Background and career
John MacBeth Paxson (born September 29, 1960) is an American basketball administrator and former player who was vice president of basketball operations for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 2009 to 2020. He was their general manager from 2003 to 2009. Paxson played eleven NBA seasons for the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls, winning three championships as a member of the Bulls. He was an All-American college player at the University of Notre Dame.
Paxson attended Archbishop Alter High School in Kettering, Ohio, following in the footsteps of his elder brother, Jim, who would go on to a star career at the University of Dayton, and, later, in the NBA, as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. By his senior year, John was considered one of the top guards in the country and was named to the 1979 McDonald's All-American Team, joining such future college and NBA standouts as Isiah Thomas, James Worthy, and Byron Scott in the game.
Paxson played collegiate basketball at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. In 1980–81, his sophomore year, Paxson led the Fighting Irish in assists with a career-high 138 that season. He earned his first All-America recognition as a junior in 1981–82, averaging 16.4 points and dishing out 4.7 assists. The following year, Paxson led Notre Dame to a 19–10 record, averaging a career-high 17.7 points per game and tallying 112 assists en route to claiming his second All-America selection. He also helped guide the team to NCAA appearances in 1980 and 1981. For his career, he was a .526 shooter from the field, presaging his sharpshooting prowess in the pros. He finished his four-year stint at Notre Dame with 1,366 points (19th in Notre Dame history), 411 assists (seventh), 133 steals (eighth), 86 games started (13th), and field goal percentage (20th). His four-year average was 12.2 points per game.
Paxson graduated from Notre Dame in 1983 with a degree in Business Administration and a 3.71 GPA and was a two-time Academic All-American. Bob Arnzen, Pat Garrity, Tim Abromaitis and Paxson are the only four basketball players in Notre Dame's history to earn Academic All-America accolades more than once. On June 6, 2005, Paxson was inducted into the College Sports Information Directors of America Academic All-America (CoSIDA) Hall of Fame, along with five other celebrities.
Paxson was selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the 19th overall pick of the 1983 NBA draft. In two seasons with the Spurs, he averaged 4.9 points per game and 2.9 assists. He then signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls, who teamed him in the backcourt with Michael Jordan. Paxson proved to be a valuable 3-point marksman and clutch shooter in the Bulls' first 3 championships. Paxson is best known for his championship-winning shot during Game 6 of the 1993 NBA Finals. The Bulls were down by two in the last seconds of Game 6 of the finals series held at the America West Arena in Phoenix, Arizona, before Paxson shot a wide-open three point shot with 3.9 seconds remaining, giving the Bulls a 99–98 lead and their third consecutive NBA title, thanks to Horace Grant's last-second block on Kevin Johnson. In his NBA career, he started 369 games, and averaged 7.2 points and 3.6 assists per game.
After Paxson's retirement, Bulls head coach Phil Jackson hired him as an assistant coach for the 1995–96 season. The Bulls won the title that year, fueled by Michael Jordan's return and the addition of another eventual Hall of Famer, Dennis Rodman. Paxson resigned shortly after the season to join Neil Funk on radio broadcasts, saying "I knew full well the time commitment coaching takes. But after that year I missed my wife and kids so much. I realized that if I didn't prioritize, I'd miss everything that they were doing." When Jordan joined the Washington Wizards, he asked Paxson to consider the head coaching job, but Paxson declined for the same reasons.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
