Dive Brief:

• Nike has extended its relationship with Cleveland Cavaliers basketball forward LeBron James for the sportswear retailer’s first-ever announced lifetime deal, ESPN reports.

• James has been signed with Nike for 12 years, but this deal shows that the retail company believes he’ll be a draw well beyond his playing days.

• Neither ESPN nor Nike has said what the deal is worth, though sources told ESPN that it likely is well beyond the 10-year, $300 million deal Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant signed with Nike last summer.

Dive Insight:

Nike outpaces its rivals Under Armour and Adidas in sales, and this deal with LeBron James shows its clout.

While basketball mega-star Michael Jordan’s relationship with Nike is similarly unlikely to ever change, its deal with James is the first time the company has inked a lifetime commitment in its 44 years, according to ESPN.

Nike is coming close to becoming the defacto global basketball retailer, considering that this year it won the bid for the eight-year contract to make uniforms for the National Basketball Association and will take over from Adidas in 2017.

That contract, worth more than $1 billion, is an approximate 245% increase over the value of Adidas' previous contract. But Nike’s swoosh, in a first-time deal, will appear on the outside of the uniforms.

It’s hard to know how fans will react to the retailer’s swoosh being splashed along with team logos; it's likely most won’t care. And basketball fans will see a lot of that swoosh; Nike now owns the licensing for the WNBA and the NBA D-League as well.

While James isn’t well known for his humility, calling himself the greatest basketball player in the world, he expressed gratitude for the deal.

"I'm very humble, man," James told reporters after Monday's practice, according to ESPN. "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."

For life.