Michael Jordan is the most successful player to have ever played in the NBA. His on-court brilliance led to every bit of the success he experienced off the court in terms of endorsements. MJ was tied to a myriad of top tier companies like Gatorade, McDonald’s, and of course, Nike.
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Jordan never actually wanted to go for Nike when he was being recruited by sports companies. He felt as though they couldn’t provide him with a functional basketball shoe as they were more for track-and-field athletes. He was instead interested in Adidas.
It was his parents, Deloris and James, who forced hm to attend the meeting with Nike. They assured him that he would get his own shoe and projected $3 million in sales over 3 years for their Air Jordan 1. They did over $120 million in sales in the first year and are now worth an estimated $10 billion.
Jordan was their first signature basketball athlete as he carried the company to a place where they could sign even more talented players to their roster.
Penny Hardaway’s shoes were worn by Michael Jordan against him
Michael Jordan retired for about 18 months after winning his 3rd title in 1993 to go play Minor League Baseball for the Birmingham Barons. After he returned to the NBA in the midst of the 1994-95 season, the Chicago Bulls would be faced with the Orlando Magic in the ECSF.
Jordan, in Game 3, would not sport his usual Jordans. Instead, he wore the signature shoe that Nike had made for Penny Hardaway: the Air Pennys. Hardaway, as most know, was on the Magic team alongside Shaquille O’Neal.
Penny would later go on to say that seeing MJ lace up his signature shoes against him had him ‘trippin’. Michael would go on to drop 40 on the Magic that game in a 9-point loss.
Michael Jordan suffered his only Playoff loss after 1990 against this Magic
The Orlando magic made it all the way to the NBA Finals in 1995 off the heel of stellar play from Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway. Along the way, they had to face off against the Chicago Bulls.
Due to Michael stepping away from the game for an extended period of time, he simply could not lead the Bulls to the promise-land yet again in ‘95, losing to the Magic in 6 games in the ECSF. Despite dropping 38,39, and 40 in 3 of the games in the series, they would go on to lose.
Jordan would drop 24 points on 42% shooting from the field in the deciding Game 6. it should be noted that the Magic weren’t overwhelming the Bulls as not a single game was decided by more than 10 points.
