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60% of NBA players bankrupt 5 years after retirement

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methomps;1114158; said:
le basketbawl: The NBA Basketball Blog: 60% of NBA Players Broke After 5 Years...

A questionable statistic from the NBAPA (an "estimate" actually), but certainly interesting. I wonder if this is skewed by players who make very little or if there are a large number of multi-millionaire players who blow it all that quickly.
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"Very little" in NBA salary is still way more than 95% of the general public makes. I'll get shit for this, but I wonder what the ethnic breakdown is...
 
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methomps;1114158; said:
le basketbawl: The NBA Basketball Blog: 60% of NBA Players Broke After 5 Years...

A questionable statistic from the NBAPA (an "estimate" actually), but certainly interesting. I wonder if this is skewed by players who make very little or if there are a large number of multi-millionaire players who blow it all that quickly.
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Well, a large number of lottery winners are broke within five to ten years from winning the millions, so it makes sense to me.

The people least able to handle their financial affairs are kids who are not from a monied background, <sarcasm> and who did not major in finance in college </sarcasm>, to say the least. They live large in the "NBA Lifestyle", pay for the posse or entourage of buddies, buy the moms/grandmas/sisters cars and homes, and then, when the money spigot stop flowing, not realize just how much money it takes for upkeep and taxes on the 15 room McMansion that they live in.

Sad, but understandable. Talking those guys into putting their coin into trusts - where they do not have control of the money - is difficult, and they do not trust others with their money in general. Those that they do trust are often not money professionals. So they start restaurants, businesses, etc, and when the NBA salary money no longer can subsidize the failed ventures, often with tax issues, they file for protection.
 
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MililaniBuckeye;1114176; said:
"Very little" in NBA salary is still way more than 95% of the general public makes. I'll get shit for this, but I wonder what the ethnic breakdown is...
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Not for someone who retires from his profession that young, lacks any real job skills, and is surrounded by colleagues who live the rockstar lifestyle. I read an article a ways back about some linemen from an NFL team who always had to be conscious that their fellow linemen didn't make their level of money.

I still think it would be more interesting to see a breakdown along levels of income in the NBA.

And you are wrong about the race implication.
 
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At least Kapono has a brain unlike the majority of them.

Jason Kapono of the Toronto Raptors expressed his thoughts after the players? association presented their materials. ?Going above and beyond isn?t worth it. I don?t want to be a part of that 60% that?s in trouble five years down the road. It?s a short career and I?m blessed to be earning a great salary playing basketball. But if it ended, my contract only takes me to age 30. Life expectancy is 80-plus. So I?ve got another 50 years. Do I really need to buy another car??
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Obviously not the sole cause of money issues, but for those that come from families and areas with very, very little (rural areas, inner cities, eastern europe, random areas of other developing nations), it is very hard to say 'no' to the people that loved and raised you and still have very little. It's been said, but alot of player cash goes to friends, family and other hangers-on.

Another huge expense these days is personal security, as pro athletes increasingly become targets for extortion-related violence.
 
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methomps;1114197; said:
Not for someone who retires from his profession that young, lacks any real job skills, and is surrounded by colleagues who live the rockstar lifestyle. I read an article a ways back about some linemen from an NFL team who always had to be conscious that their fellow linemen didn't make their level of money.
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Retiring "young" is no excuse, not is the "rockstar lifestyle"...each person is responsible for his own choices. As for lacking any real job skills, don't the majority of the NBA players come into the league after four years of college?

methomps;1114197; said:
And you are wrong about the race implication.
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I highly doubt it. Not really about "race", but more like "culture". If you don't think that Black Culture of the last several decades hasn't embraced and glorified the "bling-bling" lifesyle, then you are sadly mistaken. Now, do I imply that all black NBA players are overly extravagant and those of other ethnicities (white, Hispanic, Asian) aren't? No. But I would virtually guarantee you that if you broke down the percentages amongst each group, the percentage of black players having financial difficulty after retirement would be higher than the percentages of the other groups.
 
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MililaniBuckeye;1114214; said:
I highly doubt it. Not really about "race", but more like "culture". If you don't think that Black Culture of the last several decades hasn't embraced and glorified the "bling-bling" lifesyle, then you are sadly mistaken. Now, do I imply that all black NBA players are overly extravagant and those of other ethnicities (white, Hispanic, Asian) aren't? No. But I would virtually guarantee you that if you broke down the percentages amongst each group, the percentage of black players having financial difficulty after retirement would be higher than the percentages of the other groups.
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I'm gonna shock some people here by saying that I agree with Milli here. Black culture has embraced a lifestyle that places too much focus on spending money you don't have where it isn't needed. I've seen far too many friends that make far less money than I do spending too much money on cars with loans they can't afford, clothes they can't afford, and other luxuries they can't afford, and then have the nerve to ask me for money because I'm not stupid with it.

It's the hip-hop culture created by these presentations of a glamorous lifestyle that apparently only exits when you drive an Escalade. It's ridiculous and it's time that people were willing to admit that it's a big problem.
 
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MililaniBuckeye;1114214; said:
Retiring "young" is no excuse, not is the "rockstar lifestyle"...each person is responsible for his own choices. As for lacking any real job skills, don't the majority of the NBA players come into the league after four years of college?
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I didn't say it was an excuse. I said it wasn't interesting. And four years of college (if that is even what they are getting) is kinda different for athletes than it is for their classmates.


I highly doubt it. Not really about "race", but more like "culture". If you don't think that Black Culture of the last several decades hasn't embraced and glorified the "bling-bling" lifesyle, then you are sadly mistaken. Now, do I imply that all black NBA players are overly extravagant and those of other ethnicities (white, Hispanic, Asian) aren't? No. But I would virtually guarantee you that if you broke down the percentages amongst each group, the percentage of black players having financial difficulty after retirement would be higher than the percentages of the other groups.
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Correlation =/= causation. Think socio-economic factors.
 
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