Yardbarker: Antoine Walker

Antoine Walker's Stat Line Of The Week

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:05:00 -0500

If you're not familiar with all this Antoine Walker talk, go get yourself up to speed. If you happen to run across a stat line that needs consideration, send it here. Before we dive into this week's recipient, we would like to take a moment to send some well wishes to the inspiration for this award, Mr. Antoine Walker. Mr. Walker has fell on hard times financially and legally. But we're sure he wouldn't want us to stop the "Stat Line Of The Week" tr...

Antoine Walker’s Stat Line Of The Week

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:05:00 -0500

Antoine Walker’s Stat Line Of The Week: Opening Night Edition

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:15:00 -0500

If you haven't heard, or seen, the NBA is back! Which also means the time has come that we give out our coveted "Antoine Walker Stat Line Of The Week" award to a well deserving player each week. If you're new around these parts and you need some background on this award, even though it's pretty self explanatory, venture on over here. And if you happen to run across a stat line that is worthy of this prestigious award, send it here pronto. Now that ...

Antoine Walker's Stat Line Of The Week: Opening Night Edition

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:15:00 -0500

'Toine and his 401K

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:06:03 -0500

Antoine Walker may or may not have a 401K. But this much is true - he doesn't have much money, after shelling out a substantial amount of it (http://deadspin.com/5390238/antoine-walker-did-not-manage-his-money-well) to seventy - yes, SEVENTY - of his closest "friends" over the years:In 12 years, Antoine Walker made roughly 55 million NBA dollars (after taxes, but not counting endorsement deals.) Yet, he has over $4 million in unpaid debts and faces felony check fraud charges. How the hell did that happen?Well, since he bounced about $1 million worth of checks in Las Vegas you can chalk a healthy portion of that up to gambling losses. But that doesn't explain it all way. Walker was a generous friend and teammate. A little too generous. A Boston Globe investigation into the former Celtic's lavish lifstyle includes free spending, not just on himself—in 2002, he had a new suit made for every day of the playoffs so he wouldn't have to wear the same one twice—but on those in his very large orbit. Teammates say he routinely picked up giant dinner tabs on the road or would hire limos to take everyone out on the town. According to his mother, at one point Walker was financially supporting seventy of his friends and relatives.Wow. 110 million bucks doesn't go as far as it used to. I know the times are tough, but this makes me feel a lot better about my 401K and future retirement (in 2040, if I'm lucky). Unfortunately for Walker, he is nothing but a dot-com stock nowadays.

Former Celtics star Antoine Walker is broke and in debt

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 12:50:25 -0500

In 12 years, Antoine Walker(notes) made more than $110 million playing professional basketball moderately well. Take away taxes, throw in some adidas endorsement money and a "NBA Live 99" cover, and he's left with, what, $60-to-65 million? Whatever the details, it was a big chunk of change, which, amazingly, wasn't enough.That's right, during the last several months, the once multi-millionaire athlete has been pursued by multiple financial institutions for unpaid debts. ...

Antoine Walker Did Not Manage His Money Well

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 15:00:03 -0500

In 12 years, Antoine Walker made roughly 55 million NBA dollars (after taxes, but not counting endorsement deals.) Yet, he has over $4 million in unpaid debts and faces felony check fraud charges. How the hell did that happen? Well, since he bounced about $1 million worth of checks in Las Vegas you can chalk a healthy portion of that up to gambling losses. But that doesn't explain it all way. Walker was a generous friend and teammate. A little too generous. A Boston Globe investigation in...

Antoine Walker: Blew $110M, Facing 10+ Yrs Jail?

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:06:26 -0500

Shira Springer of the BOSTON GLOBE has the stunning story of Antoine Walker, who has apparently already blown $110M in career earnings, owing millions in unpaid pills and casino markers while possibly facing up to a decade or more of prison time. (Summa Cum Laude in Tyson & Barkley School of Finance) Springer’s piece opens with [...]

