Heavy is the head that wears the crown
Proclamation
Hearken unto the tale of LeBron Raymone James, the First of his Name. Born unto the city of Akron on the thirtieth day of December, nineteen hundred and eighty-four. Six feet and nine inches in stature. Two hundred and fifty pounds in heft.
Four times champion of the Association. Four times the most valuable player therein. One and twenty times named unto the All-Star Game. The all-time leading scorer in the history of the league, having surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the seventh of February, two thousand twenty-three, with thirty-eight thousand, three hundred and eighty-seven points in his possession.
And verily, the first active knight of the NBA to ascend unto the rank of billionaire, an honour unknown to all who came before him.
Drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz
The Standard of Measure
One LeBron = $1.3 B
Forbes real-time billionaire tracker, March 2026. Hereafter, all wealth shall be counted in LeBron's.
§ I
Royal Lineages
Family wealth · Q1 2026
Lineages smaller than one King James
Four Smallest Reigning Houses
Grimaldi · Orange-Nassau · Imperial Japan · Bernadotte
$1.47 B combined
~1LeB
+
+
+
=
Lineages greater than one King James
Bourbon
Spain · King Felipe VI, family
~$2.3 B family
1.77LeB
Nassau-Weilburg
Luxembourg · Grand Duke Henri
~$4 B family
3.1LeB
Liechtenstein
Prince Hans-Adam II · LGT Bank
~$7 B family
5.4LeB
Alaouite
Morocco · King Mohammed VI
~$8 B
6.2LeB
Windsor
UK + 14 realms · est. 1917
~$28 B family
21.5LeB
Bolkiah
Brunei · Sultan Hassanal
~$30 B
23.1LeB
Chakri
Thailand · post-2018 transfer
~$55 B
42.3LeB
Beyond measure · the Gulf dynasties
Al Nahyan
Abu Dhabi · tier-C est.
~$300 B
231LeB
Al Thani
Qatar · tier-C est.
~$335 B
258LeB
Al Sabah
Kuwait · tier-C est.
~$360 B
277LeB
House of Saud
Saudi Arabia · tier-C spec.
~$1.4 T
1,077LeB
§ II
Royal-Titled Empires
Brand + cultural · curated
Burger King
Restaurant Brands Intl · parent cap
~$20 B
15.4LeB
Maharaja Whiteline
Groupe SEB parent · India
~$8 B parent
6.2LeB
Little Caesars
Ilitch Holdings · private group
~$5.1 B
3.9LeB
Oprah Winfrey
Queen of Media · personal net worth
~$3.0 B
2.31LeB
Michael Jackson (estate)
King of Pop · d. 2009
~$2.0 B
1.54LeB
Elvis Presley (estate)
The King · d. 1977
~$500 M
0.38LeB
Other candidates worth considering: Queen (band catalog, ~$1 B), Princess Cruises (~$30 B parent), Prince Hotels (~$7.9 B parent), King Power (~$6.5 B), King's Hawaiian (~$2 B), Princes Group plc (~$1.5 B IPO), Emperor Group (~$500 M), Prince Pipes (~$340 M), Madonna ($850 M), Beyoncé ($800 M), Dolly Parton ($650 M). Surname-origin brands (Kaiser Permanente, Duke Energy, Lord Abbett, Baron Capital, Khan Academy) excluded.
§ III
Wear the Crown
shop.studio3.space
King James of Basketball
$36 · 100% cotton · relaxed fit
The Crown with a basketball finial. The back view. The CHOSEN 1 tattoo. Original drawing by Jamie Moshe Straz, AIA.
Get the shirt →
LeBron Crossing the Seine Tee
$36 · 100% cotton · relaxed fit
LeBron as Washington. The Seine instead of the Delaware. Team USA flag bearer, Paris 2024, through art history.
Get the shirt →
Please do not browse or make purchases on Shabbos or Yom Tov.
§ IV
Further Reading
books on the subject
-
Bill Simmons, The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy (Ballantine, 2010). The definitive reference on basketball as a subject, and useful context for any argument about where LeBron sits in the canon.
amazon.com/dp/0345520106
Amazon affiliate link. Studio 3 earns a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. See full disclosure at studio3.space/terms/.
SOURCES · Forbes Billionaires real-time tracker (Mar 2026) · Sunday Times Rich List 2025 · Bloomberg · Wealth-X / Al-Monitor (Gulf tier-C) · Imperial Household Agency · Casa Real Spain · CompaniesMarketCap (Apr 2026)
ARTWORK · Trading cards, Chosen 1 drawing, and all graphics by Jamie Moshe Straz · Studio 3. Not an officially licensed product.
ARTWORK · Trading cards, Chosen 1 drawing, and all graphics by Jamie Moshe Straz · Studio 3. Not an officially licensed product.