ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell discusses LeBron James signing a lifetime deal with Nike believed to be the first of its kind in the shoe and apparel company's 44-year history. (1:49) 
 
 Nike has signed Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James to a lifetime deal in what one source familiar with the negotiations said is the largest single-athlete guarantee in company history. 
 
 "We can confirm that we have agreed to a lifetime relationship with LeBron that provides significant value to our business, brand and shareholders," Nike said in a statement. "We have already built a strong LeBron business over the past 12 years, and we see the potential for this to continue to grow throughout his playing career and beyond." 
 
 A company spokesperson would not say how much Nike paid. It is believed to be the first lifetime deal in the shoe and apparel company's 44-year history. 
 
 "I'm very humble, man," James told reporters after Monday's practice. "It's been an unbelievable time for myself and my family, and I'm just grateful that Nike and [Nike founder] Phil Knight and everyone over there just believed in a skinny-old, skinny 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio, and I'm happy to be a part of such a great company." 
 
 Sales of LeBron James' line of Nike shoes are estimated to top $400 million for 2015. Streeter Lecka/Getty Images 
 
 A source close to the deal told ESPN that it easily surpasses the 10-year, $300 million deal Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant signed with the world's largest shoe and apparel brand last summer. 
 
 "LeBron and I have been in love and obsessed with Nike since we were kids," Maverick Carter, James' business partner, said Monday. "Having built a totally innovative global business with them has truly been a dream come true. We are so excited to be taking the business to an entirely new level. For LeBron, he's thrilled to know he's a Nike guy for life." 
 
 James commented on his affinity for the brand, how important his first Nike deal was and what the new agreement means to him. 
 
 "It meant a lot to me even when I signed my first deal just to be with Nike, and it means even more that they've given me this," James said. "It's like I said, very humbling and grateful, and I'm going to continue to do my job and represent the brand the best way I can, like I know how. Hopefully, people see that." 
 
 Carter will manage the deal, which was negotiated by Main Street Advisors' Paul Wachter, who also negotiated the deal for John Henry to buy the Red Sox in 2002 and represented Beats By Dre in its $3 billion sale to Apple last May. 
 
 Although other companies have negotiated lifetime deals -- Adidas has structured them with Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose and soccer great David Beckham, while Reebok has a lifetime deal with former Philadelphia 76ers point guard Allen Iverson -- Nike has never announced a lifetime deal before. 
 
 It's assumed that Michael Jordan has at least a de facto agreement for life. Nike acknowledged to its investors in October that the Air Jordan brand, which began in 1985, had surpassed $2.2 billion in annual sales. 
 
 Nike has made more versions of James' shoe than for any other athlete outside of Jordan, who is on his 30th Air Jordan. Both James and Nike's business has grown exponentially since 2003, when Nike signed James on the eve of the NBA lottery to a seven-year, $90 million deal, its largest athlete deal ever at the time. 
 
 Nike has made 13 versions of James' signature shoe, and annual sales in 2015 for his line are estimated to top $400 million. 
 
 Sources told ESPN.com that Nike and LeBron's negotiating team had discussions as to whether they should break LeBron's line out from the Nike basketball umbrella, but ultimately, it was decided against. 
 
 "We've done a great job of building my brand to this point here today," James said. "We want to just continue it. If it makes sense for us to have a 'Team LeBron,' or whatever the name will be, we'll take a look at it and we'll go from there." 
 
 When Nike signed James, it had just come off $10.3 billion in annual sales and had its first year selling more products outside the U.S. than in the country. At an investor meeting in October, Nike, which pulled in $30.6 billion in revenues in 2015, announced its goal to do $50 billion by 2020. 
 
 As James was completing his final months on his first deal, Nike signed him in March 2010 to another nine years. This extension, one source said, will now take LeBron "way beyond his playing years." 
 
 Lately, James has been challenged by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry in the marketing world, as the Warriors beat the Cavaliers in last year's NBA Finals. But Curry's business with Under Armour is still in its infancy, although sell-through of the Curry Two in stores has been very positive. 
 
 James' Nike business has been consistent even when things haven't gone smoothly. James didn't wear his LeBron 11 shoe for most of the 2013-14 season because of its fit, but the product still sold well at retail. 
 
 In recent years, James have evolved into more of a businessman. His equity stake in Beats earned him at least $30 million when the company sold to Apple, and he has territorial rights in Chicago and Miami to Blaze, a customizable pizza chain. Last week, he announced a $15.8 million investment from Time Warner and Turner in his multimedia athlete content platform called Uninterrupted. 
 
 ESPN.com's Dave McMenamin contributed to this report. 

 INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- LeBron James has signed a guaranteed, lifetime endorsement deal with Nike that is worth at least $60 million per year, and maybe much more, as the athletic shoe-and-apparel giant sought to permanently extend its partnership with James that has already covered his entire 13-year NBA career. 
 
