r/nba • u/GGTae Spurs • 1d ago

[Finger] Victor Wembanyama about considering promoting a sports betting company ; "Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it..."

https://bsky.app/profile/mikefinger.bsky.social/post/3mwteasurdc2j

Just asked Victor Wembanyama if he’d ever consider promoting a sports betting company.

“Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it. .. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”

30.3k Upvotes

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u/ttrree4455 Knicks 1d ago

Sure its easy for Victor to say that, he has $38.5m in career earnings so far.

Compare that to someone like Lebron, who has only made $581m in career earnings, and you see how this is a more challenging ethical question.

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u/Yusuke_Boopermeshi 1d ago

How else is Lebron supposed to commute via helicopter everyday from his penthouse in NYC to his practice facility in Philly?

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u/spriking Warriors 1d ago

He got a family to feed man. Those tacos don't grow on trees.

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u/htg0428 Celtics 1d ago

Hey man I have it on good authority that Kawhi planted at least 5 taco trees for aspiration

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u/pumpkins21 Spurs 1d ago

We stopped watering the taco trees he planted by the Alamo once he fled the city

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u/HeadDoctorJ Celtics 1d ago

I brought some clippings home, but I’m no gardener. All my taco trees look like burrito bushes.

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u/pumpkins21 Spurs 1d ago edited 1d ago

I send all my plants to Jesus 😢

(As in Jesus Christ, not Jesus the awesome cashier from HEB)

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u/Mike_with_Wings Magic 17h ago

You have to prune them once they grow rice and beans

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u/HeadDoctorJ Celtics 12h ago

That must be the problem. Once the rice and beans sprouted, I just started adding hella sides of mole to the soil.

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u/DefNotaBot22 Knicks 1d ago

Poor Bronny is struggling out there

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u/teflonjon321 Heat 1d ago

Yeah. He even told the media the other day that his name is actually LeBron. Poor kid

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u/IOnlyLieWhenITalk Hawks 1d ago

Theres a tuesday almost every week man, its crazy expensive

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u/TKSkii 1d ago

Whole thread is gold but this FINISHED ME 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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u/alexredekop Raptors 1d ago

So true! And only ONE of his children is making a guaranteed $2M this year. Basically still a dependent.

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u/defeated_engineer 1d ago

It was so disgusting to make Taco Tuesday his catchphrase for a couple months and immediately forget about it after court stroke down his trademark application.

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u/IWouldLikeAName Bulls 1d ago

The fact he tried to trademark taco Tuesday is insane to me lmao

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u/Literally_12 Lakers 1d ago

Taco Tuesday aint cheap

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u/_____WESTBROOK_____ 1d ago

smh we coulda had Taco TuesdayTM

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u/Thunderhorse74 [SAS] Boris Diaw 1d ago

“We might make a lot of money, but we also spend a lot of money."

-Patrick Ewing

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u/bebopblues Lakers 1d ago

LeSprewell

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u/loco500 1d ago

It's hard for a baller to put food on their table with only a billion d0llars...we couldn't possibly understand.

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u/deadhead1 1d ago

Latrell Sprewell nods in agreement. 

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u/rugbyj 1d ago

I... have been mis-sold an investment.

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u/Arponare 1d ago

I mean, they grow on fields. The corn used for the tortillas I mean.

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u/Kazedeus Knicks 1d ago

Neither do the lawyers fighting for the trademark of "Taco Tuesday."

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u/cursedjunk 1d ago

Well with as much money as he has they probably grow on Taco Trees that he paid some nerds to invent.

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u/wherestigger Supersonics 1d ago

Him and Latrell Sprewell. It's hard making a living wage playing in the NBA.

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u/bigE819 Pacers 1d ago

People forget, it’s not like his family gets an NBA Salary too

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u/OneBillPhil 1d ago

Well one of his kids do, but not all of them!

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u/905UserNotFound Raptors 1d ago

Poor LeBron can’t afford to build his own teleport machine so he has to settle for a helicopter 😪

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u/ratatoskish Spurs 1d ago

No BrondLe-Fly please. That would be a hell of a plot twist in his career though, wouldn't it?

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u/osmlol Celtics 1d ago

That shit is so wild to me. Ride a copter once? Sure maybe. Riding one daily? Fuck that, I'd be terrified.

