It was on September 12, 1984 that Michael Jordan signed his first NBA contract, and therefore his first contract with the Bulls. At the time, the salary cap is only $3.8 millionand there is no salary scale.
But Rod Thorn, the GM at the time, was convinced he had a gem in the person of the MVP and gold medalist of the recent Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
So he offered him a contract worth $6 million over 7 years, including a signing bonus of $1 million. Do the math, Michael Jordan signed on September 12, 1984 for a salary of $5 million over 7 years, or about $700,000 per year. To be precise, he would earn $550,000 the first season, with an annual salary increase (630,000 in 1985/86; 737,000 in 1986/87; etc.). It was simply the 3rd biggest contract for a rookie after those signed by Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon, the Rockets' twin towers. It was also the Bulls' biggest salary even though he was only a rookie.
He's waiting until he's 33 to become the highest-paid player in the NBA
To give you an idea of what that means in 1984, the contract Michael Jordan signed that day would be equivalent to a seven-year, $15.2 million contract in 2024, or an annual salary of about $2.2 million. That's less than what the 30th overall pick in the NBA Draft makes in 2024 in his first four-year NBA season.
In 1988, Michael Jordan exercised his release clause to sign a new 8-year, $25 million contract. He then became the 5th highest earner in the league, behind Magic Johnson, Pat Ewing, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish, but ahead of Larry Bird and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Finally, he would have to wait until 1996, at the age of 33, to become the highest paid player in the NBA with an annual contract of 30.1 million dollars. Almost the equivalent of his first ten seasons in the NBA.
