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Backed by $1 Billion Worth Deal, LeBron James Hypes Up Nike’s Fortnite ‘Airphoria’ Collaboration For 156,000,000 Fans

Rishabh Bhatnagar
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Backed by $1 Billion Worth Deal, LeBron James Hypes Up Nike's Fortnite 'Airphoria' Collaboration For 156,000,000 Fans

Back in 2015, LeBron James signed a lifetime deal with Nike said to be worth around a billion Dollars. The former Cleveland Cavaliers star first signed for the global giants back in 2003 and has since represented them wherever he went. The deal has also recently led to James becoming a part of the Fortnite video game. Nike recently announced details about a collaboration with Nike, which also includes an “Air Max” world that will be added to the game.

LeBron James himself appears to be joining Fortnite as a new skin and will be available for gamers to play as soon. The LA Lakers star shared two stories on Instagram related to the Nike-Fortnite collaboration. He again proved his loyalty to the brand he has been with since 2003, in front of his 156 million Instagram followers.

LeBron James hypes Nike’s Air Max collaboration with Fortnite on Instagram

James posted a total of two stories related to Nike’s collaboration. The global giants have had a number of collaborations over the years but the new “Airphoria” collab looks to be the biggest to date.

Apart from featuring a LeBron James skin, an “Air Max” World was also teased by LeBron via the story. While LeBron himself is not known to be a Fortnite gamer, he still seemed excited about the collaboration. James posted the following caption on Instagram:

“Man ya’ll are too crazy with this @fortnite, @Nike! A whole new #Airmax World? Let’s Go!”

Airphoria went live on Fortnite on 20th June and has been introduced as a UEFN-designed map that features a range of Nike references. Gamers can access the island map until 27th June 2023.

LeBron James has a longstanding relationship with Nike

LeBron James’ relationship with Nike has been extremely fruitful for both parties involved. Nike has obviously benefitted from his global presence, while James will end up earning more than $1 billion over the course of the lifetime deal.

James first signed for Nike back in 2003 and had multiple other bigger offers. This included a $115 million deal from Reebok, according to Sports Illustrated.

https://twitter.com/Jorge_Most_/status/1671187851885543426

The initial 7-year deal that Nike offered James was only worth $87 million. However, since then, his ever-growing global stock meant that Nike eventually offered LeBron a lifetime deal, back in 2015. As his recent Instagram stories testify, the partnership is still going as strong as one can imagine.

About the author

Rishabh Bhatnagar

Rishabh Bhatnagar

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Rishabh Bhatnagar is a Senior NBA Writer at The SportsRush. A lifelong NBA fan, Rishabh has been working as an NBA journalist since 2017. Before joining The SportsRush, he covered the NBA for another popular media platform. Rishabh is a bona fide NBA Historian specializing in uncovering stories from the league's past. He also likes covering trade rumors and player contracts. Rishabh has written almost 800 articles for The SportsRush and is always on the lookout for intriguing NBA stories. He is also a published novelist and an ardent Lakers fan.

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