ESPN’s “The Last Dance” documentary series on Michael Jordan’s final championship season with the Bulls debuts on Sunday night, and you may find yourself wondering just how much each player on the team was paid more than two decades ago. We’ve seen NBA salaries explode in recent years even for role players, but during the Bulls’ last ride, Jordan was the only player enjoying a huge salary.
The breakup of the Bulls’ dynasty was, in part, due to financial issues.The Bulls had the highest payroll in the league by a wide margin during their final championship year, at $61.3 million, $7.4 million ahead of second-place New York and a whopping $32.8 million ahead of Finals opponent Utah. Many of the players on the team were due to become free agents that Chicago simply couldn’t pay.
Jordan earned a salary of $33,140,000, far ahead of any other player in the league. The Bulls were allowed to exceed the salary cap at the time (26.9 million) to sign their own free agents, so Jordan agreed to a colossal one-year, $33.1 million deal that was worth more than the average team payroll that year. MJ’s deal was the highest single-season salary in NBA history until the 2017-18 season, when LeBron James and Stephen Curry both surpassed that total.
Knicks star Patrick Ewing was the only other player during the 97-98 season with a salary above $20 million, at $20.5 million, and the next closest player was Horace Grant at $14.2 million, less than half of Jordan’s salary.
Here is the Bulls’ 1997-1998 payroll, per Hoops Hype:
Michael Jordan: $33,140,000
Toni Kukoc: $4,560,000
Ron Harper: $4,560,000
Dennis Rodman: $4,500,000
Luc Longley: $3,184,900
Scottie Pippen: $2,775,000
Bill Wennington: $1,800,000
Scott Burrell: $1,430,000
Randy Brown: $1,260,000
Robert Parish: $1,150,000
Jason Caffey: $850,920
Steve Kerr: $750,000
Keith Booth: $597,600
Jud Buechler: $500,000
Joe Kleine: $272,250
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