Millions of fans around the world consider NBA Legend Michael Jordan as the GOAT of the game. Jordan dominated the game like no other. Over the course of his career, MJ won 6 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls. After winning the first three in tremendous fashion with a three-peat, Jordan shocked the world.

He announced that he would retire from the game of basketball. Michael Jordan then did the unthinkable when he came back and then made another three-peat. With this phenomenal feat, MJ cemented his legacy as one of the best players ever.

However, the Bulls legend only made around $94 million in his entire career from his NBA salary. Jordan made his fortune from a variety of endorsements.

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Jordan was the first ever athlete to become a billionaire. And his deal with the Nike brand is one of the most significant. The Jordan brand reportedly crossed $5 billion in annual revenue for the first time. And Jordan earned $150M+ from Nike last year alone as per reports.

The multi-billion relationship between Michael Jordan and Nike

Michael Jordan and Nike helped each other build their futures. Everything started when MJ signed with the brand when he joined the NBA. And the Air Jordan 1 is one of the most iconic shoes ever. Almost every player in the league was wearing either black or white shoes. So the red and black colorway of the new shoes was groundbreaking. And Nike hoped that within 4 years it would sell at least $3 million worth of shoes.

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However, the NBA only allowed shoes that are either black or white at the time. So the new shoes from Nike were banned. At least, that is what was told. Nike used this as a marketing strategy and advertised the shoes as ‘Banned.’ Sales blew up and Nike sold $126 million worth of shoes in just one year.

Interestingly, reports claim that the NBA’s ban on the Air Jordan 1s was fake and was plotted by Jordan and Nike. The report claims that the Air Jordan 1s were not even released at the time of the reported NBA ban. The letter with the ban said that MJ wore the banned shoes on October 18, 1984. However, the shoes were only released in 1985.

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So the shoes banned by the NBA were not actually the Air Jordan 1s, but the Nike Airships which came in the red and black colorway. Nike used the Air Jordan 1s similarities with the Nike Airships and used it to their benefit.