Harvard Business School professor Anita Elberse wrote a case study and book chapter about LeBron James' new model for sports marketing.

In 2005, James cut ties with his agent and corporate marketing firm to create his own agency and handle all of those operations in house.

"This is the future of sports and sports marketing," said Elberse. "I think what these guys are doing are leading ways for many others."

LRMR manages and negotiates (sometimes with the help of Fenway Sports Management out of Boston) all of the marketing contracts James gets to endorse companies and products (think Nike, Coca-Cola, Kia, Samsung, etc.).

James was the fourth highest-earning athlete in endorsements alone ($44 million) in 2015, according to Forbes, trailing Roger Federer ($58 million), Tiger Woods ($50 million) and Phil Mickelson ($48 million).

"We've all learned, we've had bumps and bruises along the way but it has only made us stronger and made us who we are today," James said. "About 12 years ago when I decided to part ways with my agent, there were 150 million articles about how I was making a mistake to hire the people around me that I trusted: Maverick, Rich and Randy and start LRMR and how everything would fall to pieces. Those pieces have made a beautiful portrait at this point."