The endorsement deals flowed fast and furious after LeBron’s high school chapter ended. He quickly inked a deal with trading card maker Upper Deck that included a $1 million signing bonus. Among other things, he was given a card in the Upper Deck Exquisite card set, which was priced at $500 per pack!

Buyers had a chance to get a one-of-a-kind collectible card that could be sold on ebay for many times $500 -- a card with photos of James and Michael Jordan containing fabric from their NBA jerseys.

Adidas had sponsored LeBron’s high school team and wanted to keep him on their roster as a pro. The company even took out billboards in Akron, apparently targeted directly at LeBron, in hopes he would stay with them. The signs read: "Do You Want to Be the Next Superstar?" and "Will You Do Something Bigger Than Basketball?" But ultimately the seven-year, $90 million deal that rival Nike offered was too much to resist.

The first LeBron signature shoe, the “Air Zoom Generation,” was partly modeled after his Hummer H2.


Nike ad campaigns have included an ad called “Fear Room” that regulators in China squelched, saying the “depiction of him fighting and defeating a martial arts master and other animated characters” was disrespectful to Chinese traditional culture.

More recently, in a series of funny commercials about a family called the LeBrons, LeBron has played four different characters in the same scene, in the tradition of Peter Sellers, Eddie Murphy, and Martin Lawrence.

James also has a $5 million deal to endorse Bubblicious bubble gum, which used the slogan “Last year prom. This year pros.”

The competition for LeBron between Gatorade and Coca-Cola’s Powerade was as intense as the Adidas-Nike sneaker war. Gatorade finally dropped out of the bidding, and James reportedly got about $2 million a year to promote Sprite and Powerade. In one memorable TV commercial for Powerade, James swishes one shot on a basketball court after another, stepping back so far that eventually he is hitting shots from the entire length of the court. LeBron is a true superstar, but it turned out those 80-foot shots were made using special effects.


Is this too much too soon for the $100 million man? Add your thoughts.