LeBron James may not be entirely cramp-free with San Antonio Spurs leading 3-1 against Miami Heat in the NBA championships, but the man has certainly got his finances in perfect order.
The Heat superstar is reportedly receiving a massive $30 million payout from Apple's $3 billion acquisition of Beats Electronics, where James acquired a stake in 2008 as part of a deal requiring James to endorse Dr. Dre's line of expensive headphones. This would be the biggest payout for an athlete in all of history.
"James off-court business is booming, thanks to a string of investments paying off massively and the prospect of new opportunities in endorsements and entertainment projects promising to expand his wealth significantly in coming years," says ESPN. "In a recent example, while James was leading the Heat to a victory over the Indiana Pacers in the Eastern Conference finals, sources say the 29-year-old was finalizing what is believed to be the biggest equity cash payout for a professional athlete in history as part of Apple's recent $3 billion of Beats Electronics."
The report comes hot on the heels of rumors that Heat officials were looking to add Carmelo Anthony of the New York Knicks in free agency. Heat won't be able to sign a contract with Anthony until after the end of this month, but it would mean pay reductions for Heat's trio of stars including James, Dwayne Wayde and Chris Bosh for next season's contract.
No word has yet been made on James future' role in Beats now that Apple has snapped up Dr. Dre's company. James is currently one of the highest-paid celebrity endorsers of Samsung, although receiving millions of dollars in exchange for promoting Samsung's products does not exactly mean the world-famous basketball star touts the quality of the product.
Earlier this year, James became the subject of controversy after tweeting that his phone, presumably the Samsung Galaxy Note II, pissed him off when it deleted everything and went into a reboot. In a last-ditch attempt to save face and appease Samsung, James deleted the tweet, but not before the rest of the world was able to take a screenshot of it.
But James is not the only NBA heavyweight to mingle with the giants of the technology industry. Last month, 9to5Mac spotted LA Lakers' Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa lounging at a restaurant in Apple's Infinite Loop campus. The pair was reportedly meeting with Apple head of design Jony Ive to discuss Bryant's role as an endorser for Apple's fitness products.
Last week, Apple unveiled its Health app for iOS 8, which allows users to aggregate all their fitness and health information in a single hub, at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple is also rumored to be working with Nike on new health devices, one of which is presumably the iWatch.
