Winning the Money Game: Lessons Learned from the Financial Fouls of Pro Athletes

DEDICATION

To my mother, Patricia Foyle, and to my stepparents, Joan and Jay Mandle. In a world where many people do not have parents, I have three wonderful people who care for me greatly.

CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword by J. J. Redick

Introduction

CHAPTER ONE   Play to Win the Game

CHAPTER TWO   Get Off the Sideline

CHAPTER THREE   Going for the Gold

CHAPTER FOUR   Equipment

CHAPTER FIVE   Too Many Balls in the Air

CHAPTER SIX   Paying to Play

CHAPTER SEVEN   Controlling the Rebound

CHAPTER EIGHT   The Injured List

CHAPTER NINE   Max Protection

CHAPTER TEN   Entering the Arena

CHAPTER ELEVEN   Playing Your Position

CHAPTER TWELVE   Do Not Foul Out of the Game

Glossary

Resources

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Praise

Also by Adonal Foyle

Credits

Copyright

About the Publisher

FOREWORD

I believe that things happen for a reason and that meeting Adonal Foyle was not a coincidence. After seven seasons in the NBA and playing alongside dozens of teammates, I can say with confidence that Adonal is one of the most well-rounded individuals I have met. As teammates from 2007 to 2010, we spent countless hours sitting together on the team plane and having dinner on the road.

One of the ways Adonal Foyle stood out was his willingness (and eagerness) to become a student and learn. Just as he was a student of the game of basketball, he also became a student of his finances. Our talks about money sparked my own interest in improving my financial literacy and guaranteeing that I was doing everything I could to secure my future.

Adonal is in the position of authority and expertise to write Winning the Money Game because he has handled his money the right way. I have personally witnessed him making weekly financial plans, preparing his taxes months before they were due, securing himself for a successful life after basketball. Because of Adonal, I believe that taking control of my finances is not a choice or a luxury—it is a responsibility. My time as an NBA athlete will one day come to an end, and I will be fiscally prepared.

It is a sad fact that over 50 percent of NBA players are broke within five years of retirement. Part of the problem is that we are not doing a good enough job of educating ourselves on finances. Winning the Money Game not only explains why professional athletes go broke but also provides practical tips and examples of how NOT to go broke. Throughout the book, the examples of Steady John and Big Baller Tom paint a perfect picture of what pitfalls to avoid and what steps to take to save and protect your money.

Winning the Money Game is a wonderfully detailed book about the monetary circumstances of NBA players. Almost none of us come from wealthy families. The vast majority of us do not even come from middle-class families. Instead, we sign multimillion-dollar contracts as twenty-year-olds with little or no financial knowledge. While all of us would admit that we are blessed, at times it is a tough road to navigate. With the help of this book, I believe we can navigate that road with more success and ensure success in our post-NBA lives.

I am fortunate that Adonal is my friend and mentor. I have sought him out for advice numerous times. While not all of us can have a personal relationship with him, this book is full of his wisdom and experience. I would recommend Winning the Money Game to any NBA player, athlete, entertainer, or young professional. It is a great guide and should be used as a tool for success!

—J. J. Redick, guard, Los Angeles Clippers

INTRODUCTION

We roll up to the club in a Bentley. All eyes are on us as we stroll toward the door in our Tom Ford suits. We know we’re going to get comped at the door. We play for the Orlando Magic and they comp us every time. Of course, in the minds of my teammates being comped at the door means more money to spend at the bar! But that’s not how I play it. I don’t believe in wasting money, period.

As an NBA player, it is easy to get wrapped up in a lavish lifestyle. When we go to the airport, people carry our bags. We travel on chartered planes to various locations where strangers offer us handouts. At restaurants, everyone wants to buy us a meal. Women throw themselves at us, some of them willing to do anything just to be close to us. Admittedly, the lifestyle can become intoxicating.

NBA players live a life of fame and full-out fortune. Well-known and recognizable on the street, the average basketball player earns $5.15 million per year. It’s no wonder these twentysomethings are all over the club scene, hotels, strip clubs, and anywhere else women congregate. It’s a nonstop party.

I played in the NBA for thirteen years, and over those years I saw extravagances that you would believe a movie director dreamed up, from makin’ it rain thousands at a time, to pouring Moët on naked women. It’s all part of an athlete’s lifestyle.

Most players live in mansions—large mansions. If you were to pop over to visit LeBron James, you would enter a 30,000-square-foot mansion near his hometown of Akron. He has a sports bar inside his house. He has an aquarium and a barbershop. He also has an online casino in case you’re feeling lucky. The master bedroom suite includes a two-story walk-in closet. I can’t imagine the amount of clothes it’d take to fill that up.

It is standard fare for an athlete—and other entertainers—to have pools, saunas, and even guesthouses. Many players take it to a whole other level with luxuries such as large fish tanks built into the wall or expansive recreational areas with pool tables and bars. They have a garage that can hold ten cars. They have a banquet-size dining room, an indoor basketball court, a bowling alley, and, for some, even a football field.

With a home like this, why would you ever leave? For a vacation, of course. Traveling and spending on lavish vacations are not foreign to athletes. Players travel extensively during the off-season, visiting exotic islands with their girlfriends or wives. With the entire summer off, players have considerable time to come up with new adventures.

Custom cars are pretty common with players around the league, too. Classic Impalas, custom Benzes, and brand-new Bentleys are all cars you see in the player parking lot at any practice facility.

In short, players create a dream life. It seems that they have it all. LeBron is not the only pro athlete with an aquarium. Dare I say they’re fairly common? Kobe Bryant amped it up by having a shark tank inside his California mansion. He also has the standard swimming pool, spa, outdoor kitchen, and fire pit. Step inside and you’ll find an 850-square-foot home gym, a home theater, and, of all things, a hair salon.

