An Awe-Inspiring Journey of Lesser Known Ex-NBA Star Could Belittle $400 Million Worth Shaquille O?Neal?s 4 Degrees

When we think about the richest NBA players of all time, most often the players that come to mind are NBA greats like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neal, and Magic Johnson. While they were helped by their great business acumen, they earned plenty in the NBA as well. But there is one former NBA guard, who earned just as much as them. Being a role player for most of his career during the 12 seasons he played in the NBA, he was never someone who got large deals. But as the years went by, he amassed more wealth than Diesel.

This Milwaukee Bucks star even has his number retired by the franchise.

The richest player to ever come off? the bench in the NBA

Drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1975, Junior Bridgeman has only played for two teams in his career. Three weeks after the draft, he got traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a deal that sent the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to the Los Angeles Lakers. He played with the Bucks for nine seasons before heading to the Clippers, but eventually came back to finish his career with the Bucks.

Junior Bridgeman was a consistent player in the NBA. During his time, he often came off the bench as a sixth man. He never made more than $350,000 in a season while playing in the league. But after his retirement, he went on to amass a net worth of over $600 million. How did a sixth man who averaged 13 PPG in the league make more money than Shaquille O’Neal, who has four degrees including an MBA?

As mentioned, Junior Bridgeman was always a bench player in the league. This meant that he never had much luck with endorsements from brands. And considering it was the ’70s and ’80s, the sport was still just growing at the time. So he started thinking about his life after basketball. With that in mind, Bridgeman worked extremely hard. He spent the time going to law school and working a part-time job.

By the time he retired from the league, he was already the owner of three franchises. Since then, Junior kept increasing his arsenal. He eventually had 263 Wendy’s locations and 123 Chili’s restaurants in 20 states (via Vermont Business).

In 2016, he cashed out and sold all his franchises, making $600 million. This put him above the likes of the $400 million worth Shaquille O’Neal and close to Magic Johnson when it came to the richest NBA players ever. However, Shaq earned his money, unlike some stars of today, according to him.

Shaquille O’Neal slammed Rudy Gobert’s extension

Shaq sounded off on his podcast back in 2022, when Rudy Gobert signed a contract worth $210 million. He shared his displeasure by saying that you needed to play like Michael Jordan back in the day to get contacts like these.

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But this is nowhere near the money that Jaylen Brown got this off-season. Brown signed a deal that would pay him $303 million in total for the next 5 years. This is an unfathomable amount of money. As he will only be 33 when the deal ends, he might be able to sign another like this.

The NBA has become a global league. This has led to more brands working with them. With the recent TV deal, the salaries of the players are going to get another spike. It’s safe to say that the players that make it to the league don’t need degrees or business aspirations to be settled for the rest of their lives.

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