With the NBA season barely underway, there were rumors of NBA power forward Kevin Love already looking to part ways with LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
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Granted, these were just unsubstantiated rumors. But if Love were to leave, it would be one of the shortest and unsuccessful partnerships in league history, as the Cavs are currently 3-3. The world of failed celebrity business partnerships includes sports, music, and entertainment, too. Hit the jump to see the celebs that just couldn’t make it work together.
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Photo: WENN.com
photo: WENN
50 Cent and Floyd Mayweather quickly became “frenemies” after a manufactured feud turned real. It appears dreams of The Money Team were over before they really began.
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Big Boi and Andre 3000 make beautiful music together, but one thing they didn’t do particularly well was create a clothing line. But being able to say the worst thing Big Boi and Andre did together was OutKast Clothing Company is quite an accomplishment.
A crew of supermodels including Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell attempted to turn their day job into a food franchise with Fashion Café. The unsuccessful venture folded like a cheap menu in 1998 just three years after opening.
In 2008, Major League Baseball players Derek Jeter and Lenny Dykstra teamed up for the baseball/financial advice magazine Player’s Club. By 2011, Dykstra was bankrupt and reportedly unable to afford a lawyer when hit with charges of bankruptcy fraud and obstruction of justice.
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There was a swift end to Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney’s Kardashian Kard in 2010 after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal pointed out the exorbitant, predatory fees associated with the prepaid debit card.
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Planet Hollywood must have seemed like a great idea to actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and others. The venture ended up having to file for bankruptcy in 1999 and again in 2000.
What started out as a lucrative partnership between Marion “Suge” Knight and Dr. Dre, ended up with Knight in a cell and Dre leaving Death Row Records to form Aftermath Entertainment. Despite their many hits, it’s hard to call Death Row Records a fruitful partnership given how things ended.
R. Kelly and Jay Z were supposed to bring the best of the respective Hip Hop and R&B worlds together with their partnership. Instead, Kelly found himself in a sex scandal and getting pepper-sprayed by one of Jay’s homies.
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Renowned director Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg teamed up for the submarine-themed Dive Restaurant in 1994. By 1999, both locations figuratively sank when they were shuttered for presumably low profits.
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The NBA’s Sacramento Kings looked like a horrible business venture for brothers and casino owners Joe and Gavin Maloof. The team allegedly hemorrhaged money under the stewardship of the Maoofs until they sold it for a whopping $534 million in 2013.
For all their success and nostalgia, buying out your partners then getting the original masters they helped fund kind of ruins the business venture. Such was the case with Jay Z, Damon Dash, and Kareem Burke of Rocafella Records.
After an impressive run in Miami, LeBron James returned to the Cleveland Cavaliers and allegedly pushed ownership to acquire power forward Kevin Love. Is Love already lobbying to get out of town before this this “Big Three” can find their footing?
Failed partnerships obviously bleed over into the world of sports, and the NBA’s Houston Rockets provided a prime example in 1999. Scottie Pippen joined the squad, summarily complained about teammate Charles Barkley’s conditioning, and was shipped to the Portland Trailblazers after being bounced during the first round of the playoffs.
Any beef that has its own Wikipedia entry is a serious one, so technically Shaq and Kobe kind of goes down in history as a failed partnership. But adding Gary Payton and Karl Malone during their golden years only to be utterly destroyed by the Detroit Pistons in 2004 takes the cake for a failed partnership.
