After 10 seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, Junior Bridgeman finally started to make the big bucks—really big—with fast-food franchises and a Coca-Cola bottling company. He’s now in rare air alongside Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James as the only NBA players with 10-figure fortunes. Oh, and he also owns a piece of his old team.

By Jabari Young, Forbes Staff

On a Friday afternoon in November, Junior Bridgeman is reminiscing about his time in the NBA. Once traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bridgeman, now 71, scans his Louisville, Kentucky office filled with photographs, art and memorabilia from his playing days as one of the most dominant NBA sixth men of his era. He leans back in his chair, allowing the emotions to set in. He knows the moment to retire is once again approaching.

“It’s probably time,” Bridgeman tells Forbes. Glancing at the replica Super Bowl ring he was given by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020. “Time catches up. You look around and realize that your time, and the time when you have influence and you’re really involved and have the energy, is gone.”

But Bridgeman remains thoroughly engaged in his business ventures and remains a gracious host. “You ready,” he asks before giving a brief tour of his headquarters. Walking past the Coca-Cola and Wendy’s award plaques, Bridgeman points out a unique portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King that’s made of old keyboard buttons. A small mirror is nearby, urging passersby to pick it up then stand in front of the portrait to see a reflection of the words from King’s famous “I Have Dream” speech. Down the hall is a section dedicated to Nelson Mandela, including paintings the South African leader made while in prison, and a photo of the Little Rock Nine, signed by the nine Black students who became the first to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957 after being escorted in by the National Guard.

But nothing means more to Bridgeman than his bookshelf, packed with books that have inspired him over the years, including Jim Collins’ Good to Great, Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, and Porter Bibb’s chronicle of Ted Turner’s career, It Ain’t As Easy As It Looks.

If Bridgeman’s name sounds familiar, it should. The 8th overall pick in the 1975 NBA draft—in which Hall of Famer David Thompson was selected first—the Milwaukee Bucks traded for Bridgeman in the deal that sent Abdul-Jabbar to the Lakers. Bridgeman went on to have a formidable career as a sixth man, long before the league handed out an award for the role. Following his retirement after 12 seasons—including 10 in Milwaukee—in which he never earned more than $350,000 as a player, Bridgeman built a fast-food empire that included more than 500 Wendy’s, Chili’s and Pizza Hut franchises at its peak in 2015. Then, in 2016, Bridgeman sold most of his restaurants for an estimated $250 million and used the proceeds to become a Coca-Cola distributor with a territory spanning three states. Over the last eight years, Bridgeman has grown his bottling business’ revenue almost threefold to nearly $1 billion in 2023. Today, Forbes estimates that Bridgeman has a net worth of $1.4 billion.

“He didn’t waste his time just thinking about the game of basketball,” LeBron James says of Bridgeman. “He’s always had a business mindset. “

That kind of personal wealth puts Bridgeman in elite NBA company—only three other players have become billionaires—Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and LeBron James. (Tiger Woods is the fourth professional athlete to have achieved billionaire status.) But unlike those four superstars, Bridgman did it the harder way—without much fanfare or international celebrity. “He didn’t waste his time just thinking about the game of basketball,” LeBron James tells Forbes. “He’s always had a business mindset. Obviously, he loved the game because he got to [the NBA]. But then he used all the resources, outlets; the connections—to his advantage and he’s built an unbelievable portfolio.”

Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas needs just one word to describe Bridgeman, who played in the same era. “Legendary,” says the two-time NBA champion. “He’s the real success story. A pioneer and a great businessman.”

The son of a steel mill worker and stay-at-home mother, Bridgeman was raised in East Chicago, Indiana, during the 1950s. He recalls a diverse upbringing with neighbors from various backgrounds, including Croatian, Serbian, Yugoslavian and Hispanic families. To earn a living, Bridgeman’s father worked multiple jobs, including as a steelworker, along with side jobs cleaning local bars and washing the windows. In the mornings, young Junior and his older brother were often summoned to assist at 4:30 a.m., before school. The jobs paid a combined $7.50 a week to their father and the role lasted until Bridgeman’s junior year in high school.

