Former NBA player Antoine Walker earned more than $100 million in career salary but he filed for bankruptcy just a few years after he retired. This was because as he accumulated more money, he changed his lifestyle and adopted the flamboyant lifestyles of hip hop stars like Jay-Z and P. Diddy.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Walker earned more than $108 million from NBA salaries after he was first drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1996 before playing for the Dallas Mavericks, the Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat, the Minnesota Timberwolves, and other teams in the D-League and the Puerto Rican league.
He eventually became a victim of ‘wasteful spending’ in his quest to have the same lifestyle as famous rappers in the U.S. He started running out of money and eventually became broke, according to Basketball Network.
Walker believes he was negatively impacted by the hip-hop culture. He saw top artists hang on their necks expensive jewelry and chains while driving luxurious cars, among others. And as he started receiving fat cheques, he went on a spending spree, acquiring all the luxury items he could think of.
“It’s a cultural thing, and I like to speak for myself. When I came out, Jay-Z, Puffy, all the rappers, what they did is what I wanted to do. You see them with the big jewelry, the chains, nice cars, you see the videos. I am looking at all that and thinking when I get it, I am doing that,” he said in an interview for the “I Am Athlete” podcast.
“When I had a lot of money, I also had a lot of fetishes. I had a car fetish. I would have 8 to 10 cars at one time. I had a watch fetish. When I came out, Jacob the jewelery was the man; everyone shopped with Jacob. I used to get all the new watches. I had 15 to 20 watches at one time, and I couldn’t wear them all.”
Walker also recalled buying a $4 million apartment for his mother to make her happy. But he soon went broke and had to file for bankruptcy. Eventually, he had to make the tough decision of listing the property for sale.
He said: “I built my mom a house from the ground up. I spent $4.1 million on that crib, 15.000 square feet with the indoor pool; everything you can ever imagine was in the house. When you go through the bankruptcy, you have a decision to make. At the time, I owned four homes. I asked my mom what she wanted to do, and that was the first time I broke down was when she said let the house go. I couldn’t believe it, and that was the lowest point because that is something you never want to do. You never want to see your mom work again and see your mom go through anything of that nature, so that was probably the lowest point.”
The former NBA star learned lessons the hard way. After taking poor decisions that caused financial ruin, he got back on his feet. The 45-year-old is now working as a basketball analyst for FS1. He may not be as rich as he was while playing NBA, but he is enjoying his current life.
Walker retired in 2012, having won three All-Star selections. He was born on August 12, 1976, in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Chicago’s south-side area. He attended high school in Chicago before enrolling at the University of Kentucky on a full scholarship.