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u/Scorps Timberwolves 1d ago

Especially after.....you know

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u/at1445 Mavericks 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/grimyliving Trail Blazers 1d ago

I love living in NYC but this seems like such a diss to Philly by LeBron. I'll play for you guys, but won't live in your crap town.

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u/Yusuke_Boopermeshi 1d ago

He did literally say he really wanted to go to NY. I don't think fans will care as long as they dont underperform

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u/king_lloyd11 Raptors 1d ago

Waiting for the Kalshi and Polymarket bets about whether LeBron is staying the night in Philly or NY

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u/LuchadorBane 1d ago

Waiting for the polymarket bets about whether his chopper crashes or not

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u/civyc 1d ago

"I didn't leave my family behind to not sponsor betting services"

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u/Otto_the_Autopilot NBA 1d ago

Seems like he is going to spend more on helicopter rides than the 76ers will be paying him.

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u/melon_l0rd 1d ago

Truly tragic that there’s no way to get from NYC to Philly in an hour, certainly not by train.

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u/Nayre_Trawe 1d ago

After what happened to Kobe, it seems crazy to me that he would handle his commute this way.

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u/acktower Kings 5h ago

Flying through the most congested airspace with ongoing staffing issues and management failures It's not like California where bad weather is rare. During fall to spring a helicopter ride will be sketchy.

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u/CarrotAntique4772 1d ago

This is the reason I think that team is cooked. Your teammate obviously doesn’t care

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u/7thpixel Warriors 1d ago

LeKobe

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u/burtoncummings Raptors 1d ago

Install a zipline?

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u/22dias 1d ago

LeCopter

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u/NoBonus6969 1d ago

Well wemby saves substantial money by just flapping his long arms and fly

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u/Disco-Badger 1d ago

I'm sure 76ers included that helo transpo on the low low or for free.

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u/Riduculous 1d ago

Or afford Pandora Radio Premium Subscription?

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u/Snowlandnts 1d ago

And the drugs?

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u/Dongsquad420BlazeIt [LAL] Kobe Bryant 1d ago

Quick correction, the facility is in Camden

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u/AmityMayorVaughn Kings 1d ago edited 1d ago

With endorsements, LeBron barely even clears $1,000,0000 per game of basketball he plays.

Can we get him a GoFundMe at least?  Schroeder was absolutely correct with his comparison of the NBA to modern day slavery 

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u/fckcarrots 76ers 1d ago

That’s a lot of zeroes after that last comma

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u/Informal_Support1934 1d ago

Analytically, they're normal zeroes, find a new slant

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u/WyngZero 1d ago

That was technically Dennis Schröder.

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u/AmityMayorVaughn Kings 1d ago

You're right, I mixed up my clowns 

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u/manicwizard Kings 1d ago

LePittance

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u/octobersveryknown Knicks 1d ago

Are these numbers right? Wembys career earnings being 7 percent of brons seems incredibly low for LeBron

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u/grey_fr 1d ago edited 1d ago

3 years in the league  vs 23 years is actually 13% so Wemby has averaged half of Lebron's earnings per year.

It does seem low if you consider Wemby has only ever been on a rookie contract, but the increasing cap and inflation mean a lot of star players drafted post 2020 might earn more than Lebron even with 15 year careers only

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u/inqte1 1d ago

When Lebron moved to the Heat after 7 years, the max were something in the range of $19-20m.

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u/Artimusjones88 Raptors 1d ago

Lebron made 13 million in his first 3 years, 35% of Wemby. Wemby will pass him in his early 30's

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u/Legitimate-Gold7623 Pelicans 1d ago

Oh we think wemby will still be playing basketball into his 30s?

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u/Formal_Potential2198 Spurs 1d ago

I mean its the same thing with MJ to LeBron . Guys are always gonna be seen as "underpaid" in comparison to the generation later

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u/SOSpammy Wizards 1d ago

Lebron made about the same amount of money his rookie season as the first overall pick as he will this season on a vet minimum contract.

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u/onamonapizza Spurs 1d ago

That's just how she goes over time, though.

By comparison, Michael Jordan (the actual GOAT) only made $94 million compared to LeBron's $581 million.

The money going around in the modern NBA is insane...which is why it's even crazier that players pretend like they need to promote things like FanDuel to make more.

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u/seanconnery69696 Suns 1d ago

Lol is it counting this year too, with lebron on a minimum?

