When “Embarrassed” Magic Johnson Jokingly Revealed the Dark Side of Being a Billionaire

There are only four current or former athletes with billionaire status – Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Magic Johnson, and Tiger Woods. In 2023, Magic became the most recent to join that club. Billionaires are the ones who sit at the top of the food chain, add an athlete’s superstardom to it, and it becomes a very unique position to be in.

But that doesn’t mean that they don’t have problems to deal with. There’s a dark side to being a billionaire and Magic revealed it during a conversation with Jimmy Kimmel in November 2023.

Staying humble as ever, Magic started by saying that being referred to as a billionaire is embarrassing for him. The NBA legend has gotten to this point through decades of hard work and making smart business decisions. But the dark reality is that even though he’s the one to put the work in, there are many who try to reap the fruits of his labor.

“Everybody who thinks they know you or distant cousins, friends…I’ve got so many calls,” Magic revealed.

Even after having to deal with people who try to feed off his success, the two-time Hall of Famer is grateful for the position he’s in. Magic said, “I never thought, in my wildest dreams that any of this could happen.”

Magic is a minority owner in six different teams, LA Dodgers, LA Sparks, LA FC, Team Liquid, Washington Commanders, and Washington Spirit. There’s a stark difference between other billionaires and Magic in terms of accumulating such a high net worth.

Magic’s career earnings didn’t even touch the $40 million mark. So, everything he has earned has come through decades of post-retirement toil.

Magic wanted to show that athletes can also be great businessmen

The secret to success is discipline and very few people are as disciplined as athletes. The thing that makes athletes great in their respective sport, is also responsible for making them successful businessmen. While not many have been able to capitalize on the same, Magic is far from that.

In fact, when he started on this journey, he had the same goal in mind, to prove that athletes can be successful doing something that they haven’t trained for since childhood. He said, “I wanted to show that athletes could go from the ball court to the board room.”

Outlining parallels between the two worlds, he stated that just like basketball, doing business is also about the details and “paying attention to the details.” He has also brought his incomparable competitiveness and energy into his business ventures. And just like his NBA career, the results are out there for everyone to see.