Michael Jordan aka his Airness is arguably the greatest player to ever step foot on a basketball court. He was instrumental in making the league popular across the globe. Jordan is a Global cultural icon whose impact stretched beyond the confines of a basketball court. MJ won six championships in his 15 years in the league and he was also part of the 1992 Dream Team.

Along with all his accomplishments on the court, Jordan is also a very successful businessman. He has several ventures which have propelled his net worth in excess of 2 Billion. But his most successful one to date is his Air Jordan shoes.

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NIKE created an exclusive line of sneakers just Michael Jordan. These sneakers started relating 1984 and are still very popular to this day. The Air Jordans took NIKE from a small company to the largest sneaker selling company in the world. But this may have not been the case, had Jordan decided to pursue another path.

Michael Jordan had an offer from Spot-Bilt

Spot-Bilt, now known as Saucony, had matched the original offer that NIKE had given Jordan. Spot-Bilt had another transcendental athlete in O. J. Simpson. O J had convinced Spot-Bilt to give an offer to Jordan. Jason Hehir, the director of The Last Dance documentary, talks about this.

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He says” Michael Jordan came this close to being with Spot-Bilt because the spokesman for Spot-Bilt at the time was another athlete who had broken and transcended some racial bounds, a guy named O. J. Simpson. The kid out of Carolina is the next me. Go get him.”

“So they matched Nike’s offer, but they couldn’t match the market. They couldn’t promise David Falk that they would market Michael the way that Nike would, and that ultimately is what put that [Nike] deal over the top financially for them.”

Jordan would eventually sign with NIKE, who gave him a signature shoe right away. The Air Jordans became an instant hit with fans. This deal made billions for NIKE in revenue and made Michael Jordan the first billionaire player in NBA history.

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