LeBron James Is Still a Marketing Juggernaut

There have been some murmurs lately about LeBron the player regressing, and LeBron the corporate force treading water. At least on the latter count, it's time to kill the noise. From The Akron Beacon Journal:

Maverick Carter, the head of James' LRMR Marketing group, was seated at center court in Seattle with Microsoft vice president Joanne Bradford last Tuesday. Bradford and Carter are expected to make an announcement about James becoming a pitchman for Microsoft in a multimillion dollar deal Feb. 5. Carter and LRMR are about to become more high profile as James looks to start adding new marketing clients. They also trying are to recruit new athletes to represent.

Fall back Dwyane Wade-your Lincoln and T-Mobile ads have nothing on this. But that's just the beginning of this latest LeBron Inc. movemaking:

Two major business publications have reported the sports representation agency of Leon Rose, who is James' agent, will be acquired by Hollywood talent giant Creative Artists Agency. If it comes to pass, it will be interesting to see if it paves the wave for James to someday get involved in a major motion picture. James has maintained such an interest for several years and had informal talks with Spike Lee several years ago.

One idea already being bandied about is a movie featuring his popular Nike commercial characters, "The LeBrons."

You can chime in with whatever Space Jam or Kazaam jokes you want, but don't go saying there's no Madison Avenue demand for James. If Spike wanted him for his acting, it wouldn't be a movie about the funny little people in LeBron's head. I'm not exactly sure what the phrase "sleeping giant" means, but I'm pretty sure it applies here. And most likely, to LeBron's actual basketball career.