Brief - The Hustle

LeBron James, the influencer?

Written by Rob Litterst | Aug 16, 2022 8:04:29 AM

The minimum salary for an NBA player is $1.8m per season, so it’s no surprise LeBron James makes a lot more than that.

What might be surprising is how much he could earn if he took his talents strictly to the ’gram.

As of last week…

… James had 129m Instagram followers, allowing him to earn up to ~$428k per sponsored post, per estimates from betting website JeffBet.

  • He’s since gained 2m+ followers, meaning that number is likely even bigger.

When it comes to Instagram…

… @kingjames lives up to his handle. His closest NBA peer is Stephen Curry, with ~45m followers.

However, even James can’t compete with Cristiano Ronaldo. With 476m followers and counting, he’s the most-followed account on Instagram, and can make up to $2m per sponsored post.