What Is Chris "Birdman" Andersen's Net Worth and Salary?
Chris "Birdman" Andersen is an American professional basketball player who has a net worth of $14 million. Chris Andersen is best known for his contributions in the NBA as a prolific rebounder and enforcer, not to mention playing alongside Lebron James on both James's Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers. During his NBA career, Andersen earned $38 million in salary alone. At his peak, he earned $5.4 million per year in salary from the Miami Heat.
Early Life
Chris Andersen was born July 7, 1978, in Long Beach, California. Out of three siblings, Andersen is the second child of Claus Andersen, a corrections officer, and Linda Holubec, who was a waitress at the Port Hueneme naval base. Andersen started playing basketball in high school with much convincing from his high school's varsity coach. Although Andersen could not achieve the grades that would get him into the University of Houston, he attended Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. Andersen is notably the only Blinn student to ever play in the NBA. Andersen's college coach just happened to be the father of his high school basketball coach. Andersen would play for one season and lead the National Junior College Athletic Association in blocked shots.
Pre-NBA Career
Andersen has played for a variety of NBA teams, filling out enforcer-type roles, happy to do the sort of intangibles that don't get the same kind of attention as straight-up scoring. Andersen has played for the Denver Nuggets (two separate times, as a matter of fact), the New Orleans Hornets, the Miami Heat, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
However, Andersen began his professional career in the Chinese Basketball Association and the American minor leagues. He played for teams such as the Fargo-Moorhead Beez of the IBA and contributed his unique skill set to the Sugarland Sharks in the Southwest Basketball League.
In 2001, Andersen played for the Cleveland Cavaliers as a part of the 2001 NBA Summer League. Then, on September 28, 2001, Andersen signed with the Phoenix Suns. Andersen would later be waived by the Suns but was selected as the first overall pick — by the Fayetteville Patriots, which was Andersen's introduction to the NBA Development League during their inaugural draft.
NBA Career
Andersen was the very first D-League player to be called up by a team in the NBA. He signed a contract with the Denver Nuggets (November 21, 2001) — after only playing two games with the Fayetteville Patriots. Andersen quickly became a top producer, especially as a rebounder and shot blocker. It was during the 2002 Rocky Mountain Revue that Andersen's teammates Kenny Satterfield and Junior Harrington gave him his famous nickname: "Birdman," which made reference to Andersen's vast wingspan (also termed "arm span") as well as his very particular on-the-court aerial acrobatics. In 2003, Andersen would re-sign with the Denver Nuggets as well.
(Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
He would afterward play for the New Orleans Hornets and even appeared in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest for the 2005 All-Star Weekend — this was his second year in a row performing at the event. Andersen famously tried (unsuccessfully) to execute the exact same dunk eight times.
The 6 ft 10 in, 245 lb. center/power forward was handed down a two-year ban from the NBA in 2006 for violating the league's drug policy but was reinstated on March 4, 2008, and re-signed with the Hornets the following day. He returned to Denver later in 2008, where he remained until 2012.
Andersen eventually signed with the Miami Heat in January 2013, and he later played for the Memphis Grizzlies and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Andersen is also known for brightly colored tattoos on his arms, chest, neck, back, hands, and legs. His first tattoo was given as an eighteenth birthday gift by his mother, who has some body art of her own from her tenure in the Bandidos Motorcycle Club. Andersen's regular tattoo artist, Denver-based John Slaughter, estimates that Andersen has inked 75 percent of his body. He showed off those tattoos in PETA's "Ink Not Mink" ad campaign to protest the fur industry. On May 10, 2012, Denver NBC affiliate 9News reported that Andersen's home was the target of an investigation of a suspected Internet criminal case by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes Against Children Unit. Andersen was not charged with any crimes. In September 2013, it was revealed that Andersen was the victim of an elaborate hoax.
BIG3 Career
On March 23, 2018, it was reported that Andersen had signed a contract with the BIG3 basketball organization, joining their draft pool, which made him draft-eligible for the BIG3's Power team. Andersen's contributions helped Power win the BIG3 championship in 2018.
