Back in 2018, a company controlled by LeBron James took out a loan of almost $300 million from two life insurers based in the Midwest.

That's according to Bloomberg reporters Weihua Li, Alexandre Rajbhandari, and Sridhar Natarajan, who reported that an arm of Guggenheim Partners helped put the deal together.

Bloomberg reported on the transaction as part of its broader examination of Mark Walter's business interests. An arm of Guggenheim Partners advised the insurers involved in the deal.

To be clear, Bloomberg's reporting doesn't tie James' loan to whatever federal investigators are looking into, and nothing is suggesting James is connected to that probe.

Rather, Bloomberg looked at it more as a case study.

Bloomberg's Samantha Stewart wrote that the loan handed James a large sum of cash right away, backed by income he expected to earn down the line from ventures outside basketball. 

A few months later, in that same year, James signed a $154 million contract. Bloomberg doesn't say one thing led to the other, just that they happened close together.

Deals like this aren't unusual anymore. Athletes and entertainers increasingly borrow against money they expect to make later instead of waiting years for it to show up.

Why the loan is drawing attention now 

Per the same Bloomberg's reporting, dug into something bigger too. How big Wall Street firms have reshaped what life insurers are willing to invest in.

Walter and other money managers, per the report, have pushed insurers well past the safe, conservative bets they used to stick to. James' loan is used as one example of policyholder money ending up in less traditional places.

Walter wasn't even a Lakers owner when any of this happened. He didn't buy the team until 2025, paying a reported $10 billion, well after James' loan had already closed. 

James later moved on from the Lakers, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in July 2026, around the same stretch that Walter sold the team's majority stake to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a reported $12.5 billion.

Timeline aside, the loan itself sits years apart from Walter's ownership of the team. What's changed is that Walter's other business dealings are now under federal review, and that's what's brought a deal this old back into the conversation.

Written by

Kapil Manghnani

Kapil Manghnani brings over 4.5 years of experience in sports journalism, covering a wide range of sports, including Soccer, NHL, Tennis, Gymnastics, NASCAR, Swimming, and more. He has written for leading sports platforms, producing everything from breaking news and features to in-depth analysis, opinion pieces, long-form stories, and short-form content. Beyond articles, he has also scripted long-form storytelling videos for YouTube channels. His work focuses on delivering well-researched, engaging, and reader-first sports content across multiple formats.

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Edited by

Rudra Dubey