Long before he ever suited up in the NBA’s biggest markets, LeBron James had already lined up his most lucrative deal of 2018, and it had nothing to do with playing basketball. A limited liability company he controls borrowed almost $300 million from a pair of Midwestern life insurers, pledging his off-court income to secure the money.
Due in 2049, the previously unreported bonds delivered immediate cash to James while leaning on a stream of future revenue drawn from his earnings away from the court, according to insurance industry records reviewed by Bloomberg. A lifetime sponsorship with Nike anchors those earnings.
By comparison, the $154 million contract James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers arrived months later, making the private financing his largest transaction of the year.
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North American Company for Life and Health Insurance and Midland National Life Insurance Co. supplied the funds. Both are owned by Sammons Financial Group, and both received advice from an arm of Guggenheim Partners.
What the arrangement lays bare is the transformation Guggenheim chief executive Mark Walter and other Wall Street money managers have engineered across the once-staid life insurance industry. Instead of leaving policyholder premiums in conventional bonds, these firms have redirected the money toward private credit, sports franchises and, in James’s case, financing for a single athlete.
The lending predated Walter’s push to acquire the Lakers. He later agreed to sell the team amid a federal probe into parts of his business empire, though nothing suggests the loans to James are tied to those inquiries.
Underwriting a superstar’s endorsement income as collateral, rather than relying on traditional cash flows, reflects a broader appetite among insurers to chase yield through unconventional assets.
James now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers. The bonds bearing his name, meanwhile, stretch more than two decades, running well beyond the close of his playing career.
