A famous athlete blowing through a fortune is nothing new but a famous athlete being so candid about going broke is. Such is the case with former NBA All-Star, Antoine Walker who blew through $150 million dollars, ended up in criminal court for writing bad checks, and eventually had to file for bankruptcy. In Walker’s new documentary, “Gone In An Instant”, he will answer several of the questions that we normal folk are likely asking ourselves, mainly, “How in the name of Zeus’ butthole does somebody blow $150 million?” When Walker was asked what his motivation was for producing the documentary he said, “I think most athletes, we all kind of walk through the same walks of life and I think that they can relate to my story a little bit more. They are dealing with that type of denomination of money.” At least Walker has the right idea although he definitely learned the hard way. Walker admitted he would often party for weeks at a time, spend hundreds of thousands on clothes, and had a collection of vehicles consisting of cars that cost more than most people’s houses. The worst of it, however, is that Walker had an entourage of about 50 people all of whom enjoyed the same lifestyle of excess courtesy of Walker. Walker invested heavily in real estate as well, likely a smart investment but ending up disastrous due to overindulgences in other areas of his life. When Walker spoke of his real estate investments he said, “I wasn’t passionate about it when I was playing. It just looked good to me on paper. I was like, ‘OK, we’re about to make this money.’ And when the recession hit, the lawyers were like, ‘The banks want all of their money.’ They don’t want empty lots. The banks are not into real estate, they are into money. Dollars and cents. They don’t want more property; they are like, ‘We not about to build a condo on this land.’ And that’s a message I have to get across to these young players.” As I stated earlier, I highly doubt real estate investments, unless they were purchased in the Florida swamplands, were the likely culprits for Walker’s financial demise. If I had to venture a guess, I would say it was the entourage of 50 that really hit Walker in the wallet. The entourage has been the downfall of many a young athlete, namely Mike Tyson who squandered more than double what Antoine Walker did and it seems as Walker realizes that many of his so called friends were in it for the money. Walker said, “I lost a lot of trust in a lot of people. You know, when you are friends with so many people, whether it’s professional athletes or other friends, I wasn’t so much worried about a phone call, like ‘Hey, I need some money,’ I was more worried about, I didn’t get the ‘Hey, ‘Toine, you alright?’ Because when I was playing, the phone was ringing. I had three cellphones, all of them ringing. When you are a giver, you’re a giver. Sometimes in life you have to learn that everybody doesn’t care like you.” Walker should be given credit as he seems to be taking the loss in stride and wants to help others from making the same mistakes. Losing a fortune is foolish but helping others not make the same mistake is honorable. We sincerely hope Walker can spread his message to younger players and hopefully make some of that fortune back.
Article By: Jon DaBove
