Michael Jordan gave his $331,000 Ferrari to sporting legend as a Christmas gift

Michael Jordan once gave his $331,000 (£264,942) Ferrari to a sporting legend as a Christmas gift.

Regarded by many as the greatest NBA player of all time, Jordan won six titles with the Chicago Bulls while off-the-court he established himself as an institution through savvy brand deals and investments.

As per Forbes, Jordan’s salary during his NBA career totalled $90million (£72million). However, he has earned $2.4billion (£1.92billion) pre-tax courtesy of corporate partners such as Nike, Hanes and Gatorade.

In turn, a Ferrari 550 Maranello, valued at $170,000 (£136,150) - £264,942 in modern money - is the equivalent of pocket change for the Bulls icon.

And in 1997 Jordan gifted said supercar to his team-mate Scottie Pippen for Christmas.

"For the Christmas of '97, Pippen had an earring made for Jordan - a diamond-encrusted replica of the NBA championship trophy," Chicago reporter Melissa Isaacson wrote in a 2010 column for ESPN.

"Jordan, who had planned to give Pippen a box of cigars, reconsidered and instead gave him his red Ferrari, which Pippen had long admired.

“'He wanted it so bad,' said Jordan. ‘It wasn't a double locker, but it would do.’"

Despite Jordan’s generosity, his superstar status meant Pippen never regarded him as a close friend off the court during their playing days.

Jordan gave Pippen a Ferrari for Christmas (Getty)

"Michael was bigger than the game, you know. Even my initial arrival to Chicago he was a big, iconic figure for the NBA. So, we never really had that off-the-court relationship," Pippen told GQ per CBS Sports.

"Our relationship between the lines was impeccable. We pushed each other to be great. We trained with each other to be the best. So, everything we did, from a basketball standpoint, it was a high level of respect there that we knew we could be the best.

"We could be dominant. We had gone through pretty much the Vietnam War to get where we got to. We were battle-tested."