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NBA fans under the age of 40 may not know Vinnie Johnson, but he was an indispensable member of the great Detroit Pistons teams of the ’80s. Known as the “Bad Boys,” they won back-to-back championships thanks in large part to their notoriously physical play. Benzinga takes a look at how the high-scoring guard turned $5 million in career earnings into an estimated $500 million net worth after retirement.
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The bad boys
Younger fans of today’s NBA probably wouldn’t recognize the game if they watched a tape of an NBA basketball game from the late ’80s or early ’90s. Professional basketball was incredibly physical back then, so much so that “non-contact sport” was a misnomer.
Although the early 80s were dominated by greats like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who battled each other in several epic games for the championship, the Detroit Pistons were steadily building a strong team. Led by future Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, Detroit took physical play to a new extreme. They earned the nickname “Bad Boys” for their unapologetically physical style of basketball.
In the late 80s, the Pistons were real contenders and Vinnie Johnson was an indispensable member of the team. He was known as “The Microwave” for his ability to come in off the bench and get red hot. Johnson’s opponents couldn’t stop him from scoring 10 points in a few minutes while Thomas was resting. It’s no exaggeration to say that Detroit wouldn’t have won back-to-back titles without Vinnie.
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A bad boy becomes a tycoon
Besides the physical play, there’s another big difference between today’s NBA and the era Vinnie Johnson played in: the money. Today, a player of Johnson’s talents can easily earn over $150 million over the course of his career. For comparison, Vinnie Johnson earned an estimated $5 million over his 13-year career. Yes, that was still a lot of money in the 90s, but it’s still nothing compared to the salaries players make today.
After retiring, Johnson wanted to do something that would provide him with income and give back to his adopted hometown of Detroit, where he remains a legend. So in 1996, Vinnie started Piston Automotive. The company’s mission was to create jobs for Detroiters and supply auto parts to the city’s “Big 3” auto companies: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
Under Johnson’s leadership, Piston Automotive has grown to the point where it now supplies major Japanese automakers including Nissan, Toyota and Honda. It has expanded its reach beyond Michigan and into the greater Midwest. Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri are all part of Piston Automotive’s footprint. The company has an estimated annual revenue of $2.8 billion and estimates place Johnson’s net worth in the $500 million range. The former bad boy has become a mogul.
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This article How NBA Bad Boy Vinnie Johnson Turned $5 Million in Career Earnings into a $500 Million Fortune originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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