The echoes of LeBron James’ planetary trolling do not cease. The Los Angeles Lakers star had summoned the world through his social networks to a specific time on Tuesday to make a communication that he himself had called ‘The decision of all decisions’. All the specialized media interpreted that it could be the announcement of his retirement at the end of the current season. In reality, it was an advertisement for a sponsorship deal with Hennessy, a luxury cognac.
The statement was as surprising as it was disappointing for the billionaire audience he managed to summon through his digital platforms, a guy who has 160 million followers on Instagram and 53 million on Twitter. Most of that audience, which has always had unconditional love for him, felt cheated.
And in the United States, this publicity stunt has raised eyebrows, causing many basketball forums to lash out at the player by exposing his excessive greed for money and recalling episodes in which the player himself admitted to being a miser and admitted his attachment to money since childhood.
The origin of his desire for money
It was his uncles who turned him into a compulsive saver when he was a child, as he himself once confessed on the Kneading Dough program: “They were my savings account, they taught me to value them. If they gave me a dollar, they would say, ‘Hey, nephew, spend 35 cents and keep the other 65,’ or if they gave me two dollars, they would say, ‘Spend a dollar, but keep the other one,'” James recalled. Coming from a poor family certainly helped him to take on that doctrine
I always think about saving money, keeping my money is sacred to me. I always had that kind of closed-mindedness with my finances
LeBron James puts his thrifty streak among his virtues. “I always think about saving money, keeping my money sacred and for me. I’ve always had that kind of closed-mindedness about my finances.” Saving is his usual ‘modus vivendi’, with examples that teammates and former teammates uncovered with surprise at the time.
Kevin Love, with whom he shared a locker room with at the Cavaliers, and Dwyane Wade, his lieutenant at the Heat, were stunned to see with their own eyes the saving habits of their multimillionaire teammate. “When we went to play in Toronto, he didn’t activate roaming and only used the hotel wifi,” Love said. “He never bought prime paid versions of music,” Wade attested.
LeBron admits his stinginess
He himself admitted these practices, which are unusual for a billionaire like him: “I’m not going to turn on data roaming, I’m not going to buy any apps, I still have Pandora with ads. So I’m going to listen to good music at home with ads… I’m not going to pay for it,” he said. And he once denied that he spent a million dollars a year to take care of his body.
I’m not going to turn on data roaming, I’m not going to buy any apps, I still have Pandora with ads. I listen to good music at home with ads… I’m not going to pay for it
That eagerness to save during his more than two decades of career has helped him to amass an estimated fortune according to Forbes of $1.3 billion. In fact, when the season that is about to start ends, James will have earned $581 million just in salaries. In fact, the same specialized economic publication reported that he officially became a billionaire in 2022, being the first basketball player in history to reach that barrier while still active.
What appears in the search about my money on Google is a lie. It’s much less. I have a couple of thousand in the bank and the key to my room. I have no money, man. My kids have taken it all and I’m broke
LeBron James pokes fun at his fortune and mocks the internet’s obsession with speculating about his net worth. He recently joked about his billion-dollar fortune appearing on the internet: “What’s in the Google search about my money is a lie,” he said on ‘360 With Speedy’. “It’s a lot less. I have a couple thousand in the bank and the key to my room. I’m free by myself. All I have is free, everything. I have no money, man. My kids have taken all the money now with zeros and stuff. I’m broke.” Maybe this latest million-dollar deal with that cognac brand will help him recover…
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