Michael Jordan and the cars he has owned

Compared to the players of today, Michael Jordan didn't earn much money from basketball.

His first contract in 1984 was for US$6m over seven years; in 1989 this was re-negotiated to an 8-year/US$25m deal. Big money, for sure, but even adjusted for inflation way, way short of the US$35m/year the likes of Stephen Curry and LeBron James earn today.

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Don't feel too sorry for him, though. In his final two years at the Chicago Bulls Jordan earned US$30m and US$33m respectively, but this pales in comparison to the money received from Nike. To this day Jordan earns a cut from every Jordan shoe sold which has helped him amass a fortune of over $US2billion.

The point is, MJ had plenty of money and he didn't mind spending some of it on cars. Or did he? When young Seattle player Gary Payton was trash-talking Jordan saying he could afford flash cars now too, Jordan retorted: “The cars I got are just like yours, except mine were free.”

Certainly Jordan was synonymous with Chevrolets and in particular Corvettes, the recent The Last Dance documentary showing him driving C4 and C5 models within the first few minutes. Jordan's first endorsement deal was with Chevrolet dealers in Chicago and he was later cut a special deal on a C4 with JUMP23 plates, while also owning one of 220 Corvette ZR1 40th Anniversary Editions.

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Porsches were also popular, Jordan owning a run of 930, 964 and 993 Turbos with the former providing the inspiration for the Air Jordan VI sneaker in 1991. During the 1990s these Porsches would often be parked next to a handful of Ferrari 512s.

In his 1996 memoir Running with the Bulls Aussie teammate Luc Longley recounted that Jordan had a number of Porsches, Ferraris and Corvettes in colours to match his suits. It wasn't all exotics, though, with reports Jordan also drove an 80-Series Toyota Landcruiser, helpful with three young children.

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Since his playing days Jordan has been spotted in a variety of exotic cars, usually a revolving door of the latest models. An Aston Martin DB7 Volante became a DB9 Volante, a Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG became a CL65 AMG, a McLaren-Mercedes SLR 722 made a brief cameo, as did a Cadillac XLR-V and the Ferrari became a 550 Maranello then a 599 GTB Fiorano, while a Bentley Continental GT inspired the Air Jordan XXI sneaker.

Jordan was also a keen motorcyclist but contracts forbade him from indulging. Upon his final retirement from basketball he made up for lost time by starting the Michael Jordan Motorsport.