have you ever lived without heat in the winter braun has he's even had to live out of his mother's car lebron didn't have sleepovers just for fun he slept on friends couches to survive now he's an nba superstar and one of the richest athletes of all time here's lebron's rags to rich's story and a review of financial moves that took him from broke to a billionaire lebron james spent half of his childhood without a permanent home his mother gloria had him when she was 16 and by the time lebron was three his grandmother had passed away without heat in their old deteriorating house gloria was forced to move around for lebron to survive cold ohio winners they would stay with relatives or friends for a few weeks with lebron often sleeping on beat up old couches out of 160 school days in the fourth grade lebron was absent for 82 then one day thankfully lebron found his guardian angel that angel's name was frank walker senior whose son frank jr played peewee football with lebron finding out about his horrible living conditions walker offered gloria that lebron could live with his family until she finds a stable job and gets on her feet it was one of the toughest decisions of gloria's life but she accepted and the nine-year-old lebron became the newest member of the walker family finally for the first time in his life lebron found stability he had perfect attendance in fifth grade with a b-plus grade average around that time he also started playing aau basketball and soon fell in love with the sport in sixth grade gloria found a stable job and an apartment and lebron moved back with his mom throughout all hardships he continued to develop his basketball skills and in eighth grade he was already dunking as a high school freshman braun was already so good that he led his saint vincent st mary high school to an undefeated season and a state title as a sophomore james averaged 25. 2 points and 7. 2 rebounds with 5.
8 assists and 3. 8 steals per game and st vincent st mary won another state championship and before his junior season lebron appeared on the cover of slam and sports illustrated which made him the most popular high school basketball player of all time life was good gloria and lebron weren't homeless anymore but they certainly weren't rich however there was a feeling that it was soon going to change so when lebron was a senior gloria gifted him a 50 000 hummer h2 which stirred national controversy lebron and gloria were on public assistance at the time living in a modest two-bedroom apartment on akron's tough west side there was no way they could afford such a luxury vehicle but lebron was months away from becoming the number one pick in the nba draft and it was the safest bet in the world to loan him and his mother the car braun hadn't even been drafted yet and was already hanging out with pro athletes and rappers he was driving an expensive car generally he was still pretty broke which makes this next financial move completely bonkers and shows how crazy intelligent he is when james was still playing for saint vincent st mary reebok offered him 10 million all he had to do was choose to sign with them and not accept any meetings with nike and adidas at the time lebron was an 18 year old kid who had been homeless half his life and he was now holding a 10 million dollar check while 99. 9 of people in the same situation would jump at that kind of money lebron turned it down he realized that other shoe executives would also be desperate for him to wear their brand's logos so he waited for a better offer on the very next day he was sitting in a high school classroom broke as ever knowing that if he got injured in practice he might never see this kind of money again but he bet on himself and this proved to be the first out of many smart financial decisions to come after months of pitches whining and dining reebok eventually offered james 115 million dollars to sign with them however in late may of 2003 lebron decided to sign with nike autographing a seven-year 87 million dollar contract james chose the swoosh brand because he believed it would be a better long-term fit despite reebok offering 28 million dollars more if he had accepted the initial 10 million offer reebok would have probably signed him for a much lower price but because he rejected them shoe companies were forced to bid against themselves and up the ante and ultimately james signed the biggest shoe deal in history for a rookie in fact lebron wasn't even a rookie when he signed the shoe deal he wasn't even drafted yet the 2003 nba draft happened one month later where lebron as expected was selected number one overall by the cleveland cavaliers his first nba contract was for 18 million dollars over four years which means that lebron signed two deals with more than 100 million dollars before he even played one minute of nba basketball of course king james proved that the hype was real and that investing money in lebron was a smart call in 2004 he became rookie of the year and in 2005 he was already in all-star and named to the all-nba second team with that kind of success riding the initial hype trade the lebron mania amongst advertisers could only grow bigger james became a brand ambassador for coca-cola state farm samsung mcdonald's and many others in 2006 the cavs offered him a maximum rookie extension and james signed for additional four years and 60 million dollars he could have chosen a five-year contract but he smartly opted for more flexibility over a few extra dollars a move he often repeated in business firmly believing in his worth come 2010 after his deal was up lebron became a free agent he chose to announce his free agency decision on national tv thirteen million people were watching and lebron uttered the infamous words in this farm i'm gonna take my talents to southern beach and join the miami while the decision was tacky and it brought him hate from the entire nba world it did raise over seven million dollars which lebron donated to the boys and girls club and various other charities james's contract with miami was worth 110 million dollars over six years with the early termination clause after year four and interestingly lebron wade and bosh all gave up more than 10 million dollars each signing for less than the maximum so they could work all three of their deals into the salary cap in 2011 lebron was the most heated man in basketball and the majority of the world was happy when he lost the finals to dirk and the mavs but next year lebron bounced back spectacularly got rid of the celtics and his decision became worth it when miami defeated the thunder for his first nba title next year the heat repeated his champions but after they lost in 2014 lebron was on the move again rejecting miami and heading home to cleveland apart from making a full circle and promising to bring a title to his hometown it was interesting how james structured his contract instead of signing a four-year deal he opted for a one-year contract for the player option it was the first time ever a player chose that kind of short-term contract but it proved to be a really smart move on many different levels first it kept the pressure on the cavaliers to keep improving the team knowing that james could leave each summer when lebron rejoined the cavaliers in 2014 the cavs didn't get own his bird rights which meant they could only offer him a 4.
5 raise each year when the cavs regained his bird rights it allowed lebron to sign a deal with seven and a half percent raises each season however the most notable reason for lebron was surely the incoming 2016 tv deal which caused the salary cap to explode in 2015 lebron opted out of his contract signed another one plus one deal with a player option and opted out again after winning the title in 2016.
