Trevor Ariza is broke

[OxAndFox]

He may not actually be broke and maybe using creative ways to hide assets. If his kid has been living with him for over 2 years and the mother doesn't want a relationship and still has been demanding CS...it honestly wouldn't surprise me if something tricky was going on here.

Yeah it just doesn't add up to be honest. Then again maybe he has Lionel Hutz as his attorney and, keeping it in Simpsons theme, Fat Tony as his financial advisor. Seems like he's paying everyone's phone bills and dry cleaning expenses for a start.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

He may not actually be broke and maybe using creative ways to hide assets. If his kid has been living with him for over 2 years and the mother doesn't want a relationship and still has been demanding CS...it honestly wouldn't surprise me if something tricky was going on here.

From the article:

Trevor added, “Bree received substantial assets in the divorce settlement, which provide her with financial security. These assets include such as real estate, a valuable luxury vehicle, and half of the martial interest in my retirement accounts.”

He said, “Additionally, she has the ability to work and generate income to support herself and contribute to the financial needs of our children. It is unfair and unreasonable for her to rely solely on my financial contributions when she has the means to earn income independently.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if she received millions in assets before her alimony. Seems she had a better lawyer.

[SkyBill40]

The only one at fault here is Ariza. His story is why a financial planner and living a sensible lifestyle matter. Flamboyance, flash, generally bad decisions, and a desire to compete in a game of one upmanship leads to this kind of thing.

Dude made over $100M from NBA contracts, with potentially more in advertisements (if he had any). While his situation is sad, it was completely avoidable.

Sent from my SM-F936U using RealGM mobile app

[76ciology]

Thats how you escape paying tax and obligations to pay child support.

[Blame Rasho]

The NBA offers a generous 140% employee match!

Let me put this in numbers for you.

You contribute the max $23,000 to your 401(k) in 2024. The NBA then contributes 140% of this amount, or $32,200.

By investing the maximum amount in your 401(k), the NBA is essentially paying you an additional $32,200 a year.

140% match…. WTF

I can’t even grasp that…

[ORLMagicGirl15]

The NBA offers a generous 140% employee match!

Let me put this in numbers for you.

You contribute the max $23,000 to your 401(k) in 2024. The NBA then contributes 140% of this amount, or $32,200.

By investing the maximum amount in your 401(k), the NBA is essentially paying you an additional $32,200 a year.

140% match….

I can’t even grasp that…

Some jobs don’t even match at all.

[7seventynine9]

The NBA offers a generous 140% employee match!

Let me put this in numbers for you.

You contribute the max $23,000 to your 401(k) in 2024. The NBA then contributes 140% of this amount, or $32,200.

By investing the maximum amount in your 401(k), the NBA is essentially paying you an additional $32,200 a year.

140% match…. WTF

I can’t even grasp that…

That's on top of his pension plan, which will be the max because he has at least 10 years of service. That's $215,000/year. Of course, that doesn't kick in until he's 62 so it doesn't help him now. Too bad his agent didn't have the foresight Allen Iverson's agent had.

[Iwasawitness]

Well yes, it is on him...but.

These guys get spoon fed basketball, and basketball only from age 10. Basically everything gets paid for, and there is very little real world opportunity to learn the lessons of money.

There might have been a personal finance presentation at some point in there, but I doubt a good number of these folks are prepared to handle personal finance.

The resources and the organization is there to hedge against these types of situation. I am not talking about the guy should be getting millions of dollars or something, but there should definitely be some sort of social security type mechanism to prevent these guys from going homeless.

I think I read somewhere that AI was almost homeless as well, but somewhere along the line someone was kind enough to set up a trust fund for him.

And you know what? That's their own fault.

I can understand being in your 20s and letting what feels like unlimited wealth go to your head. But by your 30s, you should at least be mature enough to understand that basketball isn't going to be around forever, and at that point you should already have been planning for the future.

Depends on your social circle, family friends , if no one around never knew how to deal with wealth, and you are not a self aware type of person, it can happen.

