Michael Jordan’s salary was notoriously low, until all of a sudden it wasn’t! In the 1997-98 season, he was getting paid more than NBA teams!
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Michael Jordan may be a billionaire today but during his playing career, he was mostly just a millionaire. Not even the big kind! Till he came back from his first retirement, MJ had only made around 30 million in his whole career.
That is remarkable considering the sheer number of accolades he had picked up during his first stint in the league. Never did Michael make more than $5 million before the 1996-97 season. That is when he returned to the league and found out that he was still dominant.
The Chicago Bulls found a loophole that allowed them to sign the 6-time champion for a hefty price, one that would break all the rules of the NBA.
In the 90s, there was no luxury tax or max contracts. So, the Bulls saw it as an opportunity to provide MJ with a deal that would put the league on notice and later, bring a monumental change in the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Michael Jordan made $33.14M in his last season with the Bulls. He made 123.2% of the $26.9M NBA salary cap for the 1997-98 season. The most an NBA free agent, like Kevin Durant, can make in the 1st year of a contract is 35% of the cap ($38.199M). No salary maximums back then.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) June 30, 2019
Michael Jordan’s contract in the 1997-98 season was a whopping $33.1 million, which was roughly 123.2% of the NBA salary cap!
Talk about a deal, one that was so gigantic it exceeded the payout certain teams were getting! Jordan signed on to the Bulls as a one-year free agent in 1996-97 for $30.1 million and did the same next year when he signed on for $33.14 million.
Michael Jordan in 1997-98 was paid $33.1 million.
League-wide salary cap for each team was $26.9 million.#TheLastDance pic.twitter.com/Oew1KMi74C
— KARNA (@karna232332) May 18, 2020
He was getting paid more than a lot of NBA teams’ entire roster! Talk about a flex. And of course, he deserved it. Michael was leagues ahead of everyone at the time and his second three-peat only proved this fact further.
Michael Jordan’s salary in 1997-98 season was $33.1M, despite the fact that each team had a salary cap of $26.9M. Jordan was literally paid more than the rosters of entire teams. After season, there was a lockout. Next CBA had max salaries. #TheLastDance https://t.co/REEgCiKf8M
— Michael McCann (@McCannSportsLaw) April 20, 2020
Do you think he deserved to be paid more than entire teams? Let us know!
Also read: Michael Jordan went 30/30 over 8 years against this former Nets guard
