Michael Jordan, who was underpaid in Chicago, revealed his $1 million signing bonus was a lie

Michael Jordan once revealed that he never actually received a signing bonus when coming on board for the Chicago Bulls.

Michael Jordan has reportedly contributed over $10 billion to the United States’ economy ever since bursting onto the professional basketball scene in 1984. With him also being considered the greatest player of all time, it’s safe to say that it’s very much understandable as to why he’s also the wealthiest player of all time.

Michael Jordan’s net worth ranges between $1.6 billion to $2.2 billion. Reports on this have been a bit contradictory as his $500 million loss due to the Gamestop stock crashing has people confused over how much the 6x champ is actually worth.

While MJ is cashing out on his immense success currently, he was severely underpaid for a majority of his career. Chicago Bulls GM, Jerry Reinsdorf, even admitted this, leading to him paying Jordan his usual $2-3 million even when he left the Bulls for the Birmingham Barons.

In the 1997 and ’98 seasons however, the Bulls made history by paying him a combined, $63 million, with his $33.14 million salary in 1998 being the highest in NBA history for nearly 2 decades.

Also read: Michael Jordan, who lost to LeBron James’ $45 tequila, gears up to hit ‘The King’ with a $349.99 launch

Michael Jordan never received a signing bonus.

In an interview with Cigar Aficionado in 2005, Michael Jordan, in passing, mentioned that he never received a signing bonus from the Chicago Bulls.

“People are going to love this. It was a seven-year deal. I averaged about $850,000 a year. The first year’s compensation was $650,000. There was no signing bonus.”

What makes this interesting is that last year, Jordan’s first contract with the Bulls sold for $57,068. According to the post reporting this, MJ actually received a $1 million signing bonus at the time with 5 years out of 7 having been guaranteed.

37 YEARS AGO TODAY
The Chicago Bulls signed Michael Jordan to a 7-year deal (5 guaranteed) worth a little over $6 million ($1M signing bonus).

Last year, a copy of that signed contract was sold at an auction for $57,068! pic.twitter.com/My8OQBy9Ec

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) September 12, 2021

This statement directly clashes with what the 6x champ said back in 2005. At the moment, it’s unclear as to who to believe as why would Michael Jordan lie about not getting a signing bonus. On the other hand, why wouldn’t a talent like Jordan get a signing bonus when that was the norm for star college players entering the league.

Also read: Michael Jordan, who owns a $61M Air Jordan 3 themed jet, has an insane $8M yacht on the same theme