LeBron Gives the Inside Story of Turning Down a $10 Million Check From Reebok at 18

LeBron James gave the inside story of his meeting with Reebok as an 18-year-old and how he turned down a $10 million check.

LeBron James is, and will continue to be for a long time, one of the wealthiest athletes in the world. Forbes' annual list of the highest-paid athletes last year had him at No. 3 in the world (behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi) and No. 1 in the United States. That's not just because LeBron is the best basketball player in the world; it's also because he has serious business acumen and an ability to see down the road.

In 2009, the Harvard Business School published a case study detailing LeBron's polarizing and wise-beyond-his-years decision to fire his agent and create his own agency, LRMR, with his childhood friends Randy Mims, Maverick Carter, and Rich Paul (LeBron, Randy, Maverick, Rich = LRMR) in 2005. That decision—a risk that many would have avoided—has paid huge dividends.

So too has turning down an enticing offer from Reebok in 2003.

In a video from Carter's series Kneading Dough with Uninterrupted, LeBron and Carter detailed LeBron's meeting with Reebok as an 18-year-old. It's a fascinating and well-told story. Chairman Paul Fireman, whom LeBron clearly has a lot of respect for, offered LeBron a $10 million check if he would agree not to meet with Nike and Adidas. 

LeBron was still in high school, and he was from the projects, where "our rent was like $17 a month." Here's the story from LeBron's vantage point:

"I can't say I would have turned it down," Carter said. "I think in the room I said, 'Yo, let's take this check and get the hell out of here.'"

Fireman actually wrote the $10 million check and slid it down a huge boardroom table to LeBron.

"For some odd reason, I started thinking, if this guy...if he's willing to give me a $10 million check right now, what's to say that Nike or Adidas is not willing to give me 20 or 30 upfront?" LeBron said. "Or to say that, maybe, the upfront money is not even the biggest thing. Maybe let's start thinking about the back end."

LeBron credited his uncles for teaching him foresight and to give everyone an opportunity to pitch their idea, but said he "still can't believe I left that $10 million."

Obviously LeBron has made that $10 million many times over with the Swoosh. Last year Nike gave him a lifetime deal that some—including Kanye West—speculate is worth $1 billion$1 billion! That's one hundred times the $10 million Reebok offered him upfront, and it doesn't account for all LeBron had made with Nike before last year.

Not a bad business decision, I'd say.

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