“I hated it,” he confesses.

However, it also taught him a work ethic, and his parents demanded that he treat people with dignity and respect. The other mandate: “If you went out for a team,” Bridgeman recalls, “you couldn’t quit.” Once, Bridgeman tested his parent’s rule when he tried out for the junior varsity football team. He made the team, but he didn’t play a single snap all season and sat on the bench in the freezing cold.

He quit football the following season and excelled in basketball during high school. That led to a scholarship to the University of Louisville, where the 6’5” Bridgeman was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year in 1974 and 1975. A few weeks after being drafted by the Lakers in the first round, he was dealt to the Bucks in the landmark trade for Abdul-Jabbar that changed the fate of both teams. The following season, when Don Nelson—a future Hall of Famer who ranks second on the all-time wins list for coaches—was named head coach of the Bucks, he convinced Bridgeman to adopt the sixth-man role. Nelson had played that role with the Boston Celtics and helped the franchise capture five titles. He assured Bridgeman it was vital to championship teams.

Bridgeman never won an NBA title, but he used his time in the league to develop a game plan for a post-basketball career. He received invaluable business advice from then-Bucks owner Jim Fitzgerald, who convinced Bridgeman to invest in a startup cable company. Bridgeman agreed to invest $150,000 in the cable operation over the next five years. When Fitzgerald eventually sold the company a few years later, Bridgeman received around $700,000—more than double what he earned during most NBA seasons in the 1980s. Fitzgerald also taught Bridgeman a lesson he would never forget: “If you’re going to get into the business world, you’ll only have two problems—people and money.”

He would find that out the hard way.

In 1987, with his windfall from the cable sale, Bridgeman expanded into fast-food franchises. Bridgman and former NBA player and coach Paul Silas invested roughly $100,000 in a Wendy’s location in Brooklyn. The restaurant struggled due to their inexperience. “We suffered all of the things that come with not knowing,” Bridgeman says. A year later, the business completely collapsed after a fire. Silas pulled out of the deal, leaving Bridgeman to rebuild the franchise on his own. Determined to succeed, Bridgeman entered restaurant training camp to learn the guts of the operation. He worked various positions, including as a drive-thru cashier during the midday rush. “If you’re going to be successful,” Bridgeman says, “you better know every aspect” of your business.

By 1989, Bridgeman had rebuilt and sold the Wendy’s in Brooklyn. After the fire, Wendy’s offered Bridgeman a deal to buy five more struggling stores throughout the Milwaukee region for $150,000 each. When Bridgeman took over, only one store averaged $800,000 in annual sales, he says. To reach profitability (which required roughly $1 million of revenue per store), Bridgeman went on a local marketing spree, advertising on TV and radio, and personally handed out coupons to future customers.

It worked, but changing the culture at the restaurants is what really paid off.

“That old saying, ‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care,’” Bridgeman says. “That’s all true.”

To prove he cared, Bridgeman hired ex-convicts to work in his franchises and often sent them back to school. When some workers regressed, he bailed them out of jail. He also helped develop entry-level team members into managers and relied on one of the many business books in his library—Ken Blanchard’s Raving Fans, which offered invaluable lessons in customer service. “I read that one when we were trying to figure out how to [attract] more people to the restaurant business,” Bridgeman says. “How do you make people want to come to your restaurant?” He gave the book to his managers to improve their customer service skills and, simultaneously, created a company of second chances by showing a genuine interest in improving people’s lives.

Bridegman’s team-building philosophy paid off. Over the next two decades, his restaurant empire grew to some 520 franchises, generating a combined $500 million in revenue at its peak in 2015.

“You had to get [people] to understand and believe that you cared about them,” Bridgeman says. “Once you got to that point, then they cared about the business. Once that happened—everything else was dollars.”

