Bronny James’ NIL value continues to climb with Beats by Dre deal

As Bronny James enters his senior year at Sierra Canyon, brands appear to be increasingly identifying him as a bridge between current and future basketball generations.

“The Legacy Continues” was the finishing touch on a promotional video by Beats by Dre announcing Monday it had inked James to a name, image and likeness (NIL) deal, showing him playing a game of backyard one-on-one hoops with father LeBron James.

“LeBron has been part of the Beats family since the beginning, so we had the honor of watching Bronny grow with us in an unofficial capacity,” Chris Thorne, the chief marketing officer at Beats, told The Times in an email statement. “With the NIL changes, we knew that he would be the perfect partner.”

LeBron James, according to a news release from Beats, was the first athlete signed as an ambassador for the brand back in 2008.

Now, Bronny James will take up the same role his father did 14 years ago — a brand ambassador for the company, featured in future campaigns and modeling custom products made for him.

Thorne told the Times he couldn’t disclose financial details of the deal, but that Beats hoped to have a “longstanding partnership” with James, similar to his father.

High School Sports

Bronny James shows ‘he is a star’ in dominating Las Vegas tournament game

Bronny James finished with 31 points on Friday night, making six of seven three-point attempts, in Sierra Canyon High’s first game of a Las Vegas tournament.

Oct. 15, 2022

Last Monday, Nike announced it had signed Bronny — along with Sierra Canyon girls’ star Juju Watkins and three other high school athletes — to an NIL deal. LeBron James has long been a face of Nike’s brand.

“For as long as I can remember, Nike’s been a part of my family,” Bronny James said in a statement provided by Nike. “Getting a chance to team up with them and continue my family’s legacy both on the court and in the community is wild — it really means a lot to me.”

Both commercial and on-court buzz continues to build around the Sierra Canyon guard, with him torching nets in a 31-point performance in Las Vegas over the weekend at the Border Classic tournament.

“What makes Bronny the perfect ambassador for Beats is not just his talent, but his leadership, personality and influence on youth culture,” Thorne told The Times.