Magic Johnson only earned $40 million from his Lakers salary. Still, he reached billionaire status in 2023. After Michael Jordan and LeBron James, he was the third basketball athlete to be part of the elite list, according to Forbes. In multiple financial decisions that the star made, one was rejecting Nike in favor of Converse. The latter was a big brand then and even a favorite of Michael Jordan, but we all know he didn’t sign with them. Similarly, another veteran loved Converse and even landed with them, and was close to starring alongside Larry Bird and Johnson.

“They gave me a million signing bonus, a month later I bought my mom a house with million dollars. So the million dollars gone.” Explained Larry Johnson to co-host Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. He already had spent the money on a home for his mother, and he obviously couldn’t say no to the project. “So season starts, they come to me – ‘You ready for the commercial?’ Yeah I’m ready man, the fellas ready? And another something to that story is one of them didn’t want to do it.”

The commercial which was originally pitched to the former Knicks star changed in a month and what he sees hanging in his trailer are 2-3 dresses and a few wigs. “I said ‘What happened to the commercial with me and Magic and Larry?’. They said one of them didn’t want to do it.” In the live show, the crowd first guessed Larry Bird, but the former Knicks star gave a cryptically clever reply.

“No, no, I never knew which one didn’t want to do it… Larry Loved me. You all get what I’m saying?” It was changed to a famous grandma commercial featuring Larry Johnson alone where he dubbed the role of a ‘grandma’. For 5 years, the commercial ran and was a hit amongst the crowd. But the first pitch could have been an even bigger hit. Alas, the three stars never shared the screen for the project, all because of Magic Johnson.

Converse had been associated with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson for the longest time. So, when had to feature a young Larry Johnson, the idea was very simple. “It’s going to be two doctors. One is going to be Magic Johnson and the other doctor is going to be Larry Bird.” Their role was to create a perfect basketball player. “And Larry says his name gotta be Larry, then Magic says no, Johnson. ‘Larry, Johnson, Larry, Johnson’. And I rise up and the commercial goes off.”

It felt like it was written in the stars that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson would create a basketball player and name him ‘Larry Johnson.’ But the Knicks star had his ‘grandma’ commercial to get him over the loss commercial. We can’t be sure if Magic Johnson was the one to back out since there was no confirmation. But let’s look back at why he was such a big Converse loyalist.

Magic Johnson and his story of rejecting Nike

After winning the National Championship against Larry Bird, three shoe companies came in with a tempting offer. Converse, Adidas, and Nike, all had different plans for the Lakers legend. The Swoosh company, at the time, was 2 years old and trying to establish a foothold. Eventually, he selected Converse. Later in a 2023 interview with All the Smoke, he spoke about his thought process back then.

“Converse offered me the most money. So you know when you grow up broke, take the money.” Magic Johnson also spoke about how Nike tried to sweeten the pot by offering stocks. “Phil Knight came in and said, ‘Hey, I can’t offer you the same type of money. But I can offer you stock.‘” Later he would also accept that he didn’t know what stocks were at that time.”So, I passed on the stocks. Can you imagine? Forty-five years and $5 billion of stock.”

But in the end, Magic Johnson did end up with Nike. When Converse filed for bankruptcy in 2001, the athleisure mogul bought them for approximately $300 million. And on May 31, 2024, the global revenue of Converse (Nike’s affiliate brand) amounted to about $2 billion. Similarly, for Larry Johnson, it worked out, even though he didn’t get to work alongside two of the greats. But the commercial paid for his mother’s house.