Michael Jefferey Jordan was born in Brooklyn, New York, when Deloris and James R Jordan
Sr welcomed a bouncing baby boy on February 17, 1963. He is the fourth of five children.
If you didn’t know, Michael goes by the nickname “Air Jordan” or “His Airness.”
He got this name in the NBA from fans because of
his ability to hang in the air for a long-time during dunks.
He has also done a documentary on his career called “The Last Dance”
and written numerous books on his life and career.
Career
Michael Jordan attended Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. Michael didn’t make
the team as a sophomore because of his short height, and this gave him extra motivation to
prove his worth. Next year he grew four inches and trained rigorously to earn himself a spot.
As a senior, Michael averaged 25 points per game,
and this got him scholarship offers from Duke, South Carolina, Syracuse and Virginia.
He committed to North Carolina to play college ball.
In college, Jordan averaged 17.7 points,
5 rebounds and 1.8 assist per game. He was named to the NCCA first team.
Jordan played three years of college ball before declaring for the draft.
In the 1984 NBA draft, he was chosen by the Chicago Bulls as the third overall pick.
One of the best drafts ever, which saw many all-time greats like Hakeem Olajuwon,
Charles Barkley, and John Stockton.
Talk about really Deep.
Most of us know of MJ’s career and is widely considered the Greatest player of
all Time. The GOAT baby! But some fun facts are:
Jordan is the only basketball player to never lose in a Championship Finals with six rings.
Michael is the first player to win three straight final MVP awards.
Michael’s holds the record for most points in
a playoff game with 63 against one of the greatest dynasties,
the Celtics. It was unimaginable that Larry bird said he was God disguised as Michael Jordan.
He also has the highest career points per game average in history at 30.1 points per.
Talk about stacking those records.
Jordan is also known for his signature tongue-out dunk and clutchness.
He also won the presidential medal of freedom for his impact towards basketball.
Now we know a little about Michael’s b-ball career. Let’s get into how he makes all his loot.
Contract
After being drafted by the Chicago Bulls, Michael signed a 5year/ $6.3 million contract.
Jordan's talent wowed the Bulls and he led
the team to the playoffs every year he's been in the league.
In September 1988, Jordan signed an 8 years rookie max contract worth a cool $25.7 million.
In October 1993, Jordan retired from basketball
and started playing baseball as a result of his father's death.
A season later, Jordan returned to the NBA.
The two following seasons, he was paid $30 million and $33 million respectively.
With the pending departure of Scottie Pippen,
Dennis Rodman and Phil Jackson, MJ decided to retire.
Two years into retirement, Jordan came back not only as a player but
also as a part owner of the Washington Wizards where he signed a 2 year / $2.03 million deal.
Over his playing career, His Airness made over $93 Million in salary alone.
Talk about being a Baller.
Endorsements
MJ was an early bloomer and brands couldn't wait to partner with him.
His first endorsement came in his rookie year with Chevrolet with a $200,000 contract.
Michael's most successful endorsement deal is with Nike where he signed a 5-year contract worth a
cool $500,000 with an upfront of $250,000 and a signature shoe called Air Jordan.
The release of his first signature shoe "Nike Air Jordan 1" shattered
prediction after making sales of $126 million in the first year.
The rest is history and the Air Jordan sneaker line changed the game in fashion,
player endorsements and for Nike.
The Jordan Brand today is worth over $4 Billion alone.
That does not include Nike’s other basketball line. Today, Nike is worth over $180 Billion
and a big part of it was the boost from Jordan starting in the eighties.
The Jordan’s are still wildly popular and MJ gets a five percent royalty on sales. So,
Michael still makes over $150 Million a year just from Nike.
Mind blowing!
His endorsement deal with McDonald's made him become
the first celebrity in history to have a meal named after him.
He also has deals with Gatorade, ballpark franks, upper deck, Hanes, Rayovac and Wheaties.
So Michael Jordan has the net worth of??.... Wait, we'll get to that later.
Jordan is still raking in that doe after retirement, baby! Let's see what he does with it.
