Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (23) looks on during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images
LeBron James has made over $500 million in salary during his career and has a reported net worth of about $1.7 billion. But a new report has revealed yet another interesting aspect of how the superstar has managed his financial investments.
According to Bloomberg’s Weihua Li, Sridhar Natarajan and Alexandre Rajbhandari, LeBron borrowed nearly $300 million from two life insurance companies. The transactions were arranged through insurers whose assets were managed by an arm of Guggenheim Partners led by former Lakers owner Mark Walter.
The initial transaction occurred in 2018, a few months before LeBron signed a four-year, $154 million contract with the Lakers.
According to the report, the financing was structured through an LLC called King James Funding. The insurers purchased about $300 million in asset-backed bonds issued by the company, effectively giving LeBron immediate money against future income.
Interestingly, the collateral was not LeBron’s massive NBA salary.
Instead, the bonds were reportedly backed by future revenue, including earnings outside basketball and income from his massive Nike deal. The 2018 bonds carried a 4.8% interest rate and are due in 2049.
LeBron’s spokesperson described the transaction as a common financial arrangement for someone with that level of wealth.
LeBron’s company eventually paid back some of the debt before borrowing additional money. By the end of 2025, approximately $245 million of the bonds remained on the insurers’ books.
Another transaction reportedly occurred around the time LeBron signed his two-year, $97 million extension with the Los Angeles Lakers in August 2022. The same insurers purchased an additional $60 million in bonds issued by LeBron’s LLC, and those bonds carry a 5.75% interest rate and a 34-year term.
James’ spokesperson said that both transactions received independent third-party credit ratings and that the 2022 deal was fully approved by the NBA.
The connection to Walter is particularly noteworthy because he eventually became involved with the Lakers through his $10 billion purchase and eventual $12.5 billion sale a few weeks ago.
But Bloomberg also reported that the lending arrangement began before Walter started acquiring an ownership stake in the franchise, and there is no indication that LeBron’s loans are connected to the federal scrutiny surrounding major parts of Walter’s business empire.
This arrangement just shows how LeBron’s financial operation goes well beyond the enormous riches he has made throughout his basketball career.
Rather than waiting decades for sponsorship and other business revenue to arrive, LeBron was able to convert a portion of those future earnings into immediate capital through long-term borrowing.
It’s a strategy that can be used by extremely wealthy athletes and entertainers whose endorsement, licensing, and royalty income could remain valuable for decades.
For LeBron, even a $154 million Lakers contract wasn’t necessarily the biggest financial deal he made in 2018. Behind the scenes, King James was already leveraging the enormous earning power of the LeBron James brand itself.