Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Michael Jordan, Basketball, NBA
Adnan Riaz
Michael Jordan’s 2022 earnings from his iconic brand collaboration with Nike made him more money than his entire NBA career earnings, according to stunning reports.
MJ is widely regarded as one of the best basketball players of all time after his two prolific playing spells with the Chicago Bulls.
During his time with the Bulls, Jordan lifted six NBA championship titles and was named the NBA Finals MVP six times during the 1990s.
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Jordan went on to play for the Washington Wizards in a largely forgettable spell before he called it time on a glittering career for a third and final time in 2003.
The 59-year-old American basketball legend has found incredible success off the court, including his starring role alongside Bugs Bunny in the 1996 film Space Jam.
Jordan’s marketable appeal has also been capitalised on with his partnership with Nike for the iconic Air Jordan brand, earning MJ a hefty payday in the process.
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According to Front Office Sports, Jordan’s brand brought in an eye-watering $5bn in revenue for Nike in 2022 alone.
The former Bulls superstar will pocket a lucrative payday, with Jordan receiving a five per cent cut as part of his original licencing deal with Nike.
Jordan received a whopping $256.1m from the success of Nike’s brand in 2022, which is double what he earned during his spells with the Bulls and Wizards.
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Nike and Jordan have had a longstanding collaboration dating back to 1984 when MJ was the third overall draft pick for the Bulls.
David Falk, who represented Jordan throughout his entire legendary career, has previously revealed that the NBA legend was initially attracted to Adidas.
“Adidas was really dysfunctional by that time,” he said on The Last Dance documentary.
“And they had just told me, we’d love to have Jordan. We just can’t make a shoe work at this point in time.
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“I wanted Michael to go with Nike because they were the upstart.”
Falk added: “I couldn’t even get him to get on the damn plane and go visit the [Nike] campus. So I called his parents.”