Call Me Coach

Eleven years before Michael Jordan, Nike gave NBA star Spencer Haywood 10% of the company. While Haywood was on a road trip, his agent sold the whole 10% stake for $100,000 in cash—just to collect his $10,000 fee. In the video below, Haywood is asked if he is still friends with the man who sold it. His answer: "Yes." In 1973, Haywood was 24 and averaging 29 points a game in Seattle. Phil Knight came to him and asked him to wear his new shoe. Knight didn't have the cash to match Converse. So he offered Haywood stock instead. "First of all, I was young, too, and I'm thinking: livestock? What are you talking about? Stocks," Haywood says. Haywood took the stock. His agent had a problem. An agent gets 10%. Ten percent of stock in a tiny shoe company couldn't pay his bills. Ten percent of $100,000 in cash was $10,000 in his pocket right away. So the agent kept telling Haywood the shoe would never work. At the time, Nike only made running shoes for Steve Prefontaine. When Haywood ran down the court, defenders stepped on his heel and popped the shoe right off his foot. Before leaving for a road trip, Haywood gave in. "I said, 'Okay, man, I give you the power of attorney. Let me just go play. I got to really focus on this game now because this is my chance.'" When Haywood came back, the stock was gone. "He had sold that sh*t," Haywood says. "He said, 'Man, I got the cash right here — 100,000.'" Matt Barnes asks him what that 10% of Nike would be worth. "It was up around 2.7 billion," Haywood says. "Years ago." At Nike's peak, 10% was worth over $8.6 billion. The case for the agent: in 1973, Nike was a tiny Oregon running-shoe company, and the shoes literally fell off Haywood's feet during games. Could you stay friends with a man who cost you $2.7 billion?