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LeBron James’ “$33 million” salary with the Cleveland Cavaliers was cut in half!

Jeet Pukhrambam
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LeBron James is worth a billion now but he had to pay a hefty price. In Cleveland, he didn’t get half his salary, that’s over $16 million! 

There are two certainties in life, death, and taxes. The latter can hurt you a lot, ask any rich person and they will happily share the pain of taxes.

Ask LeBron James, who once got less than half his salary for a calendar year! Yes, you read that right, less than %50 of your annual income was cut, due to taxes. That must have hurt.

When LeBron moved from Cleveland, he wasn’t leaving behind the glorious sunny weather. He was also forfeiting his right to keep his money.

Florida does not have a state income tax, which meant he kept a fair portion of his earnings. However, when James moved back to Cleveland, he faced taxes, a lot of it.

Also read: “LeBron James gave Nike’s founder a $7500 vintage Rolex from 1972!”: When Lakers superstar showed his ultimate boss some serious gratitude for his $90 million contract

After federal taxes and state taxes, LeBron James took home only $16.7 million in 2018!

Boy, that one must hurt. It turns out that Cleveland has a whopping 6.5% as the state tax rate. Mr. James had to fork out another $2.1 million dollars. Ouch.

Even for a multi-millionaire like LeBron James, that one would have hurt his pockets. He was stripped of nearly $17 million.

After his move to Los Angeles, the deficit has climbed. Fortunately for LeBron, he has numerous endorsements. This year, his endorsements netted him roughly $100 million dollars. It’s good to be the King.

Also read: “Bronny James activated the LeGene!”: NBA Twitter reacts to LeBron James’ eldest son’s highlights in Nike Peach Jam

About the author

Jeet Pukhrambam

Jeet Pukhrambam

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Jeet Pukhrambam is The SportsRush's Lead Editor for Basketball. After freelancing for five years as an independent writer, Jeet created thousands of blog posts and articles. He now covers intriguing news reports and throwback stories on all things NBA. His interest in NBA started with the ascendancy of Giannis Antetokounmpo in the 2016-17 season. Since then, Jeet has managed to coalesce his knowledge of the game and his writing to create pieces that are reflective of the current state of the league. Now, he ensures that The SportsRush produces the highest quality of writing. In his free time, he enjoys playing football, cooking, traveling, and dancing to techno. Jeet takes pride in his critical thinking, music playlists, and his love for spaghetti.

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