Dave Portnoy thinks LeBron James is going to be the next Kawhi Leonard.
After shocking the world and joining the Philadelphia 76ers this past offseason, seemingly every basketball mind began double-taking at how James landed in the City of Brotherly Love for what many expect to be his final seasons.
James signed for the league minimum to facilitate the deal and be able to sign wherever he wanted, and reports have trickled out that Michael Rubin, the billionaire owner of Fanatics who used to be a part owner of the 76ers, might have a bit more to do with James’ decision than was previously known.
“He basically took that contract (league minimum deal with the 76ers) because Rubin is doing a side deal with him,” Portnoy said in a post on social media. “He flies in and out. It’s illegal. It’s basically what Kawhi did. But the NBA won’t look into LeBron.”
James signing a league-minimum contract was surprising, as he had been on a max contract for nearly his entire career before that.
James was recently spotted taking Fanatics’ private helicopter to and from practice, opting to live in New York City over Philadelphia.
Front Office Sports’ Eric Roberts reported that James is allowed access to Fanatics Aviation as part of his contract with Rubin’s company, and he revealed his free-agent destination in a collaborative social media post across multiple websites.
Portnoy is pointing to this “side deal” with Rubin’s company as a form of salary cap circumvention, since Fanatics is paying him an undisclosed amount of money that is clearly not a small number if he has unlimited access to private planes and is leaking his free-agent destination to him.
Rubin, who used to be a part owner of the 76ers, sold his stake in 2022, adding that it is having an effect on the rest of his businesses.
“As our Fanatics business has grown, so too have the obstacles I have to navigate to ensure our new businesses don’t conflict with my responsibilities as part-owner of the Sixers,” Rubin said in 2022. “Given these realities, I will sadly be selling my stake in the Sixers and shifting from part-owner back to life-long fan.”
Salary cap circumvention is a hot topic in the sports world right now, as the Clippers were given a massive penalty of five first round picks – which they have since accepted – for funneling money to Leonard through illegal means in the eyes of the NBA.
The scheme, first pointed out by investigative journalist Pablo Torre, resulted in Leonard getting $7 million in cash and $5 million in stock per year in the company Aspiration.
James is making just $3.87 million for his season in Philadelphia, but he’s made up for it in off-the-court partnerships with Fanatics (undisclosed amount) and Polymarket ($15 million per year).
