Welcome to the Ringer NBA show. I am Chris Varnin. Today we have an extremely special guest.

Sonny MacKaro is a legendary shoe executive. He's a Godfather of Grassley basketball. He was the subject of BSPN's 30 for 30 Soulman,

which you may have seen last year. For years and years, Sonny ran the biggest prep basketball camp and game in the country,

the ABCD camp. He also worked for virtually every different shoe company and signed the likes of Michael Jordan,

Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady. And he joins us today. Sonny.

Good afternoon. Good morning. Wherever we are across America. Hello Chris. Good to be on.

So I mentioned the documentary and a lot of people that don't know the story of your life got to learn a lot about your life in that ESPN documentary.

But one of the things they did not mention was the end. So let's, we'll get to the end, but let's start at the beginning, which is you made your bones,

or I suppose became a big name on the basketball scene for signing Michael Jordan. Once upon a time, there was a,

I suppose there was, there was money to be spent. You guys were going to get into the business of signing players in order to endorse shoes and you chose Jordan.

I guess just a little background on that. Why, why did you choose Jordan at the time? Why was he the guy that you stumped for?

You know Chris, this would be for anyone was choosing people. Other athletes like Magic and Kareem and Dr. J had shoe deals. But what's so much a choice?

It wasn't a movement from a company usually was converged at that time to make them the signature athlete. That's the key to the Jordan signing.

Other professional athletes got paid to suit my none of them had the shoe after them. None of them.

You know, proportionally on, you know, every shoe you sold, you made yourself a nice, a nice to fight all or something like that.

So that that's what the decision was. My decision, my role in this whole thing. I didn't actually, it was a lot of the contract, but I was the man that fought through a few people at Nike to recommend Michael. That is your question.

Why did I bet my young life at that time in my career? I guess it's followed on Jordan.

There are things in everyone's mind when they have to make decisions that you really don't have an answer to.

I only know that I felt it is my life progressed. I sort of had that feeling on others.

Chris, but it was a feeling I only saw one time in my life. When I played Georgetown, I was at the game.

He didn't go to my camp. There was no camp there because of the ABCD. Basic was going to be an extension of Jordan and he didn't play my all start game.

He played McDonald's and not the dapper Dan North Carolina was a pro big time converse school dean Smith would never have anybody.

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