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He turned down a 4 yr contract that would have paid him about $7 million per yr (correct me if am wrong) and now they sold his yacht and his house could be in foreclosure. I hope he has enough to feed his children. Can you imagine seeing this guy on the welfare line? If he had taken the contract the house would have probably been paid. I dont know what kind of leverage he thought he had after almost strangling P J Carlisimo. Oh the things millionaires do with money.

Pretty sad at his (and his agent's) dilusion.

After what he said about needing to feed his children, this is the ultimate self-fulfilling prophecy.

Everyone can recite his famous retort to not taking the contract extention, but I see no reason to laugh at the mans misfortunes especially when you consider the fact that kids are effected by this.

He turned down a 4 yr contract that would have paid him about $7 million per yr (correct me if am wrong)

I believe it was $21 million total, but I could be wrong.

i thought spree was banned from seeing his kids.......not lying

I just have a hard time feeling sorry for the guy. He turned down the contract extension, pouted Minny out of playoff contention, then refused to come back into the league for less than the amount he foolishly scoffed at.

Another episode of when "keepin it real" goes wrong....

Seriously though, this man made around $96 million though his NBA paychecks alone. This is not taking his endorsements and business endeavors (Sprewell Racing et. al.) into account. Now he is presumably bordering bankruptcy. I will laugh at any dolt who can blow through all that money. I do feel sorry for his kids though, how will Sprewell feed them now? Meh, if the theory of genetics has any validity to it they're probably spoiled brats anyway.

captainrebel wrote:I hope he has enough to feed his children. Can you imagine seeing this guy on the welfare line?

Don't confuse Sprewell with some guy who got laid off from a factory and has a family and a Mortgage to pay off. When wealthy people have financial problems they usually come out of it still doing pretty well.

I knew a guy who had a pattern of opening a business, eventually filing for bankruptcy, then opening another business. This series of events was repeated over and over four of five times. One of the businesses was a health club so he shut the doors and ran off with the dues that the members payed. The last I heard, this guy was still living the good life.

A good bankruptcy attorney can get you out of just about anything. They can't protect all your money, but Sprewell won't be standing in a line at the welfare office, that's for sure.

Let's see....
Chokes his coach
Goes on a profanity laced tirade against previous management in NY
Misses several games because he breaks his hand in bar room brawl
Fined 125,000 for missing a shoot around
Sues NY Post for defamation for telling the truth
Makes the single dumbest statement in the history of the league (feed children)
Doesn't invest his millions and goes bankrupt

Naw... he should be working at a soup kitchen "Feeding children"

leevii wrote:Another episode of when "keepin it real" goes wrong....

Seriously though, this man made around $96 million though his NBA paychecks alone. This is not taking his endorsements and business endeavors (Sprewell Racing et. al.) into account. Now he is presumably bordering bankruptcy. I will laugh at any dolt who can blow through all that money. I do feel sorry for his kids though, how will Sprewell feed them now? Meh, if the theory of genetics has any validity to it they're probably spoiled brats anyway.

The theory of genetics???

leevii wrote:Another episode of when "keepin it real" goes wrong....

captainrebel wrote:He turned down a 4 yr contract that would have paid him about $7 million per yr (correct me if am wrong) and now they sold his yacht and his house could be in foreclosure. I hope he has enough to feed his children. Can you imagine seeing this guy on the welfare line? If he had taken the contract the house would have probably been paid. I dont know what kind of leverage he thought he had after almost strangling P J Carlisimo. Oh the things millionaires do with money.

Someone who makes the money he made, and still goes broke, the extra 28 million would not have helped, he just would have spent 35 million.

thats what he gets i bet that welfare will feed his children

I gotta defend my man here on this feed my family business. It wasn't a serious statement. He said "Why should I take a pay cut? I'm trying to feed my family."

The comment was no different than Rasheed's infamous "CTC" remarks.

It was a flip remark that, as is typical of the media, when an athlete actually openly acknowledges that they deserve the money they are getting, ran with and portrayed him as greedy.

Sports journalism is perhaps the worst journalism in the world given that most of it is not reporting but is gossip mongering and taking comments out of context.

