‘LeBron James Completely Changed the NBA’- Us Soccer Star Megan Rapinoe Says Financial Security Helped LeBron to Achieve Greatness

Becoming a professional sports player in any sport is not easy. The amount of money a decently skilled sports person makes is more than a fortune. However, there are many athletes that fail to spend their money wisely.

Four-time NBA champion, LeBron James is certainly not one of them. Over the years, James has strategically invested his income in different streams. With the number of successful investments he has made to date, Forbes, in 2022, officially declared James a billionaire.

LeBron James is the only active NBA player to arrive at the 1 Billion club. The other name on the list is NBA Legend, Michael Jordan. However, Michael Jordan did not hit a billion right until 2014 i.e. ten years post his retirement from the sport.

Rapinoe believes LeBron James changed the NBA with his investments

American Soccer star, Megan Rapinoe recently spoke highly about the NBA star. On ‘The Limits’ podcast with Jay Williams, Rapinoe said, “The way that LeBron James completely changed the whole NBA, like if he’s only making a million or 2 million dollars, maybe he doesn’t put that on the line, but he was making all that and he saw a way bigger vision and he wanted to change that and he was able to do that because he was financially secure from the time he got drafted, he was able to take risks for himself…”

She continued, “Whether that’s investing in Mav or investing in Rich, not investing in the little term but investing in their vision of doing something different, it allows you to see things from a different perspective I think, than you do when you just don’t make any money…”.

James’ vast array of investments

James first inked his first deal with Nike in 2003. At the time, he was only 18 years old. Brands like Reebok and Adidas were also at the negotiating table with LeBron. However, LeBron chose Nike over all the others as felt it was a better long-term investment.

Since that day, James has never looked back. He’s signed jaw-breaking deals with brands like Walmart and Pepsico. To James’ good fortune, Nike re-approached him in 2015 with a lifetime contract. That lifetime contract with Nike now assures the basketball star tens of millions annually.

Read More: “WNBA Is Like Tall and Black and Everyone Thinks Everyone’s Gay”- Megan Rapinoe Says Americans Prefer Soccer

James has always dreamed of owning an NBA team. No doubt, he has been working on that dream for over a decade now. In 2011, James secured a minority stake with Fenway Sports Group who owns Liverpool F.C., an English Premier League soccer team.

Apart from that, James’ list of investments is diversified into many industries. He has his money invested in ‘The Spring Hill Company’ a video production company, Blake Pizza, and many other cash investments in products like ‘Beats by Dre’ in 2014 which was later sold to Apple.

 Watch this story: From Nike to Liverpool FC LeBron James Best Investments That Made Him a Billionaire

LeBron James is a living example of how everyone should spend their active and passive income, not only sportspersons. What part of LeBron inspires you the most? Let us know in the comments below.