LeBron James deals in large amounts of money.
The four-time NBA MVP, who is earning $19 million in salary this season, makes upwards of $40 million each year in endorsements. All told, James is worth nearly $200 million.
His enormous salary and business profile make him one of the highest earning athletes in the world.
And with all these millions flying around, James has little time for $1 bills. In an amusing new anecdote from a New Yorker story, a man who trains James says he has picked up on LeBron's habit of not taking change. The man is Idan Ravin, and he has worked with some of the NBA's best players -- including James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwight Howard. He has earned the nickname "Hoops Whisperer" for his sage advice.
During a training session with Skylar Diggins, the star of the WNBA's Tulsa Shock, Radin bought a Gatorade and left a quarter in the machine. Writer Reeves Wiedeman says Radin got this practice from James, who "deems one-dollar bills too small to bother with."
From Wiedeman's story:
"S---, I'd take a dollar," Diggins, who last year made less than James does in a single game, said.
“Those guys are just on a different planet," Ravin said.
“That’s why some of them go broke," Diggins added.
This sounds ridiculous, and in theory the idea of abandoning the $1 bill is crazy. But let's face it -- James will never be in a situation where he'll desperately need $1. And even the entire collection of the $1 bills that James has left behind amounts to only a minuscule fraction of his total fortune.
While Diggins is correct in pointing out that many of James' colleagues have gone broke because of money mismanagement, if there's anyone who can ditch $1 bills and stay on top, it's LeBron James.
