• by Thom Forbes , December 8, 2015

Talk about a slam-dunk deal of a lifetime: The Cleveland Cavalier’s LeBron James has signed a lifetime contract with Nike that he calls “humbling,” Nike says “provides significant value to our business, brand and shareholders” and the rest of us likely find beyond our  comprehension, although Donald Trump has yet to weigh in. 

“The pact is worth at least $60 million per year, and maybe much more, as the athletic shoe-and-apparel giant sought to permanently extend its partnership with James that has already covered his entire 13-year NBA career,” writes Joe Vardon on Cleveland.com, although the actual terms were not disclosed. “A source familiar with James' deal said it was the largest financial arrangement between an athlete and Nike in the company's 44-year history, and also the first lifetime deal for any Nike athlete.”

“I'm just grateful that Nike and Phil Knight, and everyone over there just believed in a ... skinny 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio, and I'm happy to be a part of such a great company,” James said after the Cavaliers practiced yesterday. 

“LeBron and I have been in love and obsessed with Nike since we were kids,” Maverick Carter, James' business partner who will manage the deal, tells ESPN’s Darren Rovell, who broke the story. “Having built a totally innovative global business with them has truly been a dream come true. We are so excited to be taking the business to an entirely new level.” 

Rovell also reports that the deal “was negotiated by Main Street Advisors' Paul Wachter, who also negotiated the deal for John Henry to buy the Red Sox in 2002 and represented Beats By Dre in its $3 billion sale to Apple last May.”

Fortune’s John Kell points out that “Nike is essentially betting that James will stay scandal-free throughout the rest of his career, as well as have staying power in the many years of his life when he is no longer an active player.” A similar wager it has made on Michael Jordan, who has not played since 2003, has “pulled in billions” to date.

Before amusingly speculating about deals James may be involved with in the future — including about uploading his consciousness to a droid in 2081 to extend the ventures all “beyond my natural lifespan” — The Verge’s Jamieson Cox suggests that “it's hard to imagine a better candidate for this kind of deal than LeBron.

“He's one of the greatest individual forces in the history of the sport; he's won multiple times at its highest level; he's survived and thrived on a personal redemption narrative that might culminate in his delivering glory to his beleaguered, beloved hometown. He's socially conscious and wildly charismatic. He's set himself up for a future beyond basketball with production companies, sports agencies, juice bars, and a vested interest in English football.” 

“James’s lifetime deal comes as a younger superstar, Stephen Curry, 27, is captivating fans and potentially looks to be on the path to becoming as valuable as James or more,” observes Richard Sandomir for the New York Times. 

League MVP for last year’s NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors (who are 22-0 this year), Curry “recently extended through 2024 his shoe-and-apparel deal with a Nike rival, Under Armour, which makes the Curry One and Curry Two shoes,” Sandomir writes. “A black-and-white Under Armour ad suggests that Curry is heralding a new age in the NBA in which ‘the step-back three is the new dunk’ and ‘range is the new hang-time.’”

Indeed, “some retail and sportswear-industry experts have noticed a slowdown in demand for Mr. James’s shoes, as signature sneakers for younger players like Kyrie Irving and Stephen Curry have picked up traction,” reports Sara Germano for the Wall Street Journal.

“LeBron’s shoes have always been bigger and bulkier than the others, so it’s hard for a young kid to want to wear that big shoe, and convince his mother to spend $200, when he can get Steph’s shoe for $60 less,” Josh Luber, founder of sneakerhead data-provider Campless, tells Germano.

But enough of them apparently are to boost Nike’s stock 1,000% since it signed James in the spring of 2003, reports Steve Schaefer for Forbes, against a 181% return for the S&P 500. Then again, “Under Armour has returned almost 1,300% since its 2005 IPO,” he reports.