LeBron James turned down $10 million from Reebok when he was 18 years old: ‘I might have cried on my way home’

Published 6:55 PM ET, Friday January 17, 2025

Story by Nicolas Vega@atNickVega

Though his name has been synonymous with Nike for more than 20 years, LeBron James almost never signed with the company that helped make him a billionaire.

In an appearance on Travis and Jason Kelce’s “New Heights” podcast this week, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer explained he was almost wooed by an eye-popping sum offered by one of Nike’s rivals.

During his senior year of high school, before forgoing college and going straight to the NBA where he would be drafted by his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, James was choosing between Nike, Reebok and Adidas for his shoe deal.

Reebok flew James and his mother out to a meeting with their CEO where they drove a hard bargain with the teenager.

“The guy slides over a check to me and he says ‘If you don’t go talk to any other companies, this is yours,'” James said. “And I look at it. $10 million f—ing dollars. I was a high school senior!”

James didn’t know what to do. He had “never seen that many zeroes in [my] life,” but he also didn’t want to skip his meetings with Nike and Adidas. He asked the executives for a moment to think and they left him alone with his mom.

“Me and my mom were living in an apartment. Section 8 housing. I’m going back [after the meeting], I don’t have s—t,” he said. “My mom looked at me. She said ‘Son, trust your gut. If they’re offering you this, who knows what the other companies may offer you?'”

When the executives came back in the room, James handed back the eight-figure check and informed them he’d like to explore all his options before making a decision.

“I may have cried on the way home,” he told the Kelce brothers. “I was like ‘I could’ve bought the building that me and my mom was living in with that money!'”

 Though they had no way of knowing it at the time, it was a billion-dollar piece of advice – literally. James would eventually decide to sign with Nike, and years later would ink a reported billion-dollar lifetime contract with the company in 2015.