Beijing Bling: LeBron James Becomes First Active NBA Player to Become a Billionaire

Lakers star LeBron James has officially become the first active NBA player to obtain a net worth of $1 billion, according to Forbes.

Legendary NBA superstar Michael Jordan has also reached the lofty billion-dollar mark, but he didn’t accomplish that feat until 2014, long after he retired from the league.

However, had Jordan only been so inclined to covet the massive money-making power of the world’s leading human rights abuser, such as James, Jordan could have reached that mark during his playing days.

Only $41 million worth of James’ considerable financial fortune comes from the Los Angeles Lakers team he plays for. As Breitbart’s Warner Todd Huston, the rest comes from shoe, movie, and clothing deals, the lion’s share of which is connected to Nike, which is among one of the dozens of international corporations linked to slave labor in China.

As Huston writes:

Nike, of course, is heavily invested in the Chinese market and is said to have raked in upwards of $6 billion in China in just the last year. And as it happens, James is one of Nike’s biggest-selling names in the Chinese market.

Nike is listed among 83 international companies benefitting directly or indirectly from Chinese slave labor.

“As far as sports go, along with his stake in the Boston Red Sox, James also has a stake in Liverpool, a soccer team in the English Premier League,” Huston adds.

Protesters demonstrate against Chinese slave labor (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Despite demonstrating a willingness to speak out on every single social justice issue and criticize his native country at will, James has remained entirely silent on the overwhelming evidence of human rights abuses in China. In fact, he has even defended his communist benefactors when given the opportunity.

In 2019, when then-Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey dared to support free speech rights for protesters in Hong Kong, James raced to Beijing’s defense. He accused Morey of being “uneducated,” even going so far as to say there was a downside to free speech.

Sadly, since James has proved that selling out to totalitarian regimes pays off, there will likely be others who attempt to do the same.