Summary: Maverick Carter, best known as LeBron James’ childhood friend and agent, claims “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious,” borrowing a phrase from Albert Einstein. But to overlook him as “just” James’ trusted confidante underestimates Carter’s abilities as a businessman, sports marketer and media executive. Carter is CEO of SpringHill Entertainment, which signed a content deal with Warner Brothers in 2015. He’s also CEO and co-founder (with James) of Uninterrupted, a platform for first-person athlete stories hosted on Bleacher Report. In this episode of Fortune Unfiltered, Carter reveals some of his career highlights, including negotiating James’ rumored $1 billion-plus lifetime deal with Nike, and his role helping put Beats Music on the map in the years prior to its acquisition by Apple in 2014. We also discuss going from “The Decision” special — which was widely criticized— to seeing LeBron bring a championship to Cleveland for the first time since 1964, what he learned from his grandmother, who ran a gambling parlor, working (briefly) with Johnny Manziel, what he considers “the worst thing” in business, and what’s next for him and James. “I feel like we’re just getting started...just getting started,” he says. “We’ve got a long way to go.”