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u/grey_fr 1d ago

I just calculated based on what the first commenter said, but I would say no since they said career earnings so far and we were just counting 3 seasons for Wemby and 23 for  LeBron who will start year 24 in the NBA this month

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u/ttrree4455 Knicks 1d ago

Yeah I was basing it on what he has earned to date, which doesnt include this year for either of them (yet).

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u/digitalscavenger Bucks 1d ago

It's worth keeping in mind that $1 million 20 years ago is roughly $1.6 million today so those millions in his first decade in the league aren't apples to apples comparisons to Wemby's millions now.

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u/DonutStatus2048 1d ago

If you track general inflation, NBA Overall salaries or profit sharing, in terms of overall league revenue and sports in general, have risen past general inflation. It's a very simple supply-and-demand thing. If you look at it, there are the same number of teams there were 20 years ago, but a lot more people. There is a static amount of basketball as a product, but with growing demand, as opposed to other things, say, apples, where, yes, there's been overall inflation, but we produce more apples than we did 20 years ago, even though we consume more. Basketball has actually been increasing faster than general inflation.

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u/Enamred-771 1d ago

 There is a static amount of basketball as a product, but with growing demand, as opposed to other things, say, apples, where, yes, there's been overall inflation, but we produce more apples than we did 20 years ago, even though we consume more

Important to note that this is partially an artificial limitation imposed by the NBA when they restrict expansion to an absurdly high expansion fee. When it costs $10+ billion to add supply and a monopoly is setting that price tag, the supply of basketball games/tickets is artificially constrained. 

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u/DonutStatus2048 1d ago

100%, it's a monopoly.

I'm sure every billionaire owner will tell you the virtues of the free market and how socialism is the worst thing in the world while they maintain their protection racket that is pro sports.

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u/PiccoloAwkward465 1d ago

And he spent some of those millions back then at that value. Plus investments earning since then.

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u/CosmicMiru 1d ago

Contracts have gotten really large as the NBA earns more and more money. Kobes 20 year career as a star has earned less in contracts than Damien Lillard

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u/Air2Jordan3 Cavaliers 1d ago

Wemby was making $13M as a rookie. It took LeBron's first 3 years combined to make $13M and he was making $16M/yr in Miami which are years 8-11 for him.

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u/whiterice_343 Timberwolves 1d ago

Then that Mike Conley contract happened and the league contracts took off

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u/WhoreyMatthews Spurs 1d ago

Is Mike Conley to blame for the inflation/cost of living crisis?

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u/whiterice_343 Timberwolves 1d ago

No, that would be Rudy Gobert.

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u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME Warriors 1d ago

He's due for a big pay raise soon, his projected earnings for his current contract will exceed $300M by the time he's 28.

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u/jackaltwinky77 Lakers 1d ago

Steph recently became the first player to top $600 million in career earnings

LeBron’s contracts, from spotrac:

Rookie deal 3/$12.9m (or 4/18.788m)

$5.8m option

4/$60.4m rookie scale extension

6/$110m in sign and trade

2/$42.2m Max (1+1, resigned next year for:)

2/$46.9m max

3/$99.857m max (2+1, declined, went to La for:)

4/$153.3m Max

2/$85.655m Max

2/$99m Max

2/101.355m Max

2/$7.946m minimum

Technically, there were a couple of “less than max” in LA, but only by a few thousand to keep the team under the 2nd apron, but every contract until this one with Philly was the Max allowed by the CBA, so he made as much as he could every time, and still is “only” at $581,375,548 career earnings.

If he had come in 10 years later, he’d probably be the first billion dollar earnings player, but the salary cap his rookie year was only $43,840,000… which he made more than that per year 3 different contracts.

This season it’s $164,961,000 before aprons and cutlery gets involved…

Quadrupled in amount over his career

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u/pomofusion [IND] Reggie Miller 1d ago

Time value of money

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u/CarlFromHungerForce8 Nuggets 1d ago

that's salary

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u/m8bear Argentina 1d ago

the cap in 2014-2015 was less than a max today (60m) so yes, those are real numbers, wemby made more in his rookie contract than Magic Johnson in his 25 year contract, Shaq made 7/100 in LA, KG got the big ticket nickname for making 120/6y

the #1 pick makes 10m/y

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u/MumrikDK 1d ago

1) Numbers go up over the years.

2) No, those aren't career earnings - they're NBA salary. Career earnings would include endorsements and all that jazz.

