How much is Larry Bird worth?
| Net Worth: | $60 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Basketball Player |
| Date of Birth: | December 7, 1956 (age 66) |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) |
About Larry Bird
Larry “the Legend” Bird is one of the best five players to ever play basketball. Along with Magic Johnson, he would be a transformative force that would shape the league in the 80s. Until Bird and Magic came along, the NBA wasn’t that popular, most playoff games weren’t even on TV. The players weren’t even that well paid, some even took odd jobs to support themselves during the offseason. All that changed and nowadays massive contracts are signed like the $228 million dollar contract James Harden signed in 2017.
Larry Bird was born and raised in close to French Lick in Indiana. His childhood was full of stress, drama and financial struggle. He has four brothers and a sister. His mother worked two jobs to support them, while his father worked odd jobs here and there. His parents finally divorced when Larry Bird was in high school. His father committed suicide the next year. All this fueled Larry Bird, and still does to this day. To escape the poverty and drama of his everyday life he committed himself completely and wholeheartedly to basketball. He was an incredible player in high school, finishing with 31 points 21 rebounds and 5 assists averages in his senior year of high school.
Initially, Bird got a college offer from Indiana University, but he dropped out there. The adjustment to a big town was rough for him. So the first year of his college life he spent back in the local Northwood Institute. He also worked odd jobs on the side to help his family support itself. He soon transferred to the Indiana State University and would spend three years there. He would lead the college to incredible success for such a small school.
He led the college to their first-ever NCAA tournament run. Their game against Michigan State was one of the most-watched basketball games of that time. The reason for that being the final clash between him and Magic Johnson, the first of many championships that they would compete for. His team lost, but he won the award for the College Player of the Year. He finished his college career averaging 31 points 13 rebounds and 5 assists. He also got a bachelor in physical education.
Unlike today, where players have to become pros after they have declared for the NBA draft, Larry Bird would return to his college for his final year. The reason for that was mainly that the Celtics GM at the time didn’t want to pay him more than other players on the team. So Bird played his cards right, went back to college and forced the Celtics to make him the highest-paid rookie in history. Soon after that, the NBA changed rules so that players have to become pros after they are selected in the draft.
From his first season on, Larry Bird set the league on fire. He won the Rookie of the Year Award. In his first season, he finished with an average of 21 points 10 rebounds and 5 assists. His team the Boston Celtics got as far as the Conference Finals, where they were eliminated by the 76ers.
In his fifth year with the team, he was finally selected as the league MVP. He would lead the Celtics to their first title under Bird, Parish and McHale. He averaged 27 points 24 rebounds and 4 assists in the Finals that year. In total, he would win 3 MVPs, 3 Finals MVPs and would lead the Celtics to three different NBA titles. He finished his career with the averages 24 points 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Soon after his retirement, he would be inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the iconic 1992 American Olympic Dream team.
Larry Bird would return to basketball later in life as a coach and the president of operations. But he would not return to the Celtics. He would be the coach of a couple of really successful Indiana Pacers teams, who would get a few runs for the title. But sadly for Bird and the Pacers, Michael Jordan was in the way, and they didn’t get to go to the NBA Finals. Bird would coach the Pacers in three seasons. He was both selected as the NBA coach of the year as well as the NBA executive of the year.
Larry Bird earned a total of $26 million dollars in salary for his time spent in the league. While that sounds very little by today’s standard Bird has been credited as one of the players that caused teams to start paying their players much greater salaries.
Larry Bird is one of the most competitive players and people that ever played in the NBA. The stories of him always wanting to be the best at everything are legendary. Everyone in both Boston and Indiana has stories of his insane competitiveness, so maniacal it can rival that of Michael Jordan. It was his insane drive for success that pushed him to reach heights that nobody thought were possible. He always knew that titles are all that matter, and he pushed himself both physically and mentally as much as he could so that his team could reach the top, which it did, on three separate occasions.
But, that drive and work ethic also played a part in the shortening of his NBA career. Larry Bird developed a lot of back issues that plague him to this day. And, of course, a part of his success was his incredible basketball talent. He was considered one of the best shooters as well as players. But as his teammates state, he didn’t really practice three’s or shots all that much. But still, he was one of the better three-point shooters in the league at that time, especially in the most important moments.
Summary
The early life of Larry Bird was very hard. His mother was a very resilient, hard-working woman. Larry Bird took her resilience and work ethic, fused his with his basketball talents and became one of the five or ten best basketball players of all time. Without him, there would not be the NBA that we have today. In his case, we can safely say that being stubborn about success, wanting to be the best at everything really pays off in the end. Keep pushing, know your worth and good things will happen.