Antoine Walker Picked the Wrong Place to Do Too Much: The Real World

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 12:31:56 -0500

The saga of Antoine Walker as a basketball player was a narrative of squandered talent. He was big yet deft, a power forward equipped with a shooting guard's touch, but never consistently made those skills part of a winning team, making three All-Star teams and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals just once. He also, to put it kindly, expanded his physique. This is the sort of decline that takes a player good enough to earn a maximum contract in 1999 and makes him a salary figure acquir...

The Sad, Sad Story of Antoine Walker

Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:43:45 -0500

The Globe has an expose on the financial troubles facing former Celtics star Antoine Walker. The Cliffs Notes version: Walker likely squandered most of his $110 million fortune.

Aside from the extravagant lifestyle; homes, cars, custom suits, watches, etc, Walker also supported 70 friends and family members. Former teammates say 'Toine always took care of them, paying for limos and the biggest dinner bills.

Not only does Walker owe casinos, he also owes money to several credit card companies. He authorized five people to make charges on his card. Five? I have a hard time give my wife authorization. And there are the failed business ventures.

Sadly, Antoine is going to be the poster child for future NBA stars on what-not-to-do.

Here are some excerpts from the article. Some of this stuff is mind boggling:

Living at the Bishops Forest condominium complex in Waltham during the Celtics season, Walker turned the pavement surrounding his home into a virtual luxury car lot - two Bentleys, two Mercedes, a Range Rover, a Cadillac Escalade, a bright red Hummer. Often, the vehicles were tricked out with custom paint jobs, rims, and sound systems at considerable added expense. He also collected top-line watches - Rolexes and diamond-encrusted Cartiers....

Then, there were the custom-tailored suits - closets full of them, including the set he ordered for his first playoff run in 2002, enough so he wouldn’t wear a suit more than once during the postseason run. When the Celtics officially hired Jim O’Brien as head coach in 2001, Walker had his tailor make three suits and presented them to O’Brien...

After a 2001 exhibition game at Mohegan Sun, Walker once reportedly played $15,000 hands with Michael Jordan during an all-night gambling session where estimates of money lost and won totaled several hundred thousand dollars. Prior to the 2003-04 season, when Celtics general manager Danny Ainge called Walker to tell him he had been traded, Walker was engrossed in a high-stakes blackjack game at Mohegan Sun.

Walker is trying to latch on to an NBA team, but a contract doesn't appear likely. There's also speculation he'll sign overseas.

Love him or hate him, this guy brought energy and sizzle to the Celtics during its darkest days. For that, I will always be grateful. I hope he gets his life in order.

Antoine Walker Takes A Break From His Vegas Pursuits To Inform Us That Four Teams Have Interest In Him

Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:00:00 -0500

We all know about Antoine Walker's gambling issues. We also know that he has to pay those debts off somehow, right? Why not dupe any team to pay you money to sit on the bench? According to SI's, Chris Mannix, that's exactly Walker's plan. Mannix and Walker bumped into each other at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas during the Mayweather-Marquez fight and Walker claims he will be in a training camp this year. The location of this "bumping into"&...

The Enigmatic Antoine Walker

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:34:00 -0500

This article was originally published in two parts at Suite101.com on August 4, 2005 and August 5, 2005."Antoine Walker is the most polarizing player in Celtics' history." Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan, who has covered the Boston Celtics since 1969, said this to me before game six of the Indiana-Boston series. That game and that playoff series are an excellent microcosm of the "good, the bad and the ugly" concerning the three-time All-Star forward. First, the "g...

Antoine Walker led out of casino in handcuffs

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:25:50 -0500

Local police arrested Antoine Walker in Harrah's Casino in S. Lake Tahoe, Nev. Wednesday night, according to a Rotoworld.com report. Walker was led out of the building in handcuffs. He is currently sitting in Douglas County Jail, and bail was set at $87,000.