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NBA players' financial security no slam dunk

It was a decade ago Kenny Anderson, then a Boston Celtics point guard, set a standard that has helped define the filthy-rich silliness of NBA players.

With the league two months into a lockout, Anderson lamented times were so tight, he might have to pare down his fleet of luxury automobiles.

He confided to The New York Times he owned eight cars, including a Porsche, a Lexus and a Range Rover. He was thinking of shedding a Benz.

Seen 10 years down a prosperous road, Anderson's parking garage looks downright quaint. With the average player's salary having approximately doubled in a decade to $5.36 million (U.S.), the definition of NBA excess has become, well, more excessive.

"I've seen (an NBA player) having two cars a day to drive. You know, 14 cars," said Raptors sharpshooter Jason Kapono the other day. "Think about how absurd it is. You say 14 cars. All right, you may have some kids, a family of nine. But a single guy having 14 cars?

"It's one thing if Bill Gates wants to do that. But when you're 22 years old and you don't even have kids yet, it's not good."

Kapono, then, wasn't the least bit surprised when a representative of the NBA Players' Association addressed the Raptors recently on matters of financial prudence. A statistic was cited during the meeting that startled some of the hoopsters. It was said that 60 per cent of retired NBA players go broke five years after their NBA paycheques stop arriving.

"How could that be?" said Jamario Moon, the Raptors rookie. "I don't want to believe that stat."

But that stat, used by the players' association to get the attention of young millionaires, is thought to be an educated estimate.

"Sixty per cent is a ballpark. But we've seen a lot of guys who've really come into hard times five years after they leave the league," said Roy Hinson, the former NBA forward who's a representative for the players' association. "The problems are, for a lot of guys, they have a lot of cars, they have multiple houses, they're taking care of their parents. They're taking care of a whole host of issues. And the cheques aren't coming in anymore."

Experienced players like Kapono, who has played on four different teams in his five-year tenure, were not surprised by the number.

"You see how guys live," said Kapono. "A lot of players get in trouble because they want everyone around them to lead the same lifestyle. So you fall into a hole. You buy this big house now for those people, and they no longer want to drive the low-end car to go with the big house. So the big house leads to the big car, to the better clothes, to the better restaurants and stuff. It's a snowball effect. That's why the stat isn't as shocking, because I've witnessed it."

It's not just the spending, it's the scamming. Hinson – who, as it happens, said he knows of a current NBA player who owns 15 cars – said unwitting athletes have been charged as much as $5,000 a month for bill-paying services and as much as a $100,000 to have their taxes prepared by unscrupulous agents and business managers.

"If you never check up on someone," said Raptors guard Darrick Martin, "you become a target."

Public stories of NBAers in financial trouble occasionally make headlines. Back in October, Jason Caffey, who made an estimated $29 million during his eight-year NBA career, was in bankruptcy court seeking protection from his creditors, among them the seven women with whom he fathered eight children. And late last year Latrell Sprewell, who famously turned up his nose at a $21 million contract offer – "I've got to feed my family," was the money quote – had a yacht worth more than $1 million repossessed.

Hinson said the problems go far deeper than the headlines. The players' association has long recommended a financial firm that offers players free second opinions on their financial particulars, but getting players to act is a challenge.

"Sometimes you can stop the bleeding, and other times you can't stop the bleeding," said Hinson, who added that many players associate with "too many `yes' people."

"Sometimes you need someone to say, `No, you can't buy that.' I fell prey to that myself, and I know a lot of people I played with who had the same problem," said Hinson, whose 10-year career ended in the early 1990s.

"It takes a strong constitution and a good team of advisors around you to make sure you're doing the right things."

Common sense and honest advocates are sometimes in short supply in NBA circles, but they do exist.

"My approach is I want to enjoy my life for the long term, and I want my family and my kids to be able to enjoy it," said Kapono, 26. "So there's a fine line between extravagance and having fun and enjoying it at a reasonable rate.

"Going above and beyond isn't worth it. I don't want to be a part of that 60 per cent 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?"