LeBron James appears to have already done a lot of thinking about what his post-playing career is going to look like.
Maverick Carter, James’ longtime business partner, appeared at the Semafor World Economy recently and opened up about what the two have planned once James retires. Carter suggested that James has the ability to bypass a traditional sports media career and build a digital entertainment business of his own.
“We have a team of people that can produce and create at a high caliber,” Carter said, via Max Tani of Semafor. “So he is actually going to come to us with what his vision is. How does he want to keep creating content and telling stories that connect with his fans? And how do we build a suite of shows around that? And then the beauty of it is, today, distribution is everywhere. So someone like LeBron’s caliber is a big draw. You can get distribution anywhere and really connect with people and build a show, just us, without anybody else.”
Carter certainly makes it sound like we’ll be seeing a lot of James after he retires. It just won’t necessarily be through more traditional media platforms.
The big question remains when James will take the step into his new career. His future beyond this season is uncertain, though the general consensus seems to lean toward him playing at least one more year. Even if he does play, nobody knows if that will be with the Lakers or with someone else.
James has already dabbled in podcasting — with someone who went on to become his head coach, no less. It sounds like everything is ready for him to start on a new path. The only question is when that will be.
