aAt the beginning of the year, Alexandre Sarr played in the Australian NBL, where the average salary is around $100,000. Reed Sheppard played in college, where he earned nothing, apart from NIL deals. Now, after the second and third picks in the June draft, they are millionaires. Sarr is guaranteed $23m of his rookie contract with the Washington Wizards, while Sheppard will have to make do with $20 million of his deal with the Houston Rockets (both contracts could pay the duo more than $45 million apiece). It’s not just the top picks who have suddenly gained access to riches. Nine players in the second round of this year’s draft — guys who may never have meaningful NBA careers — have signed multimillion-dollar contracts with their teams.
These contracts often change lives for the better. But they can also become a burden when young men, often still in their teens, suddenly find themselves struggling with a fortune that has come into them overnight.
“There’s a lot of money coming in,” Hall of Fame point guard Tim Hardaway told the Guardian. “There’s a lot of fucking money coming in.”
Hardaway, the author of the “murderous crossover” dribbler, was one of the NBA’s biggest stars in the 90s. And with that status came wealth. According to Basketball ReferenceHardaway earned over $45 million in salary during his career, not to mention his endorsement deals with Nike and other companies. But with money came responsibilities.
“It’s tough and it’s hard,” he says. The Chicago-born Hardaway explains that once he started getting paid in the league, he started taking care of his mother. She quit her job, knowing he could support her. And while he wanted to do that, he says, it’s a common story for professional athletes, too. One guy makes it and becomes the family’s breadwinner.
Unlike many pros, however, Hardaway wasn’t a greedy spender. He knew how to pay his bills and not waste money on unnecessary things. But he did buy himself something early. “My Jeep Cherokee,” he says with a laugh. “With the limited edition gold rims. It was red, with gray seats in it. I thought I was the shit!”
Hardaway could also say no when people asked for money. “Because of my mother,” he says. “Like, I don’t owe you anything! I’m not gonna give you anything! I know how to say no. Man, I got told no a lot [growing up] that I know how to say no to other people.”
Hardaway also got some advice from his first NBA coach, Hall of Famer and five-time Boston Celtic champion Don Nelson. “He said, ‘This shit goes by really fast. Before you know it, you’re going to be retired. So whatever money you make, make sure you take care of it,'” Hardaway says. “Those two things have stuck with me my whole career.”
In the 2000-01 season alone, Hardaway earned $12 million (worth about $20 million in 2024) while playing for the Miami Heat, a contract that made him the highest-paid point guard in the NBA that year and included stipulations for team wins and individual success). But while it wasn’t all about the money — Hardaway says he would have played in the NBA for free if he had had to — he made the most of his talents. He recently spoke with his son, Tim Hardaway Jr., who plays for the Detroit Pistons and has earned over $135 million to date in his 11 years in the NBA. “I think he’s done a great job,” Hardaway said of his son’s financial situation. “His agent has done a great job of getting him paid. And he’s investing and doing what he needs to do to make his money grow. He and his people have done a great job.”
These days, even compared to Hardaway’s time in the ’90s, contracts have exploded. This summer, Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum signed a $313 million deal. But such numbers can be scary. In the 1990s, when Charlotte Hornets star Larry Johnson signed an $84 million contract, teammate Muggsy Bogues worried it would be a burden for the power forward, a few years ago he wrote in his memoirs“I was thrilled for him, but I also knew that with such a big contract came big expectations from the fans and the board,” Johnson said in 2015 bankruptcy filed.
Another former Celtics All-Star, Antoine Walker, nearly earned $110 million in his career and he lost it all too. And former Boston Celtics champion Glen “Big Baby” Davis was recently sentenced to 40 months in prison for trying to defraud the NBA after losing all of his millions. Davis has said the league doesn’t help its players after career for success (Warriors star Draymond Green agrees). Former Milwaukee Bucks star Larry Sanders, who signed a $44 million contract in 2013, told the Guardian earlier this year how difficult it can be to earn that much money at such a young age.
“I come from nothing,” he said, “and then you become the one who has everything. People who are supposed to be your mentors become your dependants. And you’re too young for that.” Sanders said he didn’t have a support system at the time, both competitively and in his personal life. “You get fed to the sharks in a lot of ways. You can find yourself in a very vulnerable position … It can feel like a trap, it can feel like a trap. I felt so alone.”
There are so many stories of athletes losing everything ESPN made a documentary on the subject in a 2012 film called Broke. That film cited NFL, MLB, and NBA players who lost tens of millions of dollars shortly after their careers ended, thanks to everything from failed business investments to child support payments to misguided purchases of things like flashy mansions, cars, and jewelry. These days, though, the NBA is better at educating its employees about the dangers of becoming a millionaire in your early 20s.
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In addition, there are former players who want to help a new generation, such as former Seattle SuperSonics All-Star Detlef Schrempf, who earned more than $30 million in the NBA and now works at Coldstream Wealth Management.
He lists a number of things athletes should remember once they become wealthy, from hiring a registered investment advisor to separating finances from their representation, not granting power of attorney to others and creating a joint financial plan.
“Education is key,” he says. “The right professional relationships help you clarify your goals.” This advice comes not only from his job, but also from his life as a player. “I never expected to make this much money growing up, even when I was in college,” Schrempf says. “I grew up without a lot of money, and while we lived well, we lived within our means when we signed a big contract, and we never overspent.”
Bob Whitsitt, the former NBA executive who brought Schrempf to Seattle from the Indiana Pacers has signed dozens of players for hundreds of millions of dollars in his years as an executive. Whitsitt has seen it all. “A lot of guys like to have their contract when they’re tangible “There’s always someone who buys mom a house or tells mom to stop working … but then you have friends or entourage who are on the payroll and that’s probably one of the ways you start losing money.”
Whitsitt cites successful ballers who became businessmen, such as Hall of Famer Dave Bing, who invested in the steel industry, and Junior Bridgeman, who, despite never earning more than $350,000 a season, now has a net worth of $600 million thanks to smart investments in media and fast food. But for every success story, there are also big losses. Whitsitt recalls one player paying for his wife to fly from Seattle to Atlanta just to get her hair done. He remembers another asking for a big signing bonus so he could buy half a dozen $125,000 watches for his friends. “It’s like someone winning the lottery,” he says. “Statistically, there are a lot of people who win the lottery go bankrupt. They are not prepared to receive this huge amount of money. There are responsibilities, stress, pressure, everyone is reaching out.”
But if a player is smart and thinks long-term, he can have a bright financial future. The reigning Rookie of the Year, for example, Victor Wembanyama, isn’t hyper-focused on jewelry or cars. The first thing he planned to buy when he signed his NBA contract was a Millennium Falcon Lego set. Memphis Grizzlies 2022-23 Defensive Player of the Year center Jaren Jackson Jr invested a big chunk of his money early. Miami Heat star Tyler Herro, the 2021-22 Sixth Man of the Year, smartly told GQ he knows his deal should set him up for life. And Portland rookie point guard Scoot Henderson took lessons in finance. “I was locked in,” he told GQ. “Taking notes.” But there’s still room for fun: With his first contract, Herro bought his mother a $5,000 Gucci bag (along with two cars for himself).
“You get money playing basketball,” Hardaway says, reflecting on the life of an NBA player. “You gotta have that money. But if you don’t go out there and do your job, you’re not going to [paid]. Sometimes I was good at [saving]sometimes i wasn’t. [Investing] will help you in the long run. [Taking financial classes will teach you] about everything you’re supposed to know about being an adult. Some people listen and some don’t.”