Whispered, "Honey, why are there all these tall black guys here in Boise?" "We're a block away from where the Idaho Stampede fill a quarter of an arena." "So these guys are professional basketball players?" "Sort of. That's Antoine Walker. Dude made over a hundred million bucks in his career." She looks doubtful. "Really? The kind of tubby one with the big plate of eggs?" "Yup." "What's he doing here?" "Not so loud. I don't want to get my ass kicked." "Oh." "Lots of these guys hang on for the love of the game. But I doubt that's his story. Just look at him. He's gotta be 35 now. Does he look like someone who wants to run a lot?" She whips out smart phone. "Wikipedia says he lost a fortune in real estate. Some teammate named Nazr Muhammed had to cover half his legal bills." "Jesus."
Yeah, it's not exactly any great elbow-rubbing event or anything. But it's always a little shocking to see a once-famous, once-uber wealthy NBA player in Boise. I've seen Patty Mills in Boise, and he honestly just looked happy to be there. Walker looked happy, but I can't imagine the amount of pride-swallowing it's gotta involve to play here....
Yeah it does suck, but the sadder story is losing a lot of their money. Invest all your money in real estate? Wow he had enough to basically not do shit, hedge 50% of his money in high yield bonds and live on it for the rest of his life.
Well yeah, he's a kid from the other side of the word living his dream of playing in The Show; of course he's stoked.
Nazr Mohammed goes up in my estimation again. He was an all-star tweeter in the lockout, and it turns out he helps a guy out too. Not much of a BBall player, though... Good story, mook, if a little bittersweet. Wonder how long he gives it before it's painfully obvious that the call up isn't coming. I find it hard to believe that he can't get a gig overseas that will actually pay above the minimum wage they pay in the D-league.
That's not why he's playing. After he couldn't pay his million-dollar gambling debts in Nevada, the Court was ready to put him in jail. His lawyer advised him that the least he could do, to look better to the judge, was to get a job. He only knew how to do one thing, so he's playing in the D-League. Hoping to get called up has nothing to do with it. As for why he doesn't play oiverseas, I don't know, maybe the Court has something to do with his not leaving the country.
