LeBron James is one of the most successful and wealthiest athletes in the world. He has not only made a lot of money while playing basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, James has also built a business empire. His success off of the court has ultimately made him even more wealthy. However, if he wanted to, James could make even more money than he is already making. He could do this through social media. In fact, James could earn more money through Instagram than almost any other athlete in the world.

LeBron James is one of the best basketball players of all-time

When discussing the best basketball players of all-time, LeBron James’ name always comes up in the conversation. In his first seven seasons in the NBA on the Cleveland Cavaliers, James became a superstar. He earned six All-Star selections in those seasons, won two MVP awards, and led the league in points per game in 2007-08.

James then went to the Miami Heat in 2010-11 and became a winner. He won two NBA championships in four seasons with the Heat. Then, while returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers for four seasons, James ultimately made eight straight trips to the NBA Finals, winning three titles (two with the Heat and one with the Cavaliers).

During the past two seasons, James has played for the Los Angeles Lakers. He was leading the league in assists per game this year before the NBA suspended its season.

Here are some more of his career accomplishments. 

• 16-time NBA All-Star
• Four-time NBA MVP
• Three-time NBA champion
• Three-time NBA Finals MVP
• 34,087 career points (third all-time)
• 9,298 career assists (eighth all-time)
• 27.1 career points-per-game average (fourth all-time) 

James is very wealthy because of his success on the court. His smart moves off of the court have also helped him become one of the richest athletes in the world. 

Already being very wealthy

Just for his play on the basketball court, LeBron James has earned a lot of money from the three teams he has played for. So far through his career, James has earned over an estimated $306.98 million, according to Spotrac.

The past four seasons is where James has earned a lot of his money. James made over an estimated $30.96 million on the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016-17, according to Spotrac. He also made over an estimated $33.28 million on the Cavs in 2017-18. In 2018-19 on the Los Angeles Lakers, James earned over an estimated $35.65 million. Then James earned over an estimated $37.43 million with the Lakers this season.

His work off the court has made him worth more than the $306.98 million he has earned on the court, though. Celebrity Net Worth estimates that James is worth $480 million. That’s an incredible amount of money.

What is even crazier, though, is that James could earn even more money. 

James could make a lot of money through Instagram

MyProtein recently did a study on how much fitness influencers, celebrity trainers, and sports stars could earn from sponsored posts on Instagram. They ultimately made a list of 90 people and ranked them in three separate lists (fitness influencers, celebrity trainers, and sports stars). MyProtein then based the rankings for each list on each person’s amount of followers and potential earnings per post. As you can imagine, of the 30 big sports stars that MyProtein researched, LeBron James ranked right near the top.

According to MyProtein’s data, James could earn $355,500 per post on Instagram. That has a lot to do with his 63 million-plus followers. Believe it or not, though, that actually ranks fourth among the athletes in the study. The only three athletes who rank higher than James are all soccer stars. Neymar is No. 3 with $775,300 per post, Lionel Messi is No. 2 with $837,000 per post, and Cristiano Ronaldo is at the top of the list with $975,000 per post. 

That is an incredible amount of money just to post a photo on Instagram. 

LeBron James is already one of the wealthiest athletes in the world. He could potentially make even more money, though, through his Instagram. He is almost certainly set for life.