Legend James is the first NBA athlete to become a billionaire while still playing with a net worth of $1B

Having Built a $1 Billion Sports Ownership Portfolio, Magic Johnson Joins Michael Jordan and LeBron James in the Billionaire Club

Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson has been declared a billionaire by Forbes.

This makes him the 3rd NBA superstar, after Michael Jordan and LeBron James, to join the exclusive club.

Johnson, who has stakes in multiple sports franchises such as the MLB’s LA Dodgers and the WNBA’s LA Sparks, seems to have made a majority of his fortune via a stake in a life insurance company.

Johnson also owns a majority stake in MLS’ LAFC.

Credits: USA Today Sports

With a range of other investments and projects under his belt, Johnson was reported to have crossed the elusive $1,000,000,000 mark back in August. With the news now confirmed by Forbes, he becomes only the 3rd NBA celebrity to have such a high valuation. Forbes has confirmed Johnson’s net worth to be about $1.2 bn.

Magic Johnson joins the Billionaire Club alongside LeBron James and Michael Jordan

While the Lakers legend has just become only the third NBA superstar to have crossed the $1 B valuation, he could have done it way sooner. Magic apparently turned down an offer to receive Nike stock options when he first signed with the company back in the 1970s.

Instead, he took up a deal from Converse that paid him $100,000 a year. In hindsight, that is probably the biggest financial mistake he appears to have made over the years, which cost him heavily.

“So I passed on the [Nike] stocks. Can you imagine? 45 years, $5 billion that stock would have been worth today,” he had added.

This means that Magic could have surpassed both Jordan and LeBron, had he decided to take up Nike’s offer. Regardless, while passing on the stocks might have been a mistake, he has only made good financial decisions ever since.

Johnson hilariously asked for money from Jordan back in 2015

Back in 2015, when news first broke out that Jordan had crossed the $1,000,000,000 mark, Magic had hilariously taken to Twitter to ask him for money. While he was a long way away from being a billionaire himself, Magic was doing pretty well for himself as a retired man.

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He had a net worth of around $620,000,000 back then, and yet decided to ask his former rival for money. The two players have indulged in banter like this with each other innumerable times over the years.

Magic had once jokingly claimed that getting to close to MJ was deemed as a foul while posing with him for a photoshoot. Magic had also said that he was happy for his former rival, as it meant that even former NBA stars had a chance of becoming billionaires. Now, 8 years later, he has finally joined the elusive club.