The Sad Saga of Antoine Walker

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Oct 28th 2009 at 11:02PM

The latest sports star to hit hard times is NBA player Antoine Walker. The former Celtics star forward has had a rough year. Now various sources says that Walker has lost most of the over $110 million that he earned while playing in the NBA is being chased by creditors. Over the summer Walker was arrested in a Lake Tahoe casino for writing bad checks to satisfy over $1 million in casino markers in Las Vegas. Walker is a known gambler who reportedly once played $15,000 hands with another known gambler, basketball great Michael Jordan.

The Boston Globe found that Walker has been pursued by multiple financial institutions for unpaid debts totaling more than $4 million and has been named as a defendant in three recent debt-related civil cases in Florida and Illinois. Walker is from Illinois and also played for the Miami Heat. Earlier this year J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, Wachovia Bank, and American Express Centurion Bank all won decisions against Walker for failing to pay off promissory notes. He had $53,321.71 in overdue credit card charges with American Express and much of the debt appears to have been created by other people that he authorized to use his card.

Currently Walker, who is 33, is without a team or a contract as the NBA season begins and may be considering playing in an international league for money. It's a far cry from a decade ago when Boston signed him to a six-year, $71 million deal. At just 22 years old he was instantly insanely wealthy. During the Boston Celtics season Walker stayed at the Bishops Forest condominium complex in Waltham and was known to have a variety of luxury cars including customized Bentleys, Mercedes and more. He also had a taste for expensive watches by Rolex and Cartier and enjoyed wearing custom-tailored suits.

And then there's the real estate. Walker created both a Walker Ventures LLC and a real estate company, AW Realty LLC. The company is listed as the owner of several Chicago-area properties, including his mother's home which was once valued at $6 million. In 2007 Walker was robbed at gunpoint in his Chicago home. He bought the home for $4.1 million but put it on the market for $3.9 million after the robbery. It appears to have been sold but is now on the market again by the new owner for just $2.995 million. In 2007 he also sold a townhouse in the same neighborhood for $1.39 million. He had bought the home for $1.3 million in 2004. In the Globe article Walker's mother Diane said that she still has her home and Antoine Walker has his and so there is no problem.

Tags: antoine walker, antoine walker debt, AntoineWalker, AntoineWalkerDebt, nba, sports stars in trouble, SportsStarsInTrouble

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Frank Fitton Oct 29th 2009 2:50PM

Walker’s situation is one that shows just how imperative it is for pro athletes to have good financial planners around them. People that did not grow up with a lot of money have no idea what to do when they are instantly given these kinds of contracts. Often times they waste money on lavish material goods and surround themselves with bad people who are as naive as themselves when it comes to how to plan your life out financially. There is no reason that an NBA player shouldn’t be able to live their whole life off of those kinds of earnings from their playing days.

If some good can come out of Walker’s situation hopefully it can serve as an example to younger players in a similar situation to what he was blessed with 10 years ago. The league does mandate a type of financial seminar for its rookies, and this case will be one that will most likely be alluded to often in those classes.

When playing Walker always used to show off his patented wiggle after a made three pointer, this situation though is going to be hard to wiggle out of.

Check out my blog on Antoine Walker's situation at... http://www.thedebtgazette.com/2009/10/antonie-walker-financial-trouble/