Could a documentary be in the works for LeBron James?
As one of the best and most polarizing players in basketball history, LeBron is sure to have a number of documentaries dedicated to his career. But on Instagram on Sunday, James may have confirmed a doc collaboration with Nike.
Is there a @KingJames x Nike documentary coming? đź‘€ pic.twitter.com/I1tTdQsNe7
— B/R Kicks (@brkicks) May 22, 2022
For those that don’t know LeBron’s Nike story, it’s a pretty wild tale. As an 18-year-old teenager, he was handed a $10 million check to sign with Reebok (as part of the signing bonus) under the condition that he was not allowed to talk to Nike or Adidas.
When coming out of High School, it turns out that before LeBron signed with Nike, he was offered a much better deal from Reebok. The Reebok offer was worth approximately $115 million over 10 years with a $10 million signing bonus.
James grew up envisioning himself being a part of Nike even though their offer was closer to $70 million which is much lower compared to Reebok’s. Being a super fan of Michael Jordan growing up, Nike was clearly James’ number one preference due to the quality and the design of marketing compared to other brands.
However, both parties persisted into finding a deal that they would both be happy with. Aaron Goodwin, James’ agent, called Nike to let them know that LeBron’s first preference is with them and that they would accept a deal if the offer was slightly improved.
An agreed seven-year, $77 million guaranteed contract with a $10 million signing bonus that took the total deal to $87 million. The deal was signed and was double the amount of a new deal that Kobe had recently signed with Nike.
It’s a good thing that James reached the deal with Nike. While he would have been a huge star regardless, Nike helped to grow and develop his brand to unprecedented heights.
Today, his relationship with Nike is rock solid, and it’s hard to imagine him with any other business. If a documentary really is coming out sometime in the future, it will be quite the story to watch.