Cars
Being the greatest player of all time gives you access to luxury most people would kill to have.
Jordan has a classy taste in cars and owns a few in his driveway.
The cars in his collections are:
A Chevrolet Corvette C5.
This shouldn't be a surprise since his first endorsement came from them.
A Porsche 930 Turbo Cabriolet, Toyota Land cruiser J80,
Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Ferrari 512TR,
Mercedes W140 S600 coupe by Lorinser Porsche 993 Turbo S,
Aston Martin DB7 volante, Bentley continental GT,
Cadillac XLR-V, Bugatti Veyron Sang Noir.
He has also been seen in his fast silver McLaren-Mercedes SLR722.
Talk about cruising in style baby!
Yacht
It's no news that if you rake in the cash, you've got to have the finest things in life.
MJ's love for the sea made him purchase a sleek superyacht worth a cool
$80 million. This yacht is 230 feet long and comes with a full-length basketball court.
He also owns an $8 million fishing yacht called Catch 23.
Houses
After playing all his basketball career at the Bulls, it shouldn't come as a surprise
that Michael owns a mansion in Chicago. This mansion is located in the Highland
park suburb spanning over 56000 square feet on 7 acres of land.
This house features nine bedrooms, five full and four half bathrooms and a basketball court. This
property also contains an infinity pool, a full-fledged golf course, a tennis court,
several outdoor spaces, and an actual 32000 square living space. This house has been on the market
for years but still no bites. It started off at $29 Million and has been lowered to $15 Million.
He also owns two mansions in his home state North Carolina.
The first was purchased on the lakefront in 2013 spanning over 12,300 square feet,
featuring six bedrooms with an outdoor pool and a private dock connected to the lake.
Air Jordan dropped $2.8 Million for this beauty.
The second is a luxury condo on the 7th floor of the Trust building on N. Tyron street in
Charlotte that spans over 7,000 square feet. This is just walking distance to the Hornets
arena making it super convenient for the GOAT. At the time, this was listed at $1,750,000.
He also owns various mansions in Utah and Florida.
Talk about a Home body.
Investments
His Airness can throw it down on the court but has slam dunked on some remarkable investments.
MJ bought a minority stake in the Hornets in 2006 to become the second largest shareholder,
and four years later, he purchased controlling shares to become the
first player to own the majority of shares in an NBA team. He invested
$180 Million. They current value of the Hornets is about 1.5 Billion.
In 2020, he partnered with Denny Hamlin,
a NASCAR driver, to field a NASCAR team with Bubba Wallace named 23XI (twenty-three eleven)
He also owns a steakhouse in New York, Golf course Grove XCIII, and DraftKings.
Charity
Jordan won the hearts of fans not only by his good
looks and fadeaway but also by his desire to consistently give back to his community.
Jordan has been a sponsor for the Make-A-Wish foundations for over 30 years.
He also donated all his salary in 2002 towards the 9/11 charities.
In 2018 and 2019 when a hurricane hit,
he contributed to each of the relief efforts respectively.
Michael has also made a sizeable donation to numerous charity organizations some of
which are The Miami Pro, United Negro College fund and many more
Talk about generosity.
Love Life
Jordan got married in 1990 to Juanita before they began running into problems
after 12 years. During Jordan's 16 years of marriage with Juanita, he had three kids.
In 2002, divorce was filed on the grounds of irreconcilable difference, but they managed to
salvage their relationship for four years before finally parting on mutual terms. It was one of the
most expensive celebrity divorces in history as Juanita reported walked away with $168 Million.
After his divorce, Jordan's eye caught Yvette Prieto, a Cuban-American Model,
in 2008. After dating for five years,
the two love birds tied the knot in 2013 and are currently proud parents of two kids.
The couple is going strong and we love seeing Yvette
out and about with MJ. Cute couple yes indeed.
Net Worth
Now is the time you have all been waiting for. How much
is Michael Jordan worth? Air Jordan is the richest basketballer ever.
With everything going on in Michael’s life, he has a net worth of $1.7 billion dollars.
Real GOAT life in the building, Baby!!!