After selling most of his franchises in 2016 for an estimated $250 million, Bridgeman dreamed even bigger. That same year, he purchased the Kansas-based Heartland Coca-Cola bottling company for an estimated $290 million—and his timing could not have been better. That’s because Coca-Cola had recently bought its largest bottler, Coca-Cola Enterprises, for $12.3 billion and was in the process of trimming its footprint. A century ago, there were around 1,000 Coca-Cola bottlers in America. Today that number is less than 100.

“It’s a great business if you can get your hands on it,” says Charlie Higgs, a London-based consumer products analyst at Redburn . In 2024, he adds, Coca-Cola bottlers recorded global retail sales of $280 billion.

Additionally, Higgs notes how Bridgeman—who owns 100% of Heartland—grew its revenue over the decade by expanding into Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. Today, Forbes estimates that Heartland does almost $1 billion in annual revenue and is worth nearly $1 billion after debt. And Bridgeman’s Coca-Cola holdings are likely worth even more. That’s because in 2018, he also took a minority stake in Coca-Cola’s Canadian bottling business, which is controlled by Canadian billionaire Larry Tanenbaum, who also owns the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the NHL’s Maple Leafs.

Despite his move into bottling, Bridgeman hasn’t left the restaurant business entirely. His family still owns controlling stakes in 160 Wendy’s franchises and 70 Fazoli’s Italian restaurants, which Forbes estimates are worth $100 million combined, including the underlying real estate owned by Bridgeman. He has also expanded into the media business. In 2020, Bridgeman purchased magazines Ebony and Jet for a reported $14 million.

Then, last September, the former sixth man pivoted back to the NBA—he purchased a 10% stake in his old team, the Milwaukee Bucks. Forbes estimates that Bridgeman received a 15% preferred limited partner discount and paid an estimated $300 million for his share of the team.

Although his NBA career ended nearly 40 years ago, one of Bridgeman’s priorities is taking care of the team that works for him now. At around 11:30 each morning, a personal chef prepares fresh meals for the key people in Bridgeman’s company. On this day, it’s a brunch menu of omelets made on request, buttermilk waffles, crispy bacon and perfectly cooked sausage.

“What does that symbolize?” asks Charles Grantham, the former executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), where Bridgeman was president in the late 1980s. “It suggests to me that he sat back, thought it through, and said, ‘Okay, how am I going to encourage people to be the best they can be? I’ve got to show some concern, some care and interest in having them. Even if it means bringing in a personal chef every single day.”

The biggest concern for Bridgeman these days is securing his family’s financial future. Having built a lucrative empire that’s now mainly run by his children, it will soon be time for Bridgeman to retire—this time for good. Over the years, the Bridgeman family has held many estate planning meetings and he insists that he is not renewing his board positions and plans to fade out of the public spotlight one day soon.

Beyond his family, there is one last mission he wants to complete. As a minority owner of the Bucks, he wants to pass on his business acumen to a new generation of NBA talent much as Fitzgerald taught him.

“They can do the same thing,” Bridgeman says. “These guys nowadays that have a lot of money probably have too many people coming to them asking them to invest in this or their entourage or whoever their influences are outside of the game,” Bridgeman says. “I just want to get them to look at all of that differently.”

Bridgeman is well aware his investment in the Bucks will soon increase in value once the league adds two new teams, most likely in Las Vegas and Seattle. The price of admission to join the league—which will be divided among the owners of the 30 NBA teams—is estimated to be between $5 billion and $6 billion.

“That is crazy to me,” Bridgeman says. “[Larry Tanenbaum] gave me a lot of insight [into] what’s coming for the league down the road,” he explains. Last year, the NBA signed a new $77 billion media deal. It also maintains a $5 billion business in China and a league in Africa worth $1 billion.

Similar to a Coca-Cola bottling company, owning a professional sports team is a business that “nobody wants to get out of,” Bridgeman says. “They just pass it down.”

—Additional reporting by Chase Peterson-Withorn and Matt Durot

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