The NBA opens its new season tonight, and one of the league’s all-time greats has said a shoe deal he passed on as a rookie would be worth billions today.
In 1979, Magic Johnson was coming off a national championship at Michigan State and about to start his NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Three shoe companies wanted him, and he went with the one that offered the most cash. He has since said that choice cost him billions.
‘Take the Money’
Johnson told the story on the “All The Smoke” podcast with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson in 2023, Sports Illustrated reported.
“So, here I am, just winning the National Championship against Larry Bird, and three companies came in: Converse, Adidas, and Nike,” he said. “Nike was just a year or two old. Converse offered me the most money.”
He said his family didn’t have money, so the cash won. “So you know when you grow up broke, take the money,” he said.
The Nike Offer
Nike couldn’t match Converse’s cash, according to Johnson, so co-founder Phil Knight offered something else.
“Phil Knight came in and said, ‘Hey, I can’t offer you the same type of money. But I can offer you stock,’” Johnson said.
He said no. “I didn’t even know what stocks were at that time. So, I passed on the stocks,” he said. “Can you imagine? Forty-five years and $5 billion of stock.”
Converse offered top college stars $75,000 to $100,000 a year at the time, according to the Action Network. Johnson signed with the company and wore its shoes through his playing career, including in national ads with Bird.
Questions About the Story
Parts of the story have been questioned. The Action Network pointed out that Johnson had already signed with Converse by July 1979, and that Nike’s stock didn’t start trading publicly until Dec. 2, 1980. The outlet also said the story first got wide attention in 2017, when Johnson told it on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Nike and Knight have not commented on it.
Johnson isn’t the only NBA player with a story like this. Former star Spencer Haywood has said he agreed to take Nike stock and lost out on what he says was $2.8 billion because his agent had power of attorney and sold it.
Johnson won the NBA title as a rookie in 1980, when he was also named Finals MVP, and won four more with the Lakers after that. After he retired, he built a business career.
