LeBron James reportedly getting $15 million annually in Polymarket deal as NBA endorsements face more scrutiny

LeBron James has signed an endorsement deal with the prediction market platform Polymarket that will pay him $15 million per year, according to Front Office Sports. That is nearly four times more than the $3.9 million James will make in NBA salary for this upcoming season with the Philadelphia 76ers.

James will not be promoting basketball betting under his agreement but rather focusing on football, according to FOS, which also notes that LeBron is only a Polymarket endorser — as opposed to fellow NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo who has an investment stake in the prediction platform Kalshi.

There is no reporting on the length of LeBron's contract with Polymarket, only that FOS calls it an "ongoing engagement" requiring multiple "deliverables" such as social media posts and other content.

That last bit of information about LeBron at least being expected to provide the services for which he is being paid is important in the aftermath of the NBA's salary cap circumvention ruling against the Clippers, who were found guilty, by way of an independent third-party investigation, of basically setting up Kawhi Leonard with no-show endorsement deals as a means of paying him more than they were legally allowed to under the…

Original source: https://www.cbssports.com/