LeBron has a stated intention to become the world’s first billionaire athlete, and to that end he is creating a global brand for himself.

As to him staying in Cleveland – I personally think he will stay for 3 years, including this coming season. He has a player option and he will pick it up. If we do not become a dominant team in those next two years, he will go off to LA or NYC, and I think even the embittered fans of Cleveland will wish him well at that point. He is doing very well in Cleveland right now, even though he could be making more money elsewhere – he benefits from Dan Gilbert’s excellent business sense (I’ll bet you Gilbert gave the Chinese investors pretty favorable terms to get them in), and Mike Brown is obviously a good coach for him in that he is smart in two regards – his coaching, particularly defensive, and in giving LeBron room to be LeBron. He’s an oversize personality and everyone knows it – Cleveland rolls out the red carpet for him in absolutely every regard, every chance it gets. He does have some hometown loyalty in him, and I think Cleveland tends to inspire that in a way that few other cities do – and no, we don’t know why either. Think of who we worship in terms of sports – Bernie Kosar is high on the list because he not only wanted to play in Cleveland, he manipulated the NFL draft so he could do it. Brady Quinn is high on the list because he grew up in Ohio as a Browns fan and openly stated he’d love to be here, and we obliged by rescuing him from falling draft status.

Nobody is going to pretend Cleveland is a mecca for much of anything other than LBJ and distresed mortgages, but we are diehard fans. Getting the Chinese involved is great – Cleveland needs more partnerships with foreign investors. I think that is a great way forward for the city, and if I could parley my experience into a profitable career doing that in Cleveland, even if it was less profitable than doing in NYC or LA, I would do it too.

All of that hometown chest-beating aside, it’s not such a bad investment – not knowing the exact terms, it’s hard to say, but the NBA overall is a good investment. And Cleveland is probably far more open to said investement than the Lakers, Celtics, or Knicks might be. You’ve got to have ownership receptive to foreign owners before you can even contemplate a deal like this – are owners in NYC and LA looking for more investors? Maybe, but these investors don’t sound super-high profile. They might do better in Cleveland than they’d do elsewhere. And it’s a good stepping stone for LBJ’s portfolio. Yeah, he can do better, and he will, eventually. I don’t see how this isn’t a win-win. And peering out my window a few weeks ago across Chang’an Jie, it wasn’t Yao Ming looking back at me from the giant Nike Store, it was LeBron. Maybe getting access to him now, not later, is worth the risk of him leaving Cleveland? He’s already a huge brand, imagine how hard it’ll be to form partnerships with him when he’s paired with another superstar on the floor of Madison Square Garden!