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The National Basketball Association (NBA) is the world’s premier basketball league, and it’s the US’s second-largest sports league after the NFL. Its players are some of the world’s most famous athletes, with many becoming superstars in American pop culture, despite the NFL as a league being more popular. Everyone knows what the NBA is, and everyone knows who the league’s stars are, both current and former. In addition, NBA stars are also some of the world’s wealthiest athletes.
Whenever anyone achieves a significant amount of wealth, one of the biggest purchases on the bucket list is a business jet. Save for perhaps a yacht, private planes represent the epitome of luxury and exclusivity, and the convenience offered by a personal jet is truly unrivaled. Although they’re incredibly expensive, the market for private jets continues to be steady, as they’re both aspirational and offer material time savings. Naturally, private jets are also used by the NBA’s biggest stars.
Earvin Magic Johnson Jr.’s Gulfstream
Magic Johnson is undoubtedly one of the greatest NBA players of all time. He’s routinely ranked with legends such as Michael Jordan as being perhaps the best of all time, and is widely considered to be the best point guard of all time. He spent his entire career with the Los Angeles Lakers, from 1979 to 1991, and returned in 1996 before retiring from the NBA permanently. He’s received three MVP awards, three NBA Finals MVP awards, nine All-NBA First Team designations, and 12 All-Star Game selections.
Magic Johnson routinely travels in a Gulfstream III. This aircraft, registered as N32MJ (the ’32’ being his jersey number), has the serial number 460 and was first constructed in 1982. This aircraft has worn 11 registrations in total, and was owned by Clay Lacy Aviation right before being purchased by Magic Johnson. Magic Johnson purchased the Gulfstream III in 2005, and it has been his primary mode of transport ever since. While he hasn’t played on the courts in over three decades, he engages in numerous business ventures and has a net worth of roughly $1.5 billion.
The Gulfstream III is an old aircraft, with N32MJ in particular being nearly 45 years old. However, Johnson continues to rely on it for trips within the plane’s 3,650 NM (6,790 km) range. Aircraft age doesn’t matter much so long as the plane is well maintained, and the Gulfstream III is not only familiar to Magic Johnson but likely also paid off. As such, it remains a reliable and luxurious method of travel. However, N32MJ may soon be approaching its cycle or hour limits, given that it is nearly half a century old.
Shaquille O’Neal’s Bombardier Challenger
For years, Shaq swore off the idea of owning a private jet, citing high maintenance costs. But in 2023, Diesel relented and found himself coming into possession of a Bombardier Challenger 605. This jet, classified as a large jet, has a capacity of up to 19 passengers and has a range of 4,000 NM (7,400 km), making it quite versatile. Shaq’s example is registered as N3250N and has a serial number of 5849. Shaq purchased N3250N second-hand, and the plane was originally constructed in 2010.
The Challenger 605 is a variant of the Bombardier Challenger 600 series, which first debuted in 1978. The Challenger 605 was first certified in 2006 and was a light upgrade of the prior 604 series. It features larger cabin windows compared to the 604, and includes a larger tail cone along with an upgraded flight deck. The Challenger 600 series also served as the basis for the original Bombardier CRJ100/CRJ200, although the two aircraft are extremely different and distinct.
Shaq has been out of the NBA for 15 years and has instead focused on his entrepreneurial ventures. In addition, he’s an active philanthropist and an NBA analyst. The Bombardier Challenger 605 is large and capable enough to handle any mission within North America, and can even handle the shortest transatlantic journeys. For journeys outside the Challenger 605’s range, Shaq likely charters a long-range jet, although he is reported to have occasionally flown commercial in the past, despite his enormous size.
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Michael Jordan’s Gulfstream G650ER
Michael Jordan is considered by most to be the greatest basketball player of all time and is a contender for being perhaps the greatest athlete of all time. He played for the Chicago Bulls until 1998, and played for the Washington Wizards from 2001 to 2003. His resume is unparalleled, and he’s since built up billions in wealth, primarily from his partnership with Nike for the Air Jordan sneaker line, but also with investments in businesses, sports teams, and brand endorsements.