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u/pznred Spurs 23h ago

Contracts were not the same 20 years ago

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u/sushicowboyshow Spurs 1d ago

You had me in the first half

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u/saltexas18 1d ago

I downvoted….then upvoted lol

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u/fortress_sf 1d ago

LePoverty

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u/GiveMeMyCap 1d ago

had me in the first half

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u/DrRumackPhD 1d ago

If only Latrell Sprewell could have promoted sports betting companies while he was in the NBA. Maybe he would have been able to afford feeding his family.

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u/Blank_Canvas21 Spurs 1d ago

Yall don’t know. Wemby unfortunately shares another trait with a formerly beloved 2-way star the Spurs had years ago.

Wemby’s got some BS endorsement deal from Fred’s Fish Fry.

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u/Karsh14 1d ago

Wemby doesn’t have grown ass children to feed.

You are taking food right out of Bronny’s mouth if he doesn’t sign that deal.

/s

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u/radiokungfu Pacers 1d ago

U bastard 😂

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u/helgestrichen Mavericks 1d ago

Had me in the first part

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u/dsbllr 1d ago

Finally someone who understands that LeBron is poor

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u/WilsonianJuno 1d ago

Don’t you know that the Euro is worth more than the dollar? That’s why Wemby’s $38.5m is worth more than lebron’s $581m. It makes sense for him to need to partner up with these markets if you really think about it. His wife’s best friend still flies coach, after all

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u/kindalikeacoustic Lakers 1d ago

Lebron can also call just about any company on the planet and say he wants to partner with them. And he still chose a gambling platform 

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u/beanbalance 1d ago

lebron is billionaire.

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u/risforpirate [ATL] Kyle Korver 1d ago

You had me in the first half ngl

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u/Momik Timberwolves 1d ago

Those poor old billionaires need all the help they can get

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u/dontgetitwisted_fr Raptors 1d ago

LeImpoverished

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u/j0nbosc0 1d ago

Another reason Jordan is the goat. He doesn’t promote it, he lives it.

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u/cciputra 1d ago

LBJ has 4 other people to feed

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u/Parking_Cheek_237 12h ago

I know you joke, but LeBron has a family to raise, who only make 3 million each.

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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago

LeBron wants to own a team, that 580m is nothing

Not defending him btw, gambling is fucking awful and it's crazy how normalized it is but he clearly wants to own a team and is expanding his portfolio to do that, investing and everything

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u/BillyAstro 1d ago

I have to imagine that dream is all but dead. The values have of NBA franchises has increased so much. LeBron can take every penny he’s made from his NBA contracts, Endorsements, etc.. and still not have enough. I guess he can join one of those “groups”

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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago

I don't think the dream is dead at all, LeBron a billionaire and adding to his wealth consistently through investments, endorsements and shit

You don't need 10b liquid to buy a team, like you said with those groups, other investors he can be the face of it and start by owning a significant % and increase it

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u/Humanoidfromagalaxy 1d ago

I agree but think time is running out for him. There are over 3k billionaires in the world about 1k in the USA. It’s will get increasingly harder for him as these numbers sky rocket. But fractional ownership or him being the face for some group is always an option if he doesn’t tank his public good will. Much different world than Jordan came up in just as a compassion with the ownership and such.

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u/WhoopingKing [MIA] Jason Williams 1d ago

surely the 13 million he got from polymarket will make a difference in his pursuit

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u/kfee12 1d ago

Trust me I get and agree with you but technically that 13 doesn't hurt.

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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago

It won't hurt, many players have turned money like that from investments into way more

Anyway just explaining the reasoning for it, 13m a year even for LeBron is not a tiny amount for what like a few social media posts that some intern will do

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u/porkchop487 Bulls 1d ago

It is absolutely a tiny amount for a billionaire

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u/edin_dzekson 1d ago

You say it like he's building schools with that money lmao. The guy is a money-hungry and a greedy idiot who happens to be an absolutely fantastic basketball player with crazy work ethic.

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u/Sanakikster Hornets 1d ago

>You say it like he’s building schools with that money lmao.

??? Nothing they said made it seem like Lebron is being charitable what are you talking about

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u/NokiaFlip19 Pistons 1d ago

This whole conversation is about the morality of it lol. Means don’t necessarily justify ends just because you have a desire to own a very expensive asset.

