If you watch ESPN, then you’re aware there’s a fair number of pundits who seem to earn their living primarily by shouting down anyone willing to challenge the doctrine that Michael Jordan is the best basketball player ever. Yet, despite staunch support from sports network talking heads — as well as a convincing argument from ESPN’s own Jordan documentary “The Last Dance” — the debate over who carries the mantle of the NBA’s G.O.A.T. doesn’t seem any closer to being settled.
While it can be hard to definitively say who really did the most to help their team win, sports is a business, and looking at how much a player earned in salary versus how much they produced on the court can give you a better sense of their true value.
In a new study, GOBankingRates crunched the numbers on how much value the Chicago Bulls got from Jordan and how his value compares to other greats of the game.
The study took each player’s total career earnings and divided it by their key statistics, giving us the dollar amount of what each player earned for every point, rebound and assist they recorded. To account for the drastic inflation of basketball salaries over the last 40 years, the study adjusted these figures based on the growth of the NBA salary cap from 1984. This provided an “era-adjusted” dollar figure for each key statistic. The lower the dollar amount, the higher the value.
Unfortunately, data on NBA salaries from before 1978 is relatively spotty, which meant players from before that era had to be omitted. Alas, comparisons between Bill Russell, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Air Jordan based on their relative salary aren’t forthcoming. However, the 44 remaining players do include a dream team of some of the game’s all-time greats — like Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jordan-nemesis Isiah Thomas.
So, how does Michael Jordan stack up in the pantheon of all-time greats — which includes some of his former teammates — when you factor in what it cost to secure his services? Here’s a closer look.
Last updated: June 8, 2020
