SPENCER Haywood should be one of the richest athletes in NBA history.

Instead, the former Los Angeles Lakers superstar has been left wondering what might have been after his agent blundered a deal that could have earned Haywood an incredible $2.8billion.

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Spencer Haywood in action for the New York KnicksCredit: Getty

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Haywood stands on stage during the 2022 Basketball Hall of Fame Enshrinement CeremonyCredit: Getty

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Nike founder Phil Knight offered Haywood an equity deal to promote the company’s shoesCredit: Getty
During the start of his NBA career with the Seattle SuperSonics in the early 1970s, Haywood spoke to Nike founder Phil Knight about a marketing deal.

Long before he secured a transformational deal with Michael Jordan, as immortalized in the movie Air, Knight wanted to make a push in basketball with Haywood.

There was huge buzz around Haywood, who was one of the rising stars in the NBA having won an Olympic gold medal in 1968 and the MVP award of the rival ABA prior to moving to the Sonics.

“There was a lot of media around me, so Phil wanted me to rep the shoe,” Haywood told Boardroom.

It also helped that Nike was based in Oregon, near where Haywood played in Seattle.

Haywood agreed to an equity deal with Nike instead of $100,000 cash, with the sportswear company’s shares worth little at the time.

But Haywood’s agent decided to sell the shares – against the NBA star’s knowledge – to get his 10-per-cent stake of the deal.

After selling the stock, Haywood secured $90,000 and his agent got $10,000.

But it would prove a short-sighted and financially disastrous decision considering how much greater Nike is valued today.

“I went on the road and he had the power of attorney letter,” Haywood said of his agent.

“He couldn’t figure out how to get his 10 percent, so he sold my stock for the cash.

“My agent was preaching to me at the time to not take the money for tax advantage purposes.

“We agreed on that, but he got greedy.

“He couldn’t figure out how to get that percentage instead of asking me for $10,000 out of $100,000 and moving on.

“I lost about $2.8billion.”

Haywood stuck with Nike through the remainder of his career, which included an NBA championship with the Lakers in 1980 and a battle with drug use.

Despite losing out on billions, Haywood remains friends with Knight to this day.

“That’s my guy. I’m so proud of what he has done with Nike because I knew it when it was just one shoe,” he said.

“It was the Blazer and that was it. That was the only basketball shoe we had.

“To see where it’s at now? It’s a multi-billion dollar corporation.”

Haywood is not the only NBA superstar to have lost out on a fortune with Nike.

Magic Johnson recently disclosed he turned down a Nike deal in favor of a Converse partnership.

“I didn’t even know what stocks were at that time… so I passed on the stocks,” Johnson said.