LeBron James Bought a Field Worth $1 Million to Play Football with Friends in 2003

LeBron James signed his first deal with Nike in 2003 (the year of his Draft), a 5-year, $87 million contract. Therefore, James was a millionaire at the of 18 even before he made his NBA debut. The then Cleveland Cavaliers superstar also earned a little less than $5 million a year via his first contract.

With literally millions at his disposal, James decided to buy a large estate just outside his hometown of Akron. The reason was that the then-teenage sensation wanted a place to play flag football with his friends. After tearing the estate down and building a mansion in the area, James ended up building a football field as well.

Brian Windhorst’s book, LeBron, Inc. details the purchase. According to Windhorst’s book, James had just received his signing bonus from the Cavaliers at the time. This was obviously in addition to the money he got from the 5-year Nike deal.

This proved to be enough to help the kid from Akron buy a big estate just outside of his hometown for about $1 million. James built a giant mansion on the property in addition to a football field. Known for covering LBJ from an early age, Windy wrote in his book,

“[LeBron] wanted a place where he could have a 100-yard football field to play flag football with friends. He got it, even if he would later tear down the house and rebuild a giant mansion in its place.”

“But in addition to that, LeBron rented an apartment in Cleveland in an upscale building for nights when he didn’t want to drive forty-five minutes back home and where he could spend time on game days. He ended up sharing the same hallway as Wes Wesley,” the book added.

Considering the fact that James has a reputation for being a bit stingy with his spending, this might come off as a surprise. LeBron is said to be careful with his money, which might be a big reason why he has managed to build such a huge empire.

LeBron is often accused of being a penny-pincher

Back in 2022, Kevin Love revealed that James is always reluctant to use phone data as he does not want to spend money.

LeBron himself has revealed that it was his uncle, who taught him the value of money as a kid. Speaking on Maverick Carter’s Kneading Dough podcast, James claimed his uncle had taught him to always treat his money as sacred and not spend too much.

While James might have ended up spending a lot for a football field, he is generally careful with his money and rarely overspends on purchases. Of course, considering the wealth he has now amassed, there is no reason why he cannot afford to, every once in a while.