This is a lifestyle we see on television and in movies. Aside from the superrich or the people we’ve been referring to lately as the One Percent, this lifestyle is out of reach—even for guys making an NBA salary. Players often stretch the money they earn too far by purchasing big homes and fancy cars when that money, earned over a few short years, is supposed to last a lifetime. An $8 million contract is not enough money for you to buy a $4 million home, but no one ever explains this to young guys in a way that gets through to them.

Most athletes don’t make the kind of money LeBron and Kobe pull in, but attempt to live as though they do. Buying a million-dollar home means paying taxes on that million-dollar home. It means maintaining that million-dollar home, including repairs, housekeeping, and utility bills. Is there a pool? Pool maintenance is not cheap. Nor, I would imagine, is the upkeep of a hair salon!

When regular Joes become superrich overnight, whether they’re rookie athletes or Powerball winners, most of the time they don’t know how to handle the money and within a few short years end up broke or, worse, in debt. This happens simply because they didn’t have a plan to maintain their money before they got it. Most just have a plan on how to spend it. Starting in childhood, everyone has daydreamed about what he or she would do with a million dollars. We have countless ideas when it comes to creative ways to spend money, and people who started with little or none often try to put all of their dreams into play at once.

Mike Tyson famously kept two white Bengal tigers in his Las Vegas mansion. The animals cost him a cool $70,000 apiece, not to mention the $4,000 per month he had to drop for food and trainers.

Chad Ochocinco Johnson, a former standout wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals and later the New England Patriots, had a custom aquarium headboard fit onto the bed in his mansion in Florida. Now, he can literally sleep with the fishes. How much does a fish tank headboard run? It was reported that Chad’s cost $11,500.

Athletes may look the part, but in actuality, they are not rich enough to enjoy these lavish lifestyles. Study after study shows that most professional athletes go broke within a few years of retirement. But you don’t need a study when you can see it for yourself.

Mike Tyson did file for bankruptcy after owning those tigers, but they weren’t the only reason he went broke. Iron Mike has made all kinds of questionable purchases throughout his career, including the $2 million gold bathtub he bought for his first wife, actress Robin Givens, and a 420-horsepower Bentley Continental SC that came equipped with a phone, lamb’s wool rugs, and a removable glass roof for $500,000. That’s just one of many vehicles he purchased. Over the years, Tyson spent around $4.5 million on cars, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Bentleys. In 2003, he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, despite having earned nearly $400 million in his career up to that point.

Chad Johnson has never filed for bankruptcy, but according to the paperwork he entered in family court back in 2013 to have his child support amount lowered, his monthly expenses were $45,000 more than his monthly income. With $4.7 million in the bank, at this rate he’ll be completely broke in less than ten years.

Sheryl Swoopes, the three-time gold medal Olympian and three-time WNBA MVP, has estimated lifetime earnings of $50 million. But in 2004, she filed for bankruptcy, claiming she owed nearly $750,000. She cited poor dealings by her money managers as the reason.

Former NFL quarterback Vince Young earned $34 million in six NFL seasons. He last played for a team in 2011, yet in 2013 he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing his inability to pay back a $1.8 million loan that he took out during the 2011 NFL player lockout. The interest had caused that debt to grow to $2.5 million, but having been paid so much over the previous few years, he probably shouldn’t have had to even take out that loan.

All of these athletes earned millions of dollars, yet let it slip away within a few short years. In all of these cases, better money management would not only have steered them away from their money mistakes but also could’ve helped them to gain financial freedom, which is the ultimate goal.

I am writing this book because I want to help you reach that ultimate goal of financial freedom. I played in the NBA for just over a decade, and because I managed my finances properly I am able to enjoy a lifetime of financial freedom. When I was drafted by the NBA my basic financial philosophy was that I would save as much money as possible during my career, in an attempt to have guaranteed, tax-free income for the rest of my life. After I got my first contract, I forced myself into thinking that there would not be another one. This made me craft a financial picture that allowed me to live within my means so that, even if my career ended in my rookie year, I would have enough money to live decently.

One of my goals was that I wanted minimal debt when I left the NBA. To this end, I wanted to keep my home, which meant I had to make financial arrangements to pay it off before my contract with the NBA expired. I purchased cars outright. I paid for my family’s education. My rule was, everything I could afford in its entirety, I paid for in full.

I believe you can have the same financial freedom. I am composing this book with athletes in mind, but my primary goal is to share financial knowledge with everyone. While you may not be living the dream life of sports stars, I will show you that excessive materialism is not the key to happiness or financial freedom. You have to work with your money to make it work for you.

While I was on the NBA payroll, I consulted with professionals to figure out the best ways to invest my money, save, and still maintain a decent lifestyle. I wasn’t concerned with wearing flashy jewelry, which was a big deal with basketball players during the era in which I played. I didn’t care what others thought of me when I drove a Toyota 4Runner my rookie year. It was a vehicle that I could comfortably afford. I didn’t enjoy the NBA any less, and I didn’t enjoy driving any less.

I actually believe that living within my means has made me happier. So much so, that after retirement, when I became the director of player development for the Orlando Magic, I integrated financial literacy and awareness into the team’s existing program. I regularly met with young players about their finances and was able to help these twenty- and twenty-one-year-olds make wise decisions with their income, which often rivals the salaries of big corporate CEOs. I couldn’t tell you how many times I sat down with players and explained the importance of proper money management, because unfortunately they had never been taught anything about handling their