LeBron James had another huge 2018 deal sitting away from the basketball page.
According to a Bloomberg report cited in a Reddit post that surged through r/nba, a limited liability company controlled by James borrowed almost $300 million from a pair of Midwestern life insurers. The insurers were run by Sammons Financial Group Companies and advised by an arm of Guggenheim Partners, according to insurance industry records reviewed by Bloomberg.
The timing is the hook. The borrowing reportedly happened just months before James joined the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $154 million contract in 2018. That Lakers deal became the public headline. The private financing, if accurately described by the records, was nearly twice as large.
There is no need to turn that into a basketball rumor. The report does not say it changed James' NBA decision or the Lakers' roster plans. What it does show is the scale of the business structure around one of the league's most powerful athletes.
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