How NBA Bad Boy Vinnie Johnson Turned $5 Million in Career Earnings into a $500 Million Fortune

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NBA fans under 40 may not recognize Vinnie Johnson, but he was an integral member of the great Detroit Pistons teams of the 1980s. Known as the “Bad Boys,” they won back-to-back championships, largely due to their notorious physical play. Benzinga looks at how this high-scoring guard turned $5 million in career earnings into an estimated $500 million retirement net worth.

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The bad boys

Today’s younger NBA fans probably wouldn’t recognize the game if they watched a tape of an NBA basketball game from the late 1980s or early 1990s. Professional basketball was incredibly physical at the time, so much so that “the sport contactless’ was a misnomer.

Although the early 1980s were dominated by the likes of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, who battled each other in several epic championship contests, the Detroit Pistons were steadily building a strong team. Led by future Hall of Famers Isiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, Detroit took the physical game to a new extreme. They earned the nickname “Bad Boys” due to their unashamedly physical style of basketball.

By the late 1980s, the Pistons were bona fide contenders, and Vinnie Johnson was an integral member of the team. He was known as “The Microwave” for his ability to instantly come off the bench and turn red. Johnson’s opponents couldn’t stop him from scoring 10 points in minutes while Thomas rested. It’s no stretch to say that Detroit wouldn’t have won back-to-back titles without Vinnie.

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A bad boy becomes a mogul

Aside from the very physical game, there’s another huge difference between today’s NBA and the era Vinnie Johnson played: money. Today, a player of Johnson’s talent could easily earn over $150 million during his career. In contrast, Vinnie Johnson earned about $5 million during his 13-year career. Yes, it was still a lot of money in the 1990s, but it still pales in comparison to today’s player salaries.

After retiring, Johnson wanted to do something that would provide income and give back to his adopted hometown of Detroit, where he remains a legend. So Vinnie started Piston Automotive in 1996. The company’s mission was to create jobs for Detroit residents and supply auto parts to the city’s “big 3” car 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 covered by the Piston Automotive footprint. The company has an estimated $2.8 billion in annual revenue and estimates put Johnson’s net worth in the $500 million range. Former bad boy turned 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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