Posted on 03/09/2012 9:04:00 PM PST by Perdogg
Although his NBA tenure never reached the heights of his college stardom, Christian Laettner had a pretty successful 13 years in the pros, making the All-Star Game in 1997 and finishing with a career PER of 16.9. He also made more than $61 million in salary, theoretically enough to set him up for life.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
ping
“A fool and his money are soon parted. What I want to know is how they got together in the first place.”
As a Kentucky Wildcat fan,I can only offer my most sincerest HA-HA-HA.
He got too extended into some real estate deals - mainly. Not only fools getting caught up in that.
Hahaha. I agree. This is his penance for stomping on Timberlake’s chest in ‘92.
Christian Laettner was the only college player on the Olympics basketball team that year. The rest were pros ie; Michail Jordan.
Yeah well! Calipari is a pure saint..........
Interestingly (or not), one of the most financially successful retired NBA players out there is a UK alum. Jamal Mashburn owns 71 restaurant franchises (mostly Outback Steakhouses and Papa John’s pizza places) and several thriving car dealerships.
According to Yahoo, 63 mil is enough to “theoretically” set you up for life. Now I have something to shoot for.
Don’t forget Junior Bridgeman of U of L.
NBA players are supposed to blow their money on drugs, fast cars, faster women, tacky jewelry, and an entourage of parasites. Christian seems to have blown his on real estate. Duke fans can still be proud.
I think this is common with sports stars. Johnny Unitas got involved with some bad investments as well.
p.s. Rampant salacious rumors circulated around him and his roommate during his Duke tenure.
This was written up extensively in yesterday’s WSJ. Apparently they (Laettner and 2 partners, one a former bball player) started off in Durham real estate and ironically the complex they built in Durham is *still* doing very well.
Then Laettner and his bball partner wanted to expand to other areas - Baltimore, Philly and D.C. It was *those* projects that basically went south. Interestingly their non bball partner, an MBA was against these expansions but Laettner and his buddy Brian Davis prevailed.
Morals - stick to what you know and also sometimes the “suits” do know a thing or two about business.
Additionally - two folks left holding the bag? Former dookie and now Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins and former Dream Team teammate Scottie Pippin.
Good for him - says a lot about his management and also his people skills and also his focus. I don’t think many people could pull this off (manage 71 restaurants) even given the opportunity to do so. Way too many ways to mess that up.
You know, I *almost* added Bridgeman to the list (200+ million net worth - yowza!). But since Bleach is a UK Wildcat fan, I wasn’t sure if mentioning a Louisville alum was going to sit too well with him. :D
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