Again, that is on him.

Make no mistake, your upbringing matters, as well as your surroundings. But at the end of the day, the fact is that it's ultimately on you to put yourself in a position to succeed. It's very clear to me that Ariza didn't do that here. 116 millions earnings over his career, and now he's got -230k in his bank account.

Stupid.

[MrBigShot]

Why should she get any child support if he has full time custody of their son. She gets 10k in support AND he has him full time. What the **** is this bull. Forget his financial trouble why the **** is she getting a **** a dime of child support. That’s what is wrong with the system a lot of it is biased against the fathers

In his declaration, Trevor said their son, Tristan, “has been residing primarily in” his care since December 2023.

He said, “While the judgment provides for equal parenting time, in reality, Bree has not exercised her scheduled custodial time with our son.”

He added, “She does not pick him up on her designated days, nor does she make an effort to have any meaningful relationship with him. Instead, I have assumed full responsibility for his care, which includes providing a stable home, meals, clothing, transportation and other necessities.”

Yup. Who you marry is probably the most important decision in life. Choose wrong and family court will absolutely ruin you.

He is taking care of his son. The notion that any adult should financially support another adult is silly. She should go get a job.

[ORLMagicGirl15]

Him being broke is on him.

Well yes, it is on him...but.

These guys get spoon fed basketball, and basketball only from age 10. Basically everything gets paid for, and there is very little real world opportunity to learn the lessons of money.

There might have been a personal finance presentation at some point in there, but I doubt a good number of these folks are prepared to handle personal finance.

The resources and the organization is there to hedge against these types of situation. I am not talking about the guy should be getting millions of dollars or something, but there should definitely be some sort of social security type mechanism to prevent these guys from going homeless.

I think I read somewhere that AI was almost homeless as well, but somewhere along the line someone was kind enough to set up a trust fund for him.

If these players are on track to become ball players and make millions, why aren’t they educating themselves and preparing so that they can stay wealthy? How can you wake up every single day and put in countless hours of practice and skills training so young but not prepare yourself with information about wealthy management?

You mean these kids can go on YouTube and watch all the players highlight but cannot find any clips on wealth management? They know the jewelry they want, the expensive cars, houses, party locations, women, but money management clips and financial advisors are hidden knowledge?

[Saints14]

Him being broke is on him.

Well yes, it is on him...but.

These guys get spoon fed basketball, and basketball only from age 10. Basically everything gets paid for, and there is very little real world opportunity to learn the lessons of money.

There might have been a personal finance presentation at some point in there, but I doubt a good number of these folks are prepared to handle personal finance.

The resources and the organization is there to hedge against these types of situation. I am not talking about the guy should be getting millions of dollars or something, but there should definitely be some sort of social security type mechanism to prevent these guys from going homeless.

I think I read somewhere that AI was almost homeless as well, but somewhere along the line someone was kind enough to set up a trust fund for him.

I’ve never really understood this “financial literacy” argument and why not being spoonfed it is an excuse for fabulously wealthy athletes to go broke. There is very basic math and common sense required to ballpark how much you can spend based on your income, net worth and expected future income. The fact that Ariza played until his late 30s makes this even worse

[gavran]

Are we going to keep posting every time a player is broke? Why would we care if a player is broke or not?

I mean, no one is forcing you to, yet you're here posting about it.

[BruttoNostra]

Him being broke is on him.

Well yes, it is on him...but.

These guys get spoon fed basketball, and basketball only from age 10. Basically everything gets paid for, and there is very little real world opportunity to learn the lessons of money.

There might have been a personal finance presentation at some point in there, but I doubt a good number of these folks are prepared to handle personal finance.

The resources and the organization is there to hedge against these types of situation. I am not talking about the guy should be getting millions of dollars or something, but there should definitely be some sort of social security type mechanism to prevent these guys from going homeless.

I think I read somewhere that AI was almost homeless as well, but somewhere along the line someone was kind enough to set up a trust fund for him.

