Elgin Baylor | Celebrity Net Worth 2026

Biography & Early Wealth Journey

Elgin Baylor was one of the first true aerial superstars in professional basketball, helping transform the sport with an acrobatic, above-the-rim style decades before players such as Julius Erving and Michael Jordan became famous for similar athleticism.

Baylor spent his entire playing career with the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, earning 11 NBA All-Star selections and 10 All-NBA First Team honors. He averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game for his career, scored a then-record 71 points in a regular-season game, and set an NBA Finals record with 61 points in a single game. Despite reaching the Finals eight times, Baylor retired without winning a championship.

After his playing career, Baylor coached the New Orleans Jazz before beginning a 22-year run as a top executive with the Los Angeles Clippers. He was named NBA Executive of the Year in 2006. His relationship with Clippers owner Donald Sterling later deteriorated, leading to a high-profile employment lawsuit following Baylor's departure from the team.

Early Life

Primary Income Streams & Multi-Million Contracts

Elgin Gay Baylor was born on September 16, 1934, in Washington, D.C. He developed into a basketball star at Spingarn High School but did not initially have the academic record necessary to attend many major colleges.

Baylor eventually enrolled at the College of Idaho, where he played one season before transferring to Seattle University. After sitting out a season to establish eligibility, he became one of the best college players in the country.

During the 1957-58 season, Baylor averaged 32.5 points and 19.3 rebounds per game while leading Seattle University to the NCAA championship game. Seattle lost to Kentucky, but Baylor scored 25 points with 19 rebounds in the final despite playing with a rib injury. He was named the NCAA Tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

Los Angeles Lakers Career

Real Estate, Luxury Assets & Personal Investments

The Minneapolis Lakers selected Baylor with the first overall pick in the 1958 NBA Draft. The struggling franchise considered his arrival crucial to its survival. Baylor later recalled signing for $20,000, an extraordinary rookie salary at the time.

He immediately justified the investment. Baylor averaged 24.9 points and 15 rebounds per game as a rookie, won NBA Rookie of the Year, and helped take a Lakers team that had finished 19-53 the previous season all the way to the NBA Finals.

The Lakers moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960, making Baylor one of the city's first major professional basketball stars. On November 15, 1960, he scored 71 points against the New York Knicks, setting what was then an NBA single-game scoring record.

Baylor produced perhaps his most remarkable season in 1961-62. Despite being called to active duty with the Army Reserve and spending much of the season stationed at Fort Lewis in Washington, he averaged 38.3 points and 18.6 rebounds in the 48 games he was able to play.

Wealth Trajectory & Future Earnings Projections

During the 1962 NBA Finals against the Boston Celtics, Baylor scored 61 points in Game 5, a Finals record that remains one of the most extraordinary postseason performances in league history. Los Angeles ultimately lost the series in seven games.

Baylor formed one of basketball's greatest scoring combinations with Jerry West. Later in his career, the Lakers added Wilt Chamberlain, giving Los Angeles three of the era's biggest stars. Yet championships repeatedly eluded Baylor. The Lakers reached eight NBA Finals during his career, with Boston responsible for many of their defeats.

Knee and Achilles injuries increasingly limited Baylor during his final seasons. He appeared in just two games during 1970-71 and attempted a comeback the following year before concluding that his body could no longer perform at the level he expected.

Baylor retired nine games into the 1971-72 season. In a particularly painful twist, the Lakers began their historic 33-game winning streak the day after his retirement and went on to win the NBA championship.

He finished his career with 23,149 points, 11,463 rebounds, and 3,650 assists. His averages of 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game place him among the most productive forwards in NBA history.

NBA Salary and Career Earnings

Baylor played before the era of enormous professional basketball contracts. He earned $20,000 during his rookie season in 1958, a salary he later said was the largest ever paid to an NBA rookie at the time.

By the time Baylor retired in 1971, his annual salary had risen to $167,000. Even the biggest stars of his generation earned a tiny fraction of the salaries later paid to NBA players.

Baylor ultimately spent far more years earning money as a basketball executive than he did as a player. When the Clippers hired him in 1986, his salary was $64,800. His compensation eventually increased to $350,000 per year, but according to court documents, his salary remained frozen at that level from 2003 through his departure in 2008.

Coaching Career

Baylor returned to the NBA in 1974 as an assistant coach with the expansion New Orleans Jazz. He later replaced Butch van Breda Kolff as head coach during the 1976-77 season.

Baylor coached the Jazz through the 1978-79 season, compiling an 86-135 record. His teams never reached the playoffs. The franchise relocated to Utah shortly after his tenure ended.

(Photo by Joe Kohen/WireImage)

Los Angeles Clippers Executive

In 1986, Baylor returned to Los Angeles basketball when the Clippers hired him to run basketball operations. He remained with the franchise for 22 years, serving in roles that included vice president of basketball operations and general manager.

Success was sporadic. The Clippers reached the playoffs only four times during Baylor's tenure, but the 2005-06 season represented a significant breakthrough. The team won 47 games and advanced to the second round of the playoffs, its first playoff-series victory in three decades. Baylor was named NBA Executive of the Year.

His tenure ended in 2008 amid a deteriorating relationship with Clippers management. Baylor subsequently sued the Clippers, Sterling, and team president Andy Roeser, initially alleging race and age discrimination as well as wrongful termination.

The racial discrimination claim was dropped before trial. In 2011, a Los Angeles jury rejected Baylor's remaining claims of age discrimination and harassment and awarded him no damages.

Real Estate

In 1992, Elgin and his wife, Elaine, paid $1,445,249 for a large home in Los Angeles' Beverly Crest area. The Mediterranean-style residence sits on nearly an acre and contains more than 8,000 square feet of living space, with six bedrooms and eight bathrooms.

The Baylors listed the property for $4.25 million in 2012, explaining at the time that they had raised their family there and wanted to downsize while remaining in the Los Angeles area.

The property later returned to the market. In 2026, Baylor's longtime former residence was offered for $5.399 million after a price reduction. The 8,114-square-foot home occupies a ridgeline location above Beverly Hills with canyon and city views.

Personal Life

Baylor's first marriage, to Ruby Saunders, ended in divorce. They had two children, Alan and Alison. He later married Elaine Cunningham, with whom he had a daughter, Krystal.

Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977. The Lakers retired his No. 22 jersey in 1983, and he was selected to both the NBA's 50th Anniversary and 75th Anniversary teams.

In 2018, the Lakers unveiled a bronze statue of Baylor outside their home arena in downtown Los Angeles. The honor placed him alongside franchise legends including West, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O'Neal.

Elgin Baylor died of natural causes on March 22, 2021, at the age of 86.

Estate Dispute

More than five years after Baylor's death, a dispute emerged within his family over his estate. In September 2026, his daughter Alison Clayton filed a court petition alleging that her stepmother, Elaine Baylor, had withheld information about Alison's inheritance.

According to the petition, Alison claimed that Elaine did not inform her or her brother when their father died and subsequently refused to provide information about the estate. Alison said she had moved to the East Coast in 1991 but remained in contact with her father until around 2018.

The allegations had not been adjudicated, and Elaine had not publicly responded to the case when the dispute became public.

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