over four years. In 2020, LeBron and the Lakers announced a two-year $85 million contract extension, which will see him earn $42.5 million per year.
In his first 10 seasons in the NBA, James earned over $126 million in salary and $326 million from endorsements, thus taking his total earnings within the period to $452 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth.
