Haute 100 Update: LeBron James Matches His Playoff Record of 49 points, Earns Heat $90 Million
When LeBron James made the move to join the Miami Heat in 2010, Miami knew the star player would bring big wins and money to the city. The Miami Herald reports today that LeBron has made a $90 million surplus for the Heat in the teams past three seasons. While the Heat’s profit sharing deal for Miami-Dade has only netted the county $250,000, new deals might soon be negotiated that would instead see the county receiving about a million dollars annually from the Heat for the county’s parks department.
The three star players’ contract negotiations will all be coming up soon and LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will be allowed to option out of playing in Miami. There’s no official word yet on whether the Heat’s star players will be staying in the city in which they’ve won two championships already, but there is no denying their time spent as stars of the Miami Heat has benefited the city financially, and put Miami sports back on the map.
On Tuesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets, LeBron made a franchise record 49 points in a playoffs game, breaking a Heat record previously set by Wade, with 46 points scored in a playoff. LeBron matched his own record of 49 points scored in a playoff game, which he had done with the Cavaliers back in 2009. The Miami Heat is headed to the Eastern Conference finals against the Indiana Pacers, after beating the Nets in the Conference SemiFinals this week. If all goes well for the Heat at the Conference Finals, Miami will be headed to play in their fourth consecutive final, and hopefully bringing home a third championship win for Miami.