“The business acumen of Julius Erving was unbelievable”: Michael Jordan attributes his savvy business mind to Dr.J for giving him sound advice

Michael Jordan gushed about just how good Julius Erving was from a business side of things as that’s what he took away from him. 

There were very few people Michael Jordan looked up to in the sporting world. Walter Davis and David Thompson were a few of these men but Julius Erving was certainly on this list of his as well. A layman could tell by a simple eye-test that there were clear similarities between Jordan’s game and ‘The Doctor’s’. 

Well, the similarities end at the dunks in all honesty as Erving never really developed a mid-range game that was close to being as lethal as Michael’s. However, when you thought about guys who made their bank on aerial battle, Julius Erving in the 70s and Michael Jordan in the 80s came to mind.

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Another similarity between MJ and Dr.J was one they shared off the court: their knack for being successful businessmen. 

Jordan admitted to picking up a few tricks of the trade from Erving himself when he first realized he could heavily benefit, financially, off his likeness. 

Michael Jordan commends Julius Erving for his business savvy mind. 

Everything from signing an official shoe deal with Converse that paid him $20,000 a year (quite a solid deal for half a century ago) to having his own video game that he received royalties on, Julius Erving knew exactly how to profit off his own likeness. 

On episode two of ‘The Icons Club’, a couple soundbites of Michael Jordan praising Erving were played. MJ would focus on how great of a business man he really was and how he learnt from the Icon.

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“Dr. J was such a classy guy. I knew of his basketball and his creativity but the business acumen that he had was unbelievable. And his advice was just be who you are. Learn while you’re basically in school, so you’re learning the business of basketball.” 

“Dr. J was one of the guys that I idolize from a business side of things and I wanted to take that same path and show that I was more than just a basketball player. I had a personality and I had a business mindset. I can coordinate and I can cross all the things.”