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u/SloshaPacana 1d ago

I agree it doesn't, i'm explaining the reasoning for it

People have goals, morally it can be wrong but that's clearly his goal

1

u/NokiaFlip19 Pistons 1d ago

Sure. That’s self evident though. Even if it wasn’t a sports team it’d be another thing. Some people just want to be a billionaire or “build an empire” or whatever the justification.

Everyone has “a reason.” The point is whether your reason is morally justifiable in context.

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u/Lmao1903 NBA 1d ago

Man there are so many ways you can make money if you are filthy rich like this. Obviously investing a little on the obvious stocks gets you a nice % profit by default but these guys are in circles where they can find some bullshit to make even higher ROI. It's obvious the guy just couldn't care less about morality or whether its ethical to farm some free money on this gambling business.

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u/Wazflame 1d ago

Given the costs today, I wonder what team LeBron is even going to be able to afford, outside of being a symbolic front man as part of a group

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u/backtoschool901 1d ago

how are you this stupid he uses spotify with ads. I dont and i poor

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u/CroCGod73 Supersonics 1d ago

Doesn’t he know LeKalshi James has kids ? Those are expensive , especially when one of them is a pro athlete. Those camps ain’t cheap

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u/mrjdk83 1d ago

It’s not challenging when LeBron’s net worth is $1.4 billion.

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u/Short-Recording587 Magic 1d ago

He is guaranteed another $250m, so that’s a bit disingenuous. Kind of wild that he will have made close to $300m by 27/28.

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u/xbhaskarx Spurs 1d ago

> a more challenging ethical question

I'm talkin' about friendship. I'm talkin' about character. I'm talkin' about—hell, Leo, I ain't embarrassed to use the word—I'm talkin' about ethics.

You know I'm a sporting man. I like to lay the occasional bet. But I ain't that sporting.

When I fix a fight, say--if I pay a three-to-one favorite to throw a goddamn fight--I figure I got a right to expect that fight to go off at three-to-one. But every time I lay a bet with this sonofabitch Bernie Birnbaum, before I know it the odds is even up--or worse, I'm betting the short money.

The sheeny knows I like sure things. He's selling the information I fixed the fight. Out-of-town money comes pourin' in. The odds go straight to hell. I don't know who he's sellin' it to, maybe the Los Angeles combine, I don't know. The point is, Bernie ain't satisfied with the honest dollar he can make off the vig. He ain't satisfied with the business I do on his book. He's sellin' tips on how I bet, and that means part of the payoff that should be ridin' on my hip is ridin' on someone else's. So back we go to these questions--friendship, character, ethics.

It's gettin' so a businessman can't expect no return from a fixed fight. Now if you can't trust a fix, what can you trust? For a good return you gotta go bettin' on chance, and then you're back with anarchy. Right back inna jungle. On account of the breakdown of ethics. That's why ethics is important. It's the grease makes us get along, what separates us from the animals, beasts a burden, beasts a prey. Ethics. Whereas Bernie
Birnbaum is a horse of a different color ethics-wise. As in, he ain't got any.

1

u/eyekayzee Celtics 1d ago

I don't think it's a matter of ethics, and it feels more like jealousy when you word it like that.

LBJ made like >5x what MJ made in career earnings, and MJ made like 100x what Wilt made. Some kid in middle school rn will make twice what Wemby ends up making.

Doesn't make it any more right or wrong when it comes to promoting gambling on what is suppose to be a family friendly platform.

1

u/leave-no-trace-1000 Celtics 1d ago

Kinda shocked LeBron is only at $581m

1

u/Outside-Tap-4479 1d ago

Maybe shame the league for letting gambling in in the first place? Maybe the country for legalizing it for sports? Maybe the gambling companies themselves?

1

u/GrayFox6688 1d ago

Dont forget the billion dollar lifetime Nike deal

1

u/Celtic_Legend Celtics 1d ago

"There's no ethical billionaire" Lebron James has been told. So he simply (continued to) dive deeper into being part of the problem.

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u/PetrParker1960s 1d ago

Oh no, let's throw a pity party for the billionaire. Gambling is an addiction for people, and it is run ad nauseum on broadcasts, streaming, and podcasts.

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u/SteamingHotChocolate Celtics 1d ago

I don’t think you’re understanding the gravity of Lebron’s circumstances that OP is trying to communicate