LeBron Raymone James Sr. is an American basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association.
He is also known by his nickname “King James.” He is regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA and is also compared with Michael Jordan in discussions on the greatest basketball player ever.
What Is the Net Worth of LeBron James?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, LeBron James has an estimated net worth of $500 million. Reportedly, he is the sixth highest-paid player in the NBA in respect of salary alone at the time of writing this piece. James’ base salary is $41.1 million annually.
Apart from sports, James earns over $50 million each year just from endorsements alone and also has a $1 billion lifetime contract with Nike.
Early Life
James was born in Akron, Ohio, on 30 December 1984. His mother Gloria Marie James gave him birth just at the age of 16. His father Anthony McClelland has a vast criminal record and wasn’t engaged in his life.
His family has faced immense struggle when he was growing up since they relocated from apartment to apartment in the seedier neighborhoods of Akron whilst his mother struggled a lot to get sustainable work.
As his mother considered that it would be better for her son to stay in a more stable family environment, she gave him permission to shift in with Frank Walker’s family who was a local youth football coach and was the one who first introduced James to basketball at the age of 9.
When he was in the fifth grade, he started to play organized basketball. Later he played Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball for the Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars. The team gained victory on a local and national level, headed by James as well as his friends Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton, and Willie McGee.
The team used to call themselves the “Fab Four” and made a promise to each other that they would go to high school together. In a step that led to local controversy, the group decided to go to St. Vincent-St. Mary High School is a private Catholic school where the majority of the students were white.
Personal Life
On September 14, 2013, James got married to his high school girlfriend Savannah Brinson, in San Diego, California. The couple has three children together: two sons named Bronny and Bryce, and a daughter named Zhuri.
He used to stay in Coconut Grove during his stint with the Heat, where he acquired a three-story mansion overpassing Biscayne Bay for $9 million.
He acquired a 9,350 square-foot East Coast-style mansion in Brentwood, Los Angeles for nearly $21 million in November 2015. In December 2017, He bought another home in Brentwood, Los Angeles for an amount of $23 million.
In 2009, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic spotted a growth in the right side of his jaw and later biopsy results revealed that James had a benign jaw tumor, particularly in his parotid gland, which needed a five-hour surgery in order to remove in early June following the Cavaliers’ run end in the 2009 NBA playoffs.
In a 2009 interview with journalist Steve Kroft, James called Kobe Bryant the best player in the NBA during that time. He opened up with the media in 2015 regarding his guilt for not playing in the 2009 NBA Finals against Bryant.
He said, “I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain in 2009 for the fans, for us, to meet in the Finals. I know the world wanted to see it. I wanted it, we wanted it. He held up his end and I didn’t hold up my end, and I hate that. I hate that that didn’t happen.”
He saved fellow basketball player Carmelo Anthony from the water through a boating excursion in the Bahamas with Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul when Anthony was dragged off from the boat due to the current. In March 2020, Anthony explained the event during an Instagram Live session.
James is very attentive to his health and invests a lot in it. According to reports, he spent $1.5 million per year on payments to personal chefs and trainers, and also physical therapies for recovery.
He is very dedicated to his exercise regimen and dietary habits and even some consider him unusual for a top athlete. Tristan Thompson said that James has desserts after every meal, and Kyle Korver states that James’ fitness regime is unparalleled.
Career
James gained victory in four NBA championships, four NBA Finals MVP awards, won four NBA MVP awards, two Olympic gold medals, and three All-Star MVP awards. He has achieved the maximum points in the playoffs, the second-highest career points, and also has the 7th highest career assists.
For 18 times, he has been selected as an NBA All-Star as well as a record 17 times to the All-NBA Team, and five times to the NBA All-Defensive First Team.
He has played in 10 NBA Finals which is the third-most all-time, along with 8 consecutively during the period between 2011 and 2018. Last year, He was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
He also has played basketball in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, for St. Vincent-St. Mary High School and the national media extremely proclaimed him as a future NBA superstar.
In the 2003 NBA draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers selected James with the first overall pick. He was also named the 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year.
In 2009 and 2010, after he won the NBA MVP Award, he established himself as one of the premier players in the league.
After James failed to win a championship with Cleveland, he took an exit in 2010 as a free agent to join the Miami Heat, and the announcement for this was made in the television special The Decision and is amongst the most controversial free-agent decisions in the history of sports.
In 2012 and 2013, he won his initial 2 NBA championships when was playing for the Heat and both the years also brought him the league MVP and Finals MVP. In 2014, following his fourth season with the Heat, he turned down his contract so that he could re-sign with the Cavaliers.
In the NBA Finals, James led the Cavaliers and won against the Golden State Warriors in 2016 and gave the first championship of the team which put an end to the Cleveland sports curse.
Later, he opted out of his contract with the Cavaliers in 2018 and signed with the Lakers, and there he gained victory in the 2020 NBA championship and his fourth Finals MVP. He is also the first player in the history of the NBA who earned $1 billion as an active player.
Apart from sports, he has earned even more wealth and reputation with many endorsement deals. He has appeared in books, biopics along with receiving 2 Sports Emmy Awards as an executive producer, and TV commercials.
He took home nineteen ESPY Awards, served as host at Saturday Night Live, and also appeared in the 2021 sports film titled Space Jam: A New Legacy. Since 2011, he partially owns Liverpool F.C. and runs the LeBron James Family Foundation, which has founded an elementary school, retail plaza, housing complex, and community center in Akron.
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