Michael Jordan made more money in 2014 than in his entire NBA career
By Tom West
As if Michael Jordan wasn’t already wealthy enough, he made more money from shoe sales in 2014 than he did during his entire NBA career.
Michael Jordan is unquestionably the greatest basketball player in the history of mankind. We all know it and no one in their right mind should argue against it. Yet, on top of being the G.O.A.T. on the court, Jordan is probably the best businessman from the NBA as well.
Although, that can hardly be denied considering the fact that he’s a billionaire now.
From the moment he entered the league with the Chicago Bulls in 1984, Michael has evolved his game, his aura, and general image into an entire brand. People just want to be like Mike. Which, for “His Airness”, means that a lot of basketball fans have purchased his Jordan sneakers.
For years, his shoes have been selling all around the world, as more than any player in the history of the game, Michael Jordan has been an international icon, as well as being a legend in the United States.
Now, a recent article by PBS Newshour has added some numbers to illustrate just how popular his shoes have been.
In 2014 alone, Michael Jordan made a staggering $100 million from his shoe sales. As a result, he became the highest-paid retired athlete in the world last year. But, to be honest, what other retired athlete could come close to making that kind of money? More to the point, could any retired athlete ever even dream of making that much money just from shoe sales? Probably not.
Also, in case you were wondering, LeBron James topped the sneaker selling scene in 2014 as Nike sold an incredible $340 million worth of his signature shoes.
To add some context to MJ’s $100 million figure, though, it needs to be compared to his earnings during his beyond prolific, 15-year career. Of course Jordan played in a time when contracts were far lower, and no player would ever receive a $100+ million contract like multiple players have now. In fact, to make a comparison as to how far the league has come from the ’80s and ’90s, Jordan never made more than $4 million in a season until 1996, when his pay skyrocketed to $30,140,000.
Despite making $63,280,000 in his final two seasons with the Bulls, Michael Jordan still only made $94 million in his entire NBA career (as PBS Newshour calculated in their report). He wasn’t exactly hard done by, though, as everyone of us would be thrilled to have just a minuscule fraction of that amount. But seeing as he surpassed the earnings of his iconic career from just selling a bunch of shoes in 2014, it’s clear that Jordan’s brand is worth as much as ever.
Nice work, Michael. You’ve gone and got yourself a very nice retirement fund indeed.