Billionaire LeBron James has not surpassed Michael Jordan’s impact and influence in sports business, says Jaylen Brown

Michael Jordan's Air Jordan brand has been leagues ahead of anything LeBron James or any other athlete has managed to do.

Billionaire LeBron James has not surpassed Michael Jordan’s impact and influence in sports business, says Jaylen Brown

Michael Jordan's impact on sports business is higher than LeBron James', says Jaylen Brown

In a day and age when fans want to get as much content they can about athletes and celebrities, business is booming for brands associated with them. In basketball terms, the big guns such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry and a few others dominate the spectrum. But it all started with Michael Jordan.

The Chicago Bulls great was the first to set the ball rolling. His deal with Nike destroyed the strict business tactics of the past as well as the league’s control over such activities. His stature even before coming into the league was high enough that Nike paid to cover the fines the NBA would slap Jordan with.

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That move alone helped turn the situation surrounding athletes and businesses. From then on, everything has worked to come to a point where athletes are now signing deals even before completing college. That impact, NBA Finals MVP Jaylen Brown thinks, is because of one man alone.

Jordan was one of one. Nobody has surpassed Jordan since. Not LeBron. We’re in a whole different era. That was almost 40 years ago.

Jaylen Brown said

Brown said on the Earn Your Leisure podcast knows that LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Anthony Edwards and a few others have enormous influence in the basketball community. However, they are still not at the same level as Michael Jordan, even though 40 years have passed.

What Jordan did with his Air Jordan brand has never been matched. That brand has become the de facto face of basketball merchandise. Nike’s deal with LeBron James has helped him become a billionaire. But it pales in comparison to Jordan’s brand alone.

Jaylen Brown believes sports business has changed since Michael Jordan’s times

LeBron James’s twenty-second line of sneakers is getting custom variant after custom variant. Stephen Curry’s own Curry Brand is looking to carve its own way in the market. Anthony Edwards and James Harden are leading the charge for Adidas. But Jaylen Brown believes it is not that great for athletes.

A lot of our players have complaints. Throughout time they’ve been mistreated. Once they’ve finished their deal or their contract, they can’t put out things as quickly as they need. They can’t get them to their community or their family members. They don’t own their IPs, so they have no say so.

Jaylen Brown said

The Boston Celtics superstar revealed that athletes initially sign with sneaker companies hoping it will serve them good for the entire duration of their careers. But once their original deal is over, the companies do not give them their payouts.

They can only continue to receive them once they have re-signed with the brand. In most cases, the brand or company will force the athletes to sign a deal that favors them. That is how he believes the market has turned. It does not favor the athlete, unlike the times with Michael Jordan where he dictated the terms.

Jaylen Brown going his own way

With all this going on in the sports business world, Jaylen Brown has decided to venture out on his own. After his deal expired with Adidas, he chose not to sign with anyone. Instead, he decided to follow his former teammate Kyrie Irving in choosing his own deal.

But unlike Irving, the 28-year-old launched his own sneaker company. 741, the brand he owns, launched their first sneaker in September last year. Since then, he has been advocating athletes to take power back into their hands.

The experience of designing and creating his own company has given him enough knowledge to know what athletes are missing out. That is why he wants athletes to follow what Michael Jordan did all those decades ago.