In a lengthy discussion of how some NBA teams have lost money last season, Brian Windhorst of ESPN revealed that nine franchises have spent more than they profited over the entire 2016-17 campaign before gathering their revenue-shares.

It may puzzle ordinary fans to know that there are that many teams that were unable to generate profit despite a summer filled with lucrative mega-contract offers to players. That seems counterintuitive on paper.

But it is what it is and most of those teams that lost money were small-market franchises that rely on revenue shares to get them out of the red. Determining how much teams get is a tricky process, which takes into consideration how good a potential recipient of revenue shares had performed.

Enter LeBron James, whom Windhorst used as an example of how complex the process could be when a team such as the Cleveland Cavaliers go from being the league’s whipping boys into an instant title contender in just one offseason.

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For instance, the NBA documents showed the remarkable LeBron James effect. In their last season without James, 2013-14, the Cavs received $10.8 million in revenue sharing. Over the past three seasons, the Cavs have paid a total of $29 million into the system. The Cavs made $21.7 million in net income before revenue sharing last season but moved into the red after paying $24.8 million in luxury taxes and $15.2 million in a revenue-sharing check they wrote.

If a team overperforms expectations based on market size and past data, it effectively forfeits some of its revenue-sharing bounty.

LeBron James’ impact on every team he’s played for in his career has been undeniably been big, and that’s strictly speaking only of the performance of a team on the basketball court. But this report from Windhorst also brings into the light just how transcendent of a star James is outside of the hardwood. An average player can’t be an impetus for a million-dollar shift on a team’s finances, but James is way above being average, as highlighted by this report. Only kings can move mountains of money like that.