One-time NBA champion Antoine Walker has opened up on his fall from grace, after he filed for bankruptcy two years after exiting the league.
Walker, who started in all six games for Miami Heat in the NBA Finals as they clinched the 2006 title, earned an estimated $108million in his 12-year NBA career – but was penniless in 2010.
Now 38, Walker revealed he had to sell his championship-winning ring after hitting rock bottom via a gambling problem and a self-confessed “expensive lifestyle”.
“I thought I was set for the rest of my life,” Walker told CNNMoney.
“My story is sad. It’s sad to see other guys work so hard throughout their life – and then they just lose it in two or three years.
“I created a very expensive lifestyle. That’s how you lose your wealth real bad at the beginning.”
Walker, who faced felony charges in 2009 for writing bad cheques to pay for Las Vegas gambling debts of over $800,000, was the subject of a 2015 documentary titled, ‘Gone in an Instant: The Antoine Walker Story’.
Walker led Kentucky to the 1996 national championship before the Boston Celtics selected the forward with pick six in the 1996 NBA Draft.
His family had little while he grew up in Chicago. He confessed he had a hard time saying no to family members and childhood friends when they asked for money.
“I gave them whatever they wanted and spoiled them. You can’t do that,” Walker said.
“It ended up being an open ATM throughout my career.”
Walker did try to make investments and launched his own real estate firm, which imploded during the 2008 recession. To make matters worse, Walker had also used his personal financial portfolio as collateral and would end up paying back about $20m to banks.
“We had a ton of undeveloped real estate. It went bad,” he said. “The banks wanted their money back.”
