Magic Johnson has had an incredible life full of ups and downs and many stories to tell. Coming from a small town, the made the most out of the opportunities life gave him, which included making it to the NBA, saving the league, and becoming one of the greatest players of all time.
However, Magic also made mistakes during his life and career and one of the most infamous includes the biggest sporting gear company in the world, Nike. Before taking over the NBA market and having a lineup that includes legends like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and now new talents Ja Morant. Nike was trying to make his way among the top companies, which included Adidas and Converse.
They were interested in bringing Magic in, and the player wasn’t too much into that. Nike executives even offered him stocks to sign with them, but Magic took a different route and rejected the American company.
Magic Johnson Missed A Big Opportunity With Nike
Right now, Nike is worth $5 billion, showing that Magic made a huge mistake when he turned down the young company many years ago. During a recent appearance on Showtime’s “All the Smoke,” Johnson opened up on that decision, joking about his big mistake but also revealing how he’s coped with that (1:02:21 mark).
“Here I am, just won the national championship against Larry Bird and three companies came in: Converse, Adidas, and Nike. Nike was a year or two old, and so, Converse offered me the most money and you take the money. Phil Knight came and said, ‘hey, I can’t offer you the same type of money, but I could offer you stock. [Magic puts his hands in his face] I didn’t know anything about it, and my family didn’t come from money, and I didn’t even know what stocks was at that time. So I passed on the stocks… Can you imagine? 45 years, $5 billion that would have been worth today.”
He still kept it real and admitted that he’s not too worried about it. He moved on from that and still kept looking forward despite knowing he made a big mistake.
“I’m also a guy who never looks back. I live in the moment. I hate people that talk about what happened 30 years ago, or ‘I used to have it going on’. It’s about what you’re doing now. See, I’m a person who lives in the moment and I’m always moving forward. And if something happened to me that wasn’t good, I leave it in the past, and I keep moving forward. That’s who I am.”
Magic really learned from that and he’s now living a great life after having an incredible career. He’s succeeded as a businessman and has helped other players like Shaquille O’Neal do the same.
For Nike, they kept looking talent and ran into Michael Jordan, who took them to the next level in the 80s and 90s. The GOAT is still there, making a lot of money with Nike, having his own brand, and becoming an icon in the fashion world.
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