NBA players have some of the highest average salaries among any sporting league in the world. While most of the younger players prefer spending their newfound money on luxury purchases, the older ones tend to get smarter. Dwight Howard was one who eventually started thinking about owning a WNBA team. But as he explains below that dream did not materialize.
The former NBA Champion was speaking on his podcast Above the Rim with DH 12. When discussing players losing money, Howard explained his situation.
$7 million, it was a part of agent. My plan that I had was, I was looking to buy the Atlanta Dream. I couldn’t own the team outright myself. I can have a group and be the face of the team right now. They took the money, and I hardly never heard from them again. These agents, these lawyers, all these people be scheming, they be lying, and they all have the same motive, that’s to take from you. [from 1:26:17]
Dwight Howard said
He revealed that his agent and a group of people who were supposed to help him purchase the Dream took off with $7 million. With that, his dream of owning his hometown WNBA team was shattered. As he was playing in the NBA at the time, he was informed that he could not directly be the owner of an NBA or WNBA franchise. The Atlanta Dream were looking for new owners and Howard wanted to own his hometown team. But because of the limitations, he had to look for a business front.
He handed his money to those who he trusted and soon after he realized the WNBA announced another group of investors as the new owners of the Dream. That is when it occurred to him that his agent and those people had siphoned off that $7 million.
Former NBA star Joe Smith tells Dwight Howard about losing money
Joe Smith, a former 16-year veteran of the NBA was a guest on this podcast. When asked if he lost money, he revealed
I went through a situation in L.A. right after I retired. I met a young lady out in L.A., and we were kicking it for a minute. Then, I got a call from my financial advisor asking me….’When did you start writing all these checks? We just received 12 checks that you wrote.’ The total came to around $109,000. [from 1:24:48]
Joe Smith said
Joe Smith had just gone through a divorce after retiring from the Los Angeles Lakers. After losing a lot in divorce settlement, he did not expect to be losing more money in this way. The woman he met after his divorce and retirement allegedly tried to cash out checks from his account. For an NBA player losing $109K might not sound like much. But since he did not have much left after his divorce, this was all he was living on.
This supports Dwight Howard‘s claim that no one is trustworthy. Especially with all the money NBA stars make. Time and again athletes have revealed horror stories when their partners, agents or friends have tried to get money out of them.
