LeBron James has had an incredibly successful career both on and off the court, becoming the greatest shooter in NBA history and amassing a fortune of $1 billion.
LeBron James’ legacy is unquestionable, and the Los Angeles Lakers superstar just achieved an unprecedented feat.
LeBron James scored 38 points in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,390 points. The achievement surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s nearly 40-year-old record of 37,387 points, and only seven other active professional basketball players have scored 10,000 or more points.
For LeBron James, this adds to his collection of achievements that include 19 NBA All-Star appearances, 18 All-NBA team selections, four NBA Most Valuable Player awards and four NBA championships.
“I feel incredibly honored to be in the presence of a great legend like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. It doesn’t get any better than today. Thank you so much,” LeBron James choked up during a break in the third quarter to celebrate the historic milestone.
Not only has LeBron James dominated basketball, he has also had success off the court. At 38, James is the highest-paid basketball player in the NBA with pre-tax and agent fees of $124.5 million in 2022-2023. Off the court, he has earned $80 million from contracts with Nike, AT&T and Beats By Dre, among other brands. To date, LeBron James has earned $1.3 billion in pre-tax earnings throughout his career.
LeBron James officially became the greatest shooter in NBA history with a record of 38,388 points. Photo: Getty Images.
LeBron James is also a successful entrepreneur (Forbes does not include his earnings). Many of the brands he has invested in, including smart fitness company Tonal, provide him with equity income. In 2015, James walked away from a $15 million, four-year deal with McDonald’s to invest in the Blaze Pizza chain. He co-founded sports nutrition company Ladder and recently became an investor in Major League Pickleball, German bicycle manufacturer Canyon Bicycles, and organic milk brand Neutral Foods. In 2020, James co-founded entertainment and film production company SpringHill Co., which is valued at $725 million in 2021. This unit participated in the production of the movie Space Jam: A New Legacy and the documentary What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali aired on HBO. LeBron James remains the largest shareholder of SpringHill Co.
LeBron James’ other milestone is that he is the first NBA player to become a billionaire while still playing. Forbes estimates that James has a net worth of $1 billion from his stakes in SpringHill, the Boston Red Sox, Fenway Sports Group, owner of Liverpool FC, Blaze Pizza, real estate, and other cash income.
Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan are among the few athletes to become billionaires, but Jordan only achieved the title after he had been retired for 10 years. In a 2014 interview with GQ, eight years before he became a billionaire, LeBron James mused about it.
“It would be the biggest milestone of my life if it happened. I would be so excited to be a billionaire athlete,” James said at the time.
But LeBron James isn’t done with the NBA, either on or off the court, having previously said he wants to own an NBA team like Michael Jordan, who bought the Charlotte Hornets (formerly known as the Bobcats) in 2010. During a preseason tour of Las Vegas in October 2022, James expressed interest in owning a team there.
Now, LeBron James is waiting for his eldest son Bronny to be old enough to play in the NBA. LeBron James has said he will play in the NBA with his son before his career ends, with Bronny potentially entering the NBA Draft in 2024. In August 2022, James signed a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, with an option to play in the 2024-25 season.
“I know I can play for a few more years,” LeBron James said after the game on February 7.
