LeBron James is a man of many talents.

He’s the first player to lead his team back from a 3-1 series deficit to win the NBA Finals, as he did against the best regular season team in league history with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016. He’s the first ever active NBA player to become a billionaire. He’s a partial owner of Liverpool F.C., which he acquired a minority stake of in 2011 as part of his relationship with multinational sports conglomerate Fenway Sports Group.

Now he holds the distinction of scoring the most regular season points in NBA history, passing Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a two point shot in the waning seconds of the third quarter in a 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 7.

Abdul-Jabbar finished his regular season career with 38,387 points. James passed Abdul-Jabbar (44,149) in combined regular season and playoff scoring in February of 2022, a testament to the deep playoff runs he’s made over the years.

It was another legendary moment in a career full of them for James who, despite the heights he’s reached as one of the greatest athletes ever, often refers to himself as “just a kid from Akron,” a nod to his humble upbringing in the Ohio city as the son of a single mother. 

James has made a career of doing what should be impossible. He’ll have to do it again in order to add a fifth championship ring to his collection this season: as it pertains to the playoffs, James’ Lakers are on the outside looking in as the 13th seed in the Western Conference. At the All-Star break—roughly three quarters of the way through the 2022-23 season—Los Angeles holds a 27-32 record. Despite that ugly margin, oddsmakers refuse to count James’ team out, a testament to his ability to elevate even the most downtrodden teams. The Lakers are listed at or around +5000 to win it all at a host of Ohio Bet365, which is around the middle of the pack in the Western Conference—despite being one of its worst teams for much of the season.

James’ Business Savvy

In addition to his athletic talent, James has a significant entrepreneurial streak as well. An internet phenomenon in high school (long before the days of YouTube and social media, no less), James received a sponsorship deal from Nike to the tune of $90 million for the rights to sell shoes and merchandise with the allure of his name before he ever appeared in an NBA game. 

His net worth has only continued to grow from there with record breaking contracts and a handful of savvy investments.

James owns a host of sports franchises—and that’s not a joke about his dominance in the NBA. Fenway Sports Group began in 2001 as a group of investors decided to pool their assets in order to purchase the Boston Red Sox. With the Red Sox’ dominance for much of the 21st century, the conglomerate’s purchasing power only continued to grow. They bought Liverpool F.C. in 2010, one year before James joined the group as part of Fenway Sports Management, an offshoot marketing agency, and later acquired majority ownership of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2021.

Why Liverpool? 

James, who played for the Cavaliers for 11 of his 20 seasons, considers himself a hometown hero after growing up just half an hour away from Cleveland. As such, he felt a connection with Steven Gerrard, a Liverpool native who captained the team when James first acquired an ownership stake. During a 2011 trip to see the club play, James said that it was one of the best experiences of his life.

“That came from the simple fact of how passionate and loyal those fans are,” James said. “To walk through the facility the day before – to see all the history and achievements was very powerful.”