A few years ago, the NBA Players Association stated that 60 percent of NBA players would be bankrupted within five years of retirement. During their careers, many players lived an extravagant lifestyle where they spent money faster than it came in. Below is a list of the Top 5 NBA Players who declared for bankruptcy.
Latrell Sprewell
Former NBA player Latrell Sprewell first gained notoriety during his years with the Golden State Warriors. During a practice in 1997, Sprewell actually choked his coach, P.J. Carlesimo, and was subsequently suspended for 68 games. Sprewell still went on to have a successful and lucrative career, and earned almost $100 million playing for Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Minnesota Timberwolves.
However, Sprewell’s career came to an abrupt end when he turned down a 3 year contract extension from the Minnesota Timberwolves worth $30 million. According to Sprewell, this was not enough money to support his family. Sprewell reportedly said, “I have a family to feed … [team owner Glen Taylor] better cough up some money.
A few months later Latrell Sprewell’s yacht was repossessed. I guess team owner Glen Taylor was smart and did not cough up the money.
Kenny Anderson
Next on this list is Kenny Anderson, who earned approximately $60 million during his NBA career on nine different teams. He was married three times. Divorcing his first wife, Tami Akbar, was extremely expensive for him. After the divorce proceedings, Tami Akbar took home half of Anderson’s assets and $8,500 a month in child support.
Kenny Anderson now makes special appearances on his ex-wife’s reality show Basketball Wives.
Derrick Coleman
The first over all pick in the 1990 NBA draft, Derrick Coleman, was on top of the world. The New Jersey Nets thought they got the right guy. Coleman was being compared to Charles Barkley, and the Nets were hopeful that Coleman could deliver on the court. However, that never happened. The fame and fast cash destroyed Coleman who was frequently injured, abused alcohol, and had problems with his weight.
Despite his problems, Coleman was still able to earn over $87 million in his 15-year career, and it came as a big surprise when he filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in March of 2010.
Scottie Pippen
Scottie Pippen won six NBA Championships with the Bulls, an Olympic gold medal and is a Hall of Fame inductee. Pippen earned about $120 million during his illustrious career, but ended up losing most of that amount.
Pippen also lost over $4 million for a corporate jet that was grounded just a few months after he purchased it because it required $1 million in repairs, along with many other bad investments.
Antoine Walker
The top dog of them all, Antoine Walker has been recently spotted playing in South America. In a career lasting 15 years with five different NBA teams, he has collected one NBA championship and reportedly earned $110 million.
However, on May 18, 2010 he filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in Florida (Miami) with total assets of $4.3 million and liabilities of $12.7 million. The filing listed four pieces of real estate including a $2.3 million Miami home that is underwater with a mortgage of $3.6 million, and three other properties in Chicago, one listed for $1.4 million. Walker was accused of being slum lord on his Chicago properties
Walker’s financial problems mostly came from gambling. While responsible gambling awareness programs are available, many NBA players with money choose to ignore them. Walker unfortunately was one of them. In 2009, he was arrested and charged with writing $800,000 worth of bad checks to three Las Vegas casinos. Walker was sentenced to probation and is still trying to resume his playing career.
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November 03, 2011
