Colin Cowherd: “Many people said both Michael and Pippen were underpaid. Did you ever at one point try to re-negotiate that?”
David Falk: “Michael was behind the 8-ball from day one, as were most of the players in that generation – Grant Hill, Isiah, how about Magic Johnson signing a 25-year deal for $25 million one year before Patrick signed a 10-year deal for $3.2 million a year? They were both underpaid. Michael re-did his deal after the fourth year and became by far the highest paid player in the league. I told him, no matter what you sign, it will never reflect your value until you become a free agent. Most players in his generation, virtually every one of them, never became a free agent. They all wanted security, and security has a price. Michael finally got more of what he was worth in 1996 when he began a restricted free agent. He signed for $30 million and he could have signed for $80 million. You could make an argument he was worth $100 million… It took 17 years for someone to hit $30 million after he signed that contract in 1996.” (Full Video Above)
Listen to David Falk, the former agent of Michael Jordan, explain to Colin Cowherd why the NBA contracts were so alarmingly low in the 1980’ and 1990’s, as ESPN’s ‘The Last Dance’ documentary has highlighted the criminally cheap deals that Bulls stars Jordan and Scottie Pippen were playing on during their two championship runs.
Check out the video above as Falk details why players accepting longer deals for less money to stay with their maiden franchises was just typical back then, as Falk says players wanted security more than a scenario of hitting the open market.
FULL interview below.