Los Angeles Lakers All-NBA forward LeBron James may be (shockingly) one of the best players on Team USA during even this summer’s Olympics even at the advanced age of 39. While he’s en route to potentially his third Olympic gold medal in Paris (and possible his fourth Olympic medal overall), the 6-foot-9 superstar is similarly competitive off the court, too, when it comes to selling his swag.

During a conversation on Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson’s program “Scoop B Radio,” Tyler Santiago, owner of Santiago Sports in Matawan, New Jersey reflected on James’ work in the merchandise game.

Much like Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, James has been careful with protecting the exclusivity of his likeness when it comes to merchandise.

“It’s a little similar. It’s an interesting comparison,” Santiago allowed. “He had his own Jordan merch in the game with the Jordan Brand and Nike. He had leverage that nobody else had. I mean, Shaq and other guys were doing that — Grant Hill, Magic Johnson were working with other brands and stuff but, I don’t know… He [Michael Jordan] just became smart and had a power and leverage that nobody else could really touch. So, it’s different.”

James had been with Upper Deck for exclusive trading card rights, but recently hopped over to Fanatics.

“He didn’t want to get screwed by Fanatics or whatever with the contract that he signed two years ago,” Santiago added. “It’s a four-year contract, you sign it two years in and you’re in the pros for two years and you’re making pennies when you should be capitalizing off of your image. I totally get the NIL deals and all that, but it’s really interesting to look at and this guy should be doing what they can but some of them just want to take the money; they’ve never had this amount of money before and it’s life changing for a lot of these kids even though when they first sign it, it’s life changing money but as they get older and they build a brand for themselves and they become valuable to a sports team, they exceed that and that’s where some of them get taken advantage of; not in a bad way but, it’s just the game. Like, you decided to do that and you have to… I don’t want to say reap the consequences, but you did it, you know? You’ll get it back some way. It’s interesting to look at all that.”

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