Michael Jordan currently owns a Gulfstream G650ER, registered as N236MJ. The ’23’ was his jersey number while in the NBA, while the ‘six’ represents the number of NBA championships that he’s won. ‘MJ’, of course, are his initials. In addition, his aircraft features an extremely customized paint job, featuring elephant prints, a mixture of grey, black, and red paint, along with the iconic ‘jumpman’ logo on the tail. It’s estimated that the paint job alone may have cost half a million dollars, and although it’s unknown how his interior is configured, it’s likely to be just as customized.
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Gulfstream GVI Family |
Years Produced |
|---|---|
|
Gulfstream G650 |
2012-2014 |
|
Gulfstream G650ER |
2014-2025 |
|
GulfstreamG700 |
2024-Present |
|
Gulfstream G800 |
2025-Present |
Michael Jordan took delivery of N236MJ in 2024, and it was one of the last G650ERs to roll off the line as Gulfstream transitions to producing the replacement G700 and G800 jets. For years, the Gulfstream G650ER was the most prestigious business jet that money could buy, due to its striking appearance, exceptionally luxurious interior with limitless customization opportunities, and extraordinary capabilities. The G650 first entered service in 2012, and the G650ER two years later, with its improvements being offered as a retrofit package to earlier G650s.
Why Don’t More Players Own Private Jets
It’s notable that the three NBA players known to own private jets are multi-millionaires or billionaires who have long been out of the game. Indeed, while it’s long been rumored that certain active NBA players may own a private jet, nothing substantial has ever come out of these rumors, and Lebron James even confirmed that he does not own an aircraft in 2025. As of 2026, no current NBA players are confirmed to own a private jet.
Shaq and Lebron have both stated that the cost of owning a private jet is just too expensive. While Shaq did purchase a Challenger 605, he primarily focuses on entrepreneurial activities and on his role as an activist, which requires frequent on-demand travel where a private jet provides significant time savings. Lebron James, despite being the first active NBA player to achieve billionaire status, primarily travels for NBA games and therefore flies on the NBA’s dedicated fleet of Boeing 757-200s operated by 
Delta Air Lines.
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Current NBA Transport Aircraft |
Future NBA Transport Aircraft |
|---|---|
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11x Boeing 757-200s operated by Delta Air Lines |
13x Airbus A321neos to be operated by Delta Air Lines, will enter service in 2026 |
When flying personally, Lebron and many other famous players, such as Stephen Curry or Kevin Durant, charter private jets from companies such as Netjets. It’s also possible, though not confirmed, that some players may hold fractional ownership in an aircraft. When chartering a jet, customers essentially get the same benefits of private jet travel, but only pay the hourly rate of the aircraft while in use, rather than paying for an aircraft’s full capital and maintenance costs. Meanwhile, the former NBA players who own private jets purchased them after retiring from basketball.
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Other Notable Athletes With Private Planes
NBA players are some of the most famous athletes in the world due to the league’s popularity, effective marketing, and a lack of helmets. As is the case with the NBA, it’s rare for athletes in other sports to purchase private jets, since active players mainly travel for games, and teams negotiate travel contracts. Therefore, the most famous athletes who own their own private planes are retired and now focus on other ventures, which, in part, increases their visibility even more.
Tiger Woods is famous for being one of the greatest golfers of all time, and is known to own a Gulfstream G550 registered as N517TW. Alex Rodriguez, one of the most famous baseball players of all time, travels in a Gulfstream IV-SP registered as N313AR, while former NFL player Tom Brady is reported to travel on a Gulfstream G550. With little exception, most athletes who own business jets acquire them after their sports careers are over.
However, there are a few notable exceptions. Current Formula One racer Max Verstappen is known to travel in a customized Dassault Falcon 8X. Meanwhile, footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi both use private jets, with Ronaldo traveling in a Bombardier Global Express XRS, while Messi uses a Gulfstream V.
