Polymarket signs LeBron James as first athlete partner

LeBron James is now the face of Polymarket’s sports ambitions. The prediction market platform announced on September 5 that James has signed on as its first individual athlete partner, with a campaign focused on football timed to drop the week of September 8. James teased the deal through a short video posted to X and Instagram, showing him inside a stylized “Polymarket HQ” elevator pressing the button for the “sports” floor. From DraftKings to crypto prediction markets The partnership represents a notable pivot in James’s endorsement portfolio. His previous multi-year deal with DraftKings, the traditional daily fantasy and sportsbook giant, has expired. Rather than re-up with a legacy platform, James chose Polymarket, a blockchain-based prediction market built on Polygon where users trade outcome contracts on everything from elections to interest rate decisions to, increasingly, sports. James, who turned 41 in December, signed a two-year contract worth $8 million with the Philadelphia 76ers in July 2026, including a player option. The prediction market arms race heats up Polymarket isn’t operating in a vacuum here. The platform’s main competitor, Kalshi, a CFTC-regulated predictio...