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Featured Image Credit: Getty Images
Topics: Michael Jordan, Lebron James, LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, NBA, Basketball
Ryan Baldi
Topics: Michael Jordan, Lebron James, LA Lakers, Chicago Bulls, NBA, Basketball
Michael Jordan is widely considered to be the greatest basketball player of all time. He is also the richest.
"His Airness" played 13 season in the NBA, winning six titles and five Most Valuable Player awards.
Drafted by the Chicago Bulls with the third pick in the 1984 draft, Jordan was named Rookie of the Year after his first season in the league and went on to win a record 10 scoring titles, as well as a Defensive Player of the Year award, 14 All-Star selections, nine First Team All-Defense nods and six Finals MVPs.
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He became the most iconic sports person of the 1990s as he led the Bulls to two separate "three-peats", either side of a brief retirement from the game in 1993 following his father's murder, during which time he tried his hand at baseball, playing in the minor leagues for the Birmingham Barons.
He retired for the third and final time in 2003 after two seasons with the Washington Wizards. His status as the NBA GOAT had been long assured, and with a estimated 2025 net worth of $3.5 billion, he is by far the wealthiest player every to step on to an NBA court.
However, despite his dominance on the hardwood, the vast majority of Jordan's fortune was not accumulated through his NBA salary. Rather, Jordan's enormous bank balance has been stocked through a string of lucrative endorsement deals.
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The most famous sponsor partnership Jordan has been involved in is his long association with Nike. The former University of North Carolina Tar Heel penned a contract with the sports manufacturer ahead of his rookie NBA season and his signature shoe became the best-selling basketball footwear of all time.
LeBron James, Jordan's closets rival in the NBA GOAT stakes, is still playing at the age of 40. His net worth is estimated to be around $1.2 billion.
James' fortune is impressive, but it is topped by another LA Lakers icon, Earvin "Magic" Johnson.
Johnson's savvy post-basketball investments have netted him a staggering $1.5 billion. And Magic revealed recently who picks up the bill when he and Jordan go out for dinner together.