Civil Bear said:

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concordtom said:

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A long time ago, there were articles comparing Powe and Ariza as high schoolers, college prospects, college players, pro prospects, pros.

Powe was at one point rated higher than LeBron James, if you can believe that.

But then injuries impacted spoke big time, and Ariza streaked ahead with a long and successful pro career. $118M in lifetime earnings.

Now this article, which says Ariza claims he's broke.
WOW.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/despite-making-118-million-nba-164831567.html

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Powe was rated as low as #2 behind LeBraun at one point before he blew out his knee. Was never close to being as good, though.

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Who are these Powell and LeBraun characters?

Always sad to see that (Ariza's situation). When you've always had nothing and suddenly you have five million (or more), it's hard to see it ever slipping away, but then...

Obviously you take care of your parents and maybe your siblings, but then other relatives figure they should get at least something. Same with friends. And even "acquaintances". In a way, you enjoy being the guy that can help, but then it's hard to cut them off.

You're the guy that picks up the tabs. Sometimes the tabs include insanely expensive dinners... with the best wine and liquor. Hey, it's only just this once, right? Yeah, 20-30 times a year. Christmas costs you $20,000, maybe a lot more.

You are starting to see darkness at the end of the tunnel, so you make some investments that are "guaranteed" to give you 20-30% returns... or higher. Somebody wants you to invest in their "sure fire" business. It goes belly up.

When you pencil things out (maybe in your head), you figure your income will keep going for 15 years or so, because athletes can easily play into their late 30s nowadays, right? Oops. Some do, but most don't.

This happens all the time. Really sad.

One of the best things my dad ever schooled me on was economic realities. A penny saved is a penny earned. Don't fall for scams, or as my dad would say, "everybody has an angle". The best things in life are free. Live within your means. The gravy train stops at some point, usually earlier than you had expected.

Big C said:

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Always sad to see that (Ariza's situation). When you've always had nothing and suddenly you have five million (or more), it's hard to see it slipping away, but then...

Obviously you take care of your parents and maybe your siblings, but then other relative figure they should get at least something. Same with friends. And even "acquaintances". In a way, you enjoy being the guy that can help, but then it's hard to cut them off.

You're the guy that picks up the tabs. Sometimes the tabs include insanely expensive dinners... with the best wine and liquor. Hey, it's only just this once, right? Yeah, 20-30 times a year. Christmas costs you $20,000, maybe a lot more.

You are starting to see darkness at the end of the tunnel, so you make some investments that are "guaranteed" to give you 20-30% returns... or higher. Somebody wants you to invest in their "sure fire" business. It goes belly up.

When you pencil things out (maybe in your head), you figure your income will keep going for 15 years or so, because athletes can easily play into their late 30s nowadays, right? Oops. Some do, but most don't.

This happens all the time. Really sad.

One of the best things my dad ever schooled me on was economic realities. A penny saved is a penny earned. Don't fall for scams, or as my dad would say, "everybody has an angle". The best things in life are free. Live within your means. The gravy train stops at some point, usually earlier than you had expected.

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Great post.....and so true. When asked I occasionally speak to various college programs about finances. How to earn it, how to lose it and how to invest it (safely). I remember a past rookie Golden State Dub's player, who was 19 and his 5 bedroom house rent in Oakland was $6000/mo (market for a nice condo was $1800 then) and He told me it was because "my friends like to visit and will need a place to stay". Then sadly His Dad was starting an auto repair business and didn't have good credit - so the player co-signed for the needed equipment to the business. 7 months into the business, it went belly up and the player had his monthly NBA checks garnished by the lending company, for the default payment due of the equipment.

One of my relatives lived in an apartment complex with a member of the Knicks. This player got one big contract from the team. With some of the money he bought eight luxury cars that cost six figures each. In the offseason he would hire eight drivers to bring them to his offseason home. He did make enough money to afford that luxury, but if that was an indication of his spending, he might not have much left.