76ers reportedly make NBA history with never before seen prediction market partnership

76ers reportedly make NBA history with never before seen prediction market partnership originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Philadelphia 76ers signed LeBron James for just $8 million this summer, marking the largest pay cut in NBA history. Sure, James has made plenty of money throughout his career since joining the NBA, so the contract wasn’t necessarily a big deal for him.

However, James found another way to make money through endorsements and partnerships, including one with Polymarket.

“LeBron James will make more money from his Polymarket partnership than from playing for the 76ers, Front Office Sports has learned. The prediction-market platform is paying James $15 million a year under the recently announced partnership, sources tell FOS. James is not an investor in Polymarket, just an endorser, one source says,” Front Office Sports’ Ryan Glasspiegel and Ben Horney wrote.

James was smart to pursue this opportunity, as it gives him another source of income outside of his playing contract. However, NBA insider Brett Siegel revealed that this type of arrangement could become a trend for players signing smaller deals.

“As far as my knowledge goes, this doesn’t interfere with any CBA rules, but moving forward, these side deals players have with companies could directly lead to smaller contracts to help with cap relief, which in theory, is kind of like cap circumvention,” Siegel wrote.

On Friday, The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov revealed that the 76ers organization would be partnering with Kalshi, marking the first time an NBA team has made a prediction market platform its official partner.

“The Philadelphia 76ers have struck a multi-year deal with Kalshi to make Kalshi its official prediction market partner. Sixers say they’re the 1st NBA team to name an official prediction market partner, and are following in the footsteps of the NBA’s deals this week,” Vorkunov wrote.

The game is continuing to grow off the court, and deals like this were unheard of just a couple of seasons ago. It is certainly something new, but other teams will likely start pursuing similar partnerships.

In a season where James could have set a trend with prediction markets, his team in Philadelphia may be doing the same. Perhaps James was the inspiration the 76ers needed to pursue this deal with Kalshi.

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