According to Forbes, LeBron James has officially achieved billionaire status. He is the first NBA player, still active in the league, to reach this milestone, following in the footsteps of retired basketball legend Michael Jordan.

As a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, James is the highest-paid player in the NBA, with earnings totaling $121 million (approximately VND 2,800 billion) last year, both on and off the court. He ranks second on Forbes’ list of the 10 highest-paid athletes in 2022, trailing only Lionel Messi, the renowned football player.

In total, James has amassed $387 million from his contracts with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, and Los Angeles Lakers, along with an additional $900 million from various endorsement deals. These include a lifetime contract with Nike, ownership of the Blaze pizza franchise, and a video production company. Altogether, his pre-tax income exceeds $1.2 billion.

James, born and raised in Ohio, experienced a challenging upbringing with his mother working tirelessly to make ends meet for the family. Despite their financial constraints, James imbibed a lesson on financial prudence from his uncles, leading him to consistently set aside a portion of his earnings, no matter how modest, from an early age.

“My uncles always taught me how to have a savings account, ” James shares in a podcast on his web platform, UNINTERRUPTED. ” They would give me a dollar and say, ‘Listen, nephew. , spend 35 cents of it and keep the other 65 cents.’ Or, if they give me two dollars, they’ll say, ‘Go ahead, go party for a dollar, but save the dollar remaining.’”

And that lesson follows James to this day, even when he is a billionaire.