As the NBA continues to grow, so does fans’ knowledge of the game and the forces around it, the things outside of basketball that sometimes influence players’ decisions.
One such factor that has been bandied about in recent years is the proliferation of clauses in the shoe endorsement contracts of stars that give them extra money for ending up in top media markets, as well as how much extra money those same stars could stand to gain in sales should they end up with a team in a larger city with a more die-hard fanbase.
But while LeBron James will almost undoubtedly benefit from the latter factor with his move to the Los Angeles Lakers, it sounds like — despite having a big-market bonus in his original contract with Nike — that the swoosh won’t be giving James any extra pay for coming to the Lakers now, according to Nick DePaula of ESPN:
Fifteen years ago, LeBron James -- then fresh out of high school and yet to play a single NBA minute -- signed an unprecedented, seven-year, $90 million contract with Nike, which famously included a clause that would pay him even more if the presumptive No.