This is so 2006

prophet_of_rage wrote:I gotta defend my man here on this feed my family business. It wasn't a serious statement. He said "Why should I take a pay cut? I'm trying to feed my family."

The comment was no different than Rasheed's infamous "CTC" remarks.

It was a flip remark that, as is typical of the media, when an athlete actually openly acknowledges that they deserve the money they are getting, ran with and portrayed him as greedy.

Sports journalism is perhaps the worst journalism in the world given that most of it is not reporting but is gossip mongering and taking comments out of context.

But...Sprewell didn't deserve much more then the MLE and was asking for 21 million.
I do agree that we urge every athlete to be self-righteous liars. Players are too concerned with saying the "right", politically correct thing, rather than the truth.
Kobe Bryant says that the Lakers are "his team" and gets blasted for it? Why!? It IS his team. He is the highest-paid, highest-producing, most popular, captain. They chose him over SHAQ and rebuilt with HIM in mind. Yet he gets bashed for acknowledging even his ROLE on the team.
Not saying that Chris Bosh chose to campaign for his all-star spot in the manner than he did for this reason, but if he pointed out the reasons that actually GOT him an all-star selection, he'd look selfish.
I'm tired of Dywane Wade and Carmelo Anthony being *angels* with the media when we all know there is NO WAY that Wade is that nice and that Carmela (who?) is a thug.

The guy deserved to lose his fortunes. I just hope he'll be able to do something with what little he has to actually be able to feed his family years down the road.

GJense4181 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-


But...Sprewell didn't deserve much more then the MLE and was asking for 21 million.
I do agree that we urge every athlete to be self-righteous liars. Players are too concerned with saying the "right", politically correct thing, rather than the truth.
Kobe Bryant says that the Lakers are "his team" and gets blasted for it? Why!? It IS his team. He is the highest-paid, highest-producing, most popular, captain. They chose him over SHAQ and rebuilt with HIM in mind. Yet he gets bashed for acknowledging even his ROLE on the team.
Not saying that Chris Bosh chose to campaign for his all-star spot in the manner than he did for this reason, but if he pointed out the reasons that actually GOT him an all-star selection, he'd look selfish.
I'm tired of Dywane Wade and Carmelo Anthony being *angels* with the media when we all know there is NO WAY that Wade is that nice and that Carmela (who?) is a thug.

Actually Sprewell turned down the $21 million and was looking for a pay increase on his contract. He just finished second on the team in scoring and was a key contributor in their run to the WCF which had never happened before.

He overstated his value, but he wasn't serious that he couldn't feed his family for $21 million. Everybody takes it like it was the gospel truth and he really believed that. He simply believed he was worth more than the offer. Well, he found out he was wrong.

You're right that the media lambastes players too much for being honest unless they become clowns like Charles Barkley or as powerful as Jordan who still was quite guarded with what he said.

I never understood why people criticis Kobe for saying the Lakers were his team. Because they killed him when he only took one shot against Phoenix. Well, he's just another player then why take responsibility? But then you do take responsibility and don't go "aw, shucks, I'm just blessed to be playing this game." then you're conceited. It drives me crazy.

^Right. No other team was offering him close to 21 million, though.
He was a 30 mpg player posting 13/3/2 at the age of 35.
An offer for 7 million annually was pretty absurd in its own right, but asking for more was down-right ludicrous.
I can consider him irrational in his contract negotations and/or delusional regarding his self-worth, but the "feed my kids" comment was hardly worth paying attention to.

He ended his career on his own terms. What he did after his NBA life is his own fault, and we can pity him for that. But I wouldn't laugh at his money-management issues because he made an off-handed comment.

The local radio guys were reading a study on NBA players.

The study concluded that 65% of all NBA players spent there earnings within 5 yrs of retirement. Over 75% of all former NBA players lived on less than middle class incomes and no longer had net wealth.

Jason Caffey drafted by the Bulls played 8 yrs made 28 mill and is in chaptor 11. He has 8 children by 7 women and can no longer pay the child support. Hes broke and pennyless


Spreewell is not an abberation but is a normal scenario in NBA alumns.