LeBron James is unquestionably one of the greatest basketball players of all-time, with titles and individual awards that can be put up against almost anyone. 

He's also a brilliant businessman, turning his name into a brand on a level all its own over the past decade. King James wasn't always so fortunate, though, growing up without a father and raised in the Spring Hill projects of Akron, Ohio. 

James quite literally started from the bottom now he's here, and that makes the story he told on the latest edition of the Kneading Dough podcast all the more amazing. A huge company had a huge check ready for a still-in-school James, but somehow he turned it down. 

James was approached by Reebok chairman Paul Fireman in 2003 while he was still attending high school and was offered a $10 million check, up front, under one condition: he has to turn down meetings with Nike and Adidas. 

"I flew in from Akron, Ohio, from Spring Hill, from the projects," James said. "Our rent was like $17 a month. And now I'm looking at a $10 million check that I can leave with and go back to high school and go back to the classroom the next day."

So LeBron, not even on an NBA team yet or with much to his name at all, had the strength to turn down a bigger paycheck than almost any of us will see in our lifetimes. 

"For some odd reason I started thinking... if he's willing to give me a $10 million check right now, what is to say that Nike or Adidas isn't wiling to give me $20 or $30 up front. Or, to say that maybe the up front money is not even the biggest thing. Maybe let's start thinking about the back end," James said of why he eventually turned the huge check down. 

"I still can't believe I left that $10 million," James concluded.

That $10 million is chump change to LeBron these days, who clearly made the right call. He's one of the biggest sports superstars on the globe, eventually signing a seven-year $90 million deal with Nike before he played a single NBA game. 

That LeBron had the foresight to realize there was probably a reason Reebok was trying to buy him out ahead of a bidding war certainly paid off in the long term, and it's that kind of mentality that's helped make him one of the biggest stars in the world.