 "I'm just grateful that Nike and Phil Knight, and everyone over there just believed in a ... skinny 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio, and I'm happy to be a part of such a great company," said James on Monday after the Cavaliers practiced. 
 
 A source familiar with James' deal said it was the largest financial arrangement between an athlete and Nike in the company's 44-year history, and also the first lifetime deal for any Nike athlete. James said the deal left him "humble." 
 
 For perspective, the deal Kevin Durant signed with Nike last year was believed to be worth up to $30 million per year for 10 years, or $300 million. 
 
 James' deal, according to a source, is "multiple times" higher than that. This is James' third contract or agreement with Nike to endorse its products. 
 
 "I've had a smile on my face for quite a while," James said. "There's a lot of things that have been done over the last few weeks and the last few months for it to come to this point. So I'm very humble, man, it's been an unbelievable time for myself and my family." 
 
 James will turn 31 on Dec. 30 and there are no signs that his basketball career is anywhere near its end. But when he is finished playing, history shows, the investment made now by Nike is probably a wise one. 
 
 Michael Jordan, who now owns the Charlotte Hornets and is the basketball icon to whom James is most often compared, last played in the NBA in the spring of 2003. 
 
 According to Forbes, Nike's Jordan Brand shoe sales rose 17 percent in the U.S. last year to $2.6 billion, and Jordan's apparel and international sales also bring in $1 billion. 
 
 James said Monday there has been a "conversation" with Nike about starting his own brand under the Nike umbrella, and "if it makes sense for us to have a 'Team LeBron,' or whatever the name will be, we'll take a look at it and we'll go from there." 
 
 To be clear, what Jordan has with Nike is essentially a subsidiary company. James has a signature "brand" with Nike -- his shoe this year is the LeBRON 13, and college basketball teams like Ohio State and Akron wear James' signature uniforms with his specific logo. 
 
 "It's a partnership between us," James said. "It's not an endorsement deal. It's a partnership where we always come together and figure out the best way possible for both brands to be successful." 
 
 In a statement released to Cleveland.com, Nike said "we can confirm that we have agreed to a lifetime relationship with LeBron that provides significant value to our business, brand and shareholders. 
 
 "We have already built a strong LeBron business over the past 12 years, and we see the potential for this to continue to grow throughout his playing career and beyond," the company said. 
 
 James could make more per year off of his new Nike arrangement than he does from his basketball income and the rest of his annual endorsement income, combined. 
 
 James signed a two-year, $47 million contract with the Cavs last summer. James' annual endorsement earnings (including his previous Nike deal), was $44 million. 
 
 James' Nike signature shoe topped $340 million in sales last year. His first Nike deal, signed for his rookie year in 2003, was for $90 million. That deal was extended in March, 2010. 
 
 On Monday, a reporter mentioned to James that he had previously stated his intentions to finish his basketball career with the Cavs, and now he's staked his corner with Nike for, well, forever. 
 
 James said he signed this deal with Nike because "I don't want to go nowhere else. 
 
 "I'm Nike and swoosh for the rest of my life," he said. 
 
 As James spoke, sons LeBron Jr. (11) and Bryce (8) were shooting hoops at the other end of Cleveland Clinic Courts. 
 
 "I'm just playing the game that I love and I'll do anything for," James said. "And some of the benefits that's coming with it is the humbling side. It's the blessed side. All the stuff, I will never forget or downplay what has gotten me to this point and it's the basketball. The game. And I've treated it with so much respect. I give everything to the game and everything that comes to me, I treat it with so much dignity and honor. 
 
 "You all see my two boys over there, my little girl at home, my wife and my mom, and to be able to have them in a position where they don't have to care for anything because I worked my tail off, that's all that it's about for me."
– After 12 years together, Nike and LeBron James have decided to take their relationship to the next level. The company has signed the Cleveland Cavaliers star to what sources tell ESPN is its biggest-ever single-athlete deal and its first lifetime deal for any athlete. The "lifetime relationship" will deliver "significant value to our business, brand and shareholders," Nike said in a statement. "We have already built a strong LeBron business over the past 12 years, and we see the potential for this to continue to grow throughout his playing career and beyond." Sources tell Cleveland.com that the deal will be worth at least $60 million a year to the player, who already has his own brand within Nike. "I'm very humble, man," James told ESPN after the deal was announced. "It's been an unbelievable time for myself and my family, and I'm just grateful that Nike and Phil Knight and everyone over there just believed in a skinny-old, skinny 18-year-old kid from Akron, Ohio, and I'm happy to be a part of such a great company. I'm Nike and swoosh for the rest of my life." James is nearly 31, and while he won't be playing basketball forever, Cleveland.com notes that the investment still looks wise: Michael Jordan hasn't played in the NBA for 12 years, but Nike's Jordan Brand sales surged to $2.6 billion last year.