One of the joys of becoming a professional athlete is the ability to command loads of cash in the flash of a signature. But just as fast as the money comes, a lot of former stars find themselves broke. Without a whole lot of guesswork, it’s safe to assume plenty of bad spending decisions led to their bank account deficits. To be fair, there are numerous sports greats who have turned their millions into more with sound investments, such as NBA Hall Of Famer Magic Johnson. But for every Magic, there’s someone like Mike Tyson or Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson with a story to tell. Hip-Hop Wired takes a look at 10 formerly wealthy pro athletes and the dumbest items they spent cash on. — Photos: Deadspin, Onlinesports, Reuters
Mike Tyson And The Tigers For whatever reason, former world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson bought three white Bengali tigers.
Chad Johnson’s StruggleMobile Our main man Ochocino doesn’t strike us as a guy who minds his money well. This was made clear after he bought a tricked out semi-truck which is rumored to have cost $115,000 or more.
Darius Miles Gets Creative With Ben Franklin Former NBA player Darius Miles has a lot of struggle to contend with. But nothing tops the painting of a $100 bill on the side of his 1975 Pontiac Bonneville, which depicts Ben Franklin smoking a doobie.
Eddy Curry Apparently Loves Cable It’s tough to rag on Curry’s NBA comeback considering his health issues. What’s not tough to point out, however, is his $1,000-per-month cable and satellite television bill. Who does that?
Latrell Sprewell And Yachts Makes Sense, Right? Former NBA player Latrell Sprewell will forever be known not for his dazzling ability, but for famously choking out coach P.J. Carlesimo. Another feather in Spree’s cap is him buying a $1.5 million Italian yacht. It got repossessed after Spree couldn’t make the payments.
John Daly Not Scoring A Hole In One In Las Vegas
Golfer John Daly and his battles with gambling, alcohol and drug addiction have made him a walking punch line. But nothing tops Daly using his winning tournament check en route to spending $1.65 million in five hours on the slot machines in Las Vegas.
It’s Allen Iverson, Take Your Pick It’s hard not to list everything wrong about the spending habits of the formerly great Allen Iverson. It appears that one of The Answer’s biggest vices was diamonds, and apparently he doesn’t keep up the payments on the fancy trinkets.
Evander Holyfield’s Mansion Makes No Sense One-time boxing phenomenon Evander Holyfield made some bad choices, including fathering 11 children. However, Holyfield buying a 109-room super mansion ranks as the highest. Holyfield lost the house in 2012, and owes $14 million on the property after it sold in an auction for half that.
Gilbert Arenas’ Big @ss Shark Tanks Agent Zero built a shark tank into his old Virginia mansion (he’s trying to sell it for $3.5 million) that reportedly costs $6500 a month in maintenance. SMH.
Scottie Pippen’s Private Jet Never Got Off The Ground In 2002, Scottie copped a Gulfstream jet for $4.3 million. He was crying broke soon after. Think there was a connection? (sarcasm) But hey,
Scottie sued his attorney (the plane’s engine needed $1 million in repairs) and won.
Vince Young’s Quiet Time
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Much has been said of Young’s love of Cheesecake Factory. But the unemployed NFL quarterback would buy out flights on Southwest Airlines so he could fly without being disturbed by fans or travelers. This guy…
Bernie Kosar had a lengthy career but at one point was paying 60 different cell phone bills. Imagine if he was paying for texting plans, too?
