Chicago Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf revealed in the latest installment of The Last Dance that he still paid Michael Jordan his NBA contract in 1993-94 because MJ was underpaid.
Despite being the best basketball player in the world pretty much his entire NBA career, Jordan didn't make the money people thought he should have been earning.
As a result, Reinsdorf decided to keep paying Jordan during his baseball stint since His Airness did make the Bulls relevant with three championships in a row.
MJ played for the Chicago White Sox's minor league team in 1993-94:
“Along with the Bulls, I owned the Chicago White Sox,” Reinsdorf said. “When Michael was signed to play baseball, I continued paying him his basketball contract, which was something over $3 million per year,” Jerry Reinsdorf revealed.
“There was no reason to pay him other than he was underpaid his entire career. And he made a lot of money, for a lot of people.”
Per Spotrac, Michael Jordan made $93,772,500 from his contracts with the Bulls and Washington Wizards. Before his lucrative one-year, $30.14 million deal with Chicago in 1996, the most Jordan had made during a season was $4 million.
MJ made $30,140,000 in 1996-97 and $33,140,000 in 1997-98. During the season when he guided the Bulls to 72 wins, Jordan made only $3,850,000.
Of course, Jordan isn't hurting financially. The Bulls legend has a net worth of 2.1 billion today, thanks to Jordan Brand.
Air Jordan finished his NBA career with averages of 30.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists. He may have never been the highest-paid player in the league, but Jordan's six championships and six Finals MVPs were the real prizes in the end.
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