Through the generations there have been many great athletes who have played in the NBA such as: Bill Russell who is considered to be one of the all-time great Boston Celtics. That is best known for winning eleven straight NBA championship, but he is not considered to be the greatest player due to the fact that during the time he played he didn’t receive the amount of money many people believe he deserved. Players like Allen Iverson who is best known for being one of the most versatile point guards in NBA history, but he is also not considered to be the greatest athlete in NBA history because he never won an NBA championship. Lastly Tim Duncan the power forward for the San Antonio Spurs who has won five NBA championships as well has made millions of dollars over his 17 career in the NBA, but he is also not considered to be the greatest NBA because Tim Duncan is looked …show more content…
During his time playing basketball Jordan had many endorsements none bigger than his Nike deal which changed the landscape of how endorsements worked in the NBA. “Jordan took the court his rookie year in 1984 in a pair of red and black Air Jordan’s, which matched the Bulls’ uniforms, but did not feature any white per NBA protocol. The league banned the shoes and fined Michael $5,000 every game for wearing them. Nike covered the fines and capitalized on the attention” (Badenhausen). Jordan continued to wear the Nike air Jordan shoes, then eventually get rid of the protocol and players were allowed to wear any shoe the player show fit. Air Jordan franchise yielded more than 100 million dollars in March 1985. According to SportsOnesource a retail tracking firm “In 2012, the Jordan brand sold $2.5 billion worth of shoes at retail. . . Air Jordan’s made up 58 percent of all basketball shoes bought in the U.S. and 77 percent of all kids ' basketball shoe”