It’s no secret that, at least for right now, LeBron James is the biggest global superstar in basketball. Up until Stephen Curry came along, no one even challenged his reign. So, naturally, James was compensated appropriately by Nike in December when he signed a lifetime deal with the company, an understandable move that followed the $90 million deal he signed as an 18-year-old high school player. However, details of the deal weren’t immediately made public. Why was there no figure attached to the news? Surely Nike was not lowballing the biggest star to walk through their doors since Michael Jordan donned red, white and black every other night. The details of deals for Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry and James Harden were all revealed even before they were made official, so LBJ’s contract value being a secret was cause for speculation.
The truth was, the number wasn’t top secret because Nike was lowballing LeBron. No, it was top secret because it was the biggest apparel contract any athlete has ever received in the history of the Milky Way. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Vick. None of their sums even came close. NBA writers and financial analysts began to accrue information that suggested that James’ deal was worth something in the range of–dare they say it?–one billion dollars. In a new interview with GQ Style, LeBron’s childhood friend and current business partner, Maverick Carter, flirts with the fact that they were right.
During the interview, GQ‘s “Style Guy,” Mark Anthony Green, asks Carter how much the deal was worth, and Carter, like a good business partner, refuses to reveal the figure. So Green plays the hot-and-cold game, and after referencing a line on Kanye West‘s album–“Nike gave LeBron a billi not to run away”–in a follow-up question, Carter points his finger skyward.
Yeah. To signify more than a billion.
Well, he’s got Stephen Curry beat there. Read GQ’s full interview with Carter here.
