LeBron’s Billionaire Status is Admirable, But What Are the Limitations?

LeBron James is officially a billionaire. According to Forbes, the Los Angeles Lakers guard and four-time NBA champion recently crossed the financial threshold. James' billionaire status can be attributed to a number of smart and savvy investments. Yes, he’s made upwards of $430 million in NBA salary since he entered the league in 2003, but apart from that, James has proven to be an equally shrewd businessman, in the upper echelon with the likes of his basketball equivalents Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. 

James was an early investor in Blaze Pizza, opting to walk away from his McDonald’s sponsorship and nearly $15 million in order to back the pizza chain. He has a stake in Fenway Sports Group, which makes him part owner of the Boston Red Sox and the English Premier League club Liverpool F.C. He founded his own media company, Springhill Entertainment, which hasn’t even scratched the surface of its potential. Whenever he decides to walk away from basketball, it’s likely he’ll be a fixture on the summer blockbuster movie circuit, as well as endorsing a dozen products found in most American’s home. James, for everything he’s overcome in life and accomplished, is a poster boy of the American dream. 

And that in lies the problem, for some people. I’m a businessman, which by its very definition means I am a capitalist, but my circle includes voices from across financial and political spectrums, and one of the more prominent and critical voices on James asked me a poignant question upon learning about his billionaire status. “Billionaires, by their very definition, have to be protested, they have to be challenged, because they inherently contribute and uphold a system of oppression and discrimination. Can one protest himself?”

Maverick Carter (left) and LeBron James have built a business empire over the last two decades.

James is the most wholesome figure this generation of sport has ever seen. He’s won every individual award imaginable. He’s a four-time champion. While it’s clear his career is entering the sunset phase, you can argue his 2021-2022 campaign was one of his better statistically. James stood up and brought attention to the killing of Travon Martin, at a time when social advocacy wasn’t as prominent or commendable in the mainstream as it is now. He has led voter registration and voter education efforts. He speaks to and uplifts the Black experience, literally lending voices to the voiceless. He started and maintains a school for underprivileged children in the community he grew up in. He’s refused to shut up and dribble. 

Yet James’ most recent milestone calls into question the often articulated but rarely validated belief that Black business and entrepreneurship is the key to Black liberation. James’ feat, and his commitment to sharing the wealth he’s generated in this life with those less fortunate, is admirable, and it’s one I am sure many of us wish to recreate. But what limitations exist for a Black man that calls out police brutality and racism while simultaneously navigating a business world that shuns the same people he genuinely wants to uplift and protect? 

James has faced legitimate criticism before. He chose not to speak up for Tamir Rice when the Cleveland Police Department lynched him in broad daylight in November 2014, but happily joined presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton for a rally on the eve of the 2016 presidential election. He opted for “The Decision.” When asked about his reflections from reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X during the NBA bubble in 2020, rather than simply saying he was still processing a book he clearly hadn’t read, he put together some jumbled words.

Personally, I think most of the criticism levied at James is moot, and I’m not the only person with that belief. When an individual commits himself to a self-actualized purpose greater than his own achievements, ridicule quickly follows suit. I’d file that under the human condition tab. James is a powerhouse in and of himself. He’s never gotten in trouble. By all accounts, he’s a loving and supportive family man. Perfection is allusive, yet if we’re looking for an example of a public figure close to it, James would be one of the first to come to mind. 

Which raises both intrigue and inquisitiveness about what the prime of his life entails. With his best basketball years clearly behind him, and an infrastructure already in place to accomplish whatever his heart desires, one wonders how long he’ll be able to walk the delicate tightrope of advocating for social justice and expanding the balance sheet. America is notorious for making Black men choose one or the other. Maybe LeBron will be the first that doesn’t have to.