Get to know John Salley; he is a former NBA player who won NBA titles with Team USA icons like Michael Jordan and the late Kobe Bryant. He made history as the first NBA player to win championships with three different franchises and the first player to win a championship in three different decades.
Salley was drafted into the NBA out of Georgia Tech as the 11th overall pick in 1986. He went on to make a name for himself as a member of the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons whose brutal roster included Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Dennis Rodman.
According to TalkSport, they were notorious for their physical playing style and roughing Jordan up in the playoffs with their ‘Jordan Rules.’ Sally noted that things got heated quickly and he was compelled to always have a gun around him.
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“When I was in Detroit, I always had a gun,” he told Vlad TV. “Even though I was with my brothers and we had security, I always carried my gun. I’m not saying I was right but I was ready.”
“When I got to Miami, my wife then got a concealed weapons license and she was like, ‘I’ll carry the pistol,”‘ Salley said. “So, for some people, we’re Americans, we feel safer with guns. Whether people think it’s right, this is the culture. People feel safer with guns. I felt safer carrying a gun at times than when I didn’t.”‘
Salley won back-to-back titles with the Pistons in 1989 and 1990 before joining the Heat and Raptors. He also joined the ’92 Dream Team icon Jordan and the Chicago Bulls to help them win a third straight world title.
He later spent time overseas and returned to the NBA in 1999. He played for the Los Angeles Lakers led by Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal and coached by his former Bulls mentor, Phil Jackson.
After retiring from the NBA, he reinvented himself as a chef, vegan activist, and wellness entrepreneur.
“I decided to go vegan in 1991. My coach, at the time told me I had high cholesterol. I was one of the three youngest guys on the team, and I had cholesterol higher than the oldest guys on the squad,” he once said about his decision to go vegan.
“At the age of 40, I decided to stop lying to myself. Finally, at 42, I stopped lying about food and lying to myself when I became a very focused vegan. And I have been focused on veganism now for 16 years.”
As a wellness advocate, he is a frequent speaker at VegFest’s across the USA. The 60-year-old is also an investor in several vegan-based companies. He is linked to Mother Plucker, a fast-food restaurant in the Los Angeles area that serves plant-based chicken tenders.
What is more, he became the official spokesperson for a natural supplement line called VirMax and also a partner in the label “Vegan Vine” in partnership with Clos LaChance Winery.
As a cannabis investor, Salley is behind the cannabis brand Deuces22 and has an ownership stake in the cannabis testing company GreenSpace Labs.
