Winning Time's portrayal of Magic Johnson rejecting a lucrative Nike deal doesn't add up

Action Network

This week's episode showed Nike Founder Phil Knight pitching Johnson about a deal that, according to a ledger put up on screen, would be worth $5.2 billion today. "Winning Time took some major license that actually doesn’t make sense," says The Action Network's Darren Rovell. "They made up that Nike offered Magic the same in stock as Converse offered him ($100,000) at a strike price of 18 cents plus $1 on every shoe shipped. The 18-cent stock price doesn’t make sense because when Magic was negotiating his shoe deal in the summer of 1979, Nike wasn’t public. It did debut at 18 cents but that was Dec. 2, 1980. Magic was already in his second season with Converse. The $1 per shoe is also a way too aggressive royalty. Magic’s Nikes would have retailed for about $20. The standard royalty is five percent of the gross price ($10). That’s 50 cents. The first person we know got stock in a deal with Michael Jordan five years later and, according to his agent David Falk, it was a small amount."