Photos: LeBron James Debuts Nike LeBron 3 “Lakers” PE

LeBron James put Las Vegas on fire as he was paying close attention to the next generation of Lakers at the annual NBA Summer League. He watched the Lake Show’s Saturday game against the Clippers. Something else caught everyone’s attention. His team-themed PE version of Nike LeBron 3.

Each shoe uses the team’s signature purple and gold color in a different fashion. There’s a rich purple base with gold trim on the left sneaker. There’s regal gold base with purple trim on the right show.

King James is doing a really good job with Nike, and the sneakers are really great.

“It’s a fantastic deal,” his partner Maverick Carter told GQ about the deal. “Nike feels great about the deal. That’s the most important thing. As great as I feel, as great as LeBron feels—Nike feels fantastic about it. It’s the largest deal in the history of the company. Their hope is he makes even more. And our hope is that, too, obviously.”

Dominating Hollywood was their priority.

“It was the natural evolution,” Maverick added. “Obviously, the goal was to figure out ways to take his talent, who he is, what he represents, and build businesses around that. Because being a great basketball player, there’s a very tight window.”

Carter did his best to provide a good deal for LeBron. That’s how the juicy deal was born.

“You have to go into the room understanding a couple things. You have to know what you want. You have to know how to clearly articulate those things. You have to know what’s important to the other side and what they want. Be able to articulate those things, too. And then you have to be willing to not take everything. If you go into the negotiation like, I’m gonna get every dollar, every piece of real estate—I’m just gonna take this guy’s pants off—you may be able to do that once, maybe twice, but after that, people aren’t going to want to do business with you. When you’re negotiating something like the Nike deal, it’s gonna last a lifetime, literally. The minute this negotiation’s over, we’re gonna work with these people every day. So you don’t want to leave them with a bad feeling.”