I’ve never really understood this “financial literacy” argument and why not being spoonfed it is an excuse for fabulously wealthy athletes to go broke. There is very basic math and common sense required to ballpark how much you can spend based on your income, net worth and expected future income. The fact that Ariza played until his late 30s makes this even worse

This.
I grew up with nothing, ofc no spoonfed financial literacy at all. And BECAUSE of my upbringing, I knew I have no chance in this life if I don't became financially "smart" by myself. And it's not really about being "smart" - I didn't invest in Bitcoin or some high growth tech stock 10+ years ago, no - the main thing was always just to minimize stupid decisions. No luxury stuff to begin with.
Now in my early 40s, our family net worth is roughly 75% of our net income in the last ~10 years (before that we paid out some debt) - of course we spend, and we travel, and we eat outside quite a lot, but we never spend on stupid stuff, instead we bought a property that appreciated quite a lot and smartly invested from time to time. We have one relatively new car, but the other one is is from 2007 (!) with zero mechanical problems, so even if we can afford to replace it - why should we? Anyway it serves only short distance travel, so it's not like safety is any concern.

And yea, the first thing those guys should do after getting their first paycheck - go to some team executive (not a fellow idiot player) and ask for a recommendation for a triple-name consultancy group from downtown.
And we also know this "financial literacy" is part of rookie onboarding, at least in the last ~15 years, if not even more. I have zero sympathy for players skipping that part and then crying of being broke.
I mean, even if Ariza "missed" this part - he still played with Kobe (and others), who in particular was super smart with his money - why don't you look up for him? Why don't you put aside some 3% of your career earnings and ask Kobe what to do with it?

[MrGoat]

NBA players really need to learn what a pre nup is. Sounds like he got taken to the cleaners in the divorce

[sammo89]

I'm currently seeing in real time my father slowly losing his ability to think logically after receiving a $2m windfall. And he's a telco engineer who got a full ride scholarship in uni and he's currently 75 years old. We judge these athletes, but there's just so many social pressures that come together to lead to financial ruin after a windfall. And anyone who tries to right the ship quickly becomes the bad guy

[durden_tyler]

I feel bad for anyone who goes through hardships, but some serious mistakes were made here. He's spending way too much on just about everything, his investments failed and it doesn't seem like he managed his money well. It also doesn't seem like he has made any changes or done much like get a job to improve his situation.

All he had to do was just put his money in a savings account somewhere and he would have ended up richer longterm.

Can't feel bad for millionaires. There's a cutoff to empathy. LOL

[Ruma85]

I'm currently seeing in real time my father slowly losing his ability to think logically after receiving a $2m windfall. And he's a telco engineer who got a full ride scholarship in uni and he's currently 75 years old. We judge these athletes, but there's just so many social pressures that come together to lead to financial ruin after a windfall. And anyone who tries to right the ship quickly becomes the bad guy

One should not care about being the bad guy here, people will talk ether way.

[og15]

Well yes, it is on him...but.

These guys get spoon fed basketball, and basketball only from age 10. Basically everything gets paid for, and there is very little real world opportunity to learn the lessons of money.

There might have been a personal finance presentation at some point in there, but I doubt a good number of these folks are prepared to handle personal finance.

The resources and the organization is there to hedge against these types of situation. I am not talking about the guy should be getting millions of dollars or something, but there should definitely be some sort of social security type mechanism to prevent these guys from going homeless.

I think I read somewhere that AI was almost homeless as well, but somewhere along the line someone was kind enough to set up a trust fund for him.

And you know what? That's their own fault.

I can understand being in your 20s and letting what feels like unlimited wealth go to your head. But by your 30s, you should at least be mature enough to understand that basketball isn't going to be around forever, and at that point you should already have been planning for the future.

Depends on your social circle, family friends , if no one around never knew how to deal with wealth, and you are not a self aware type of person, it can happen.

This is both true, while also being a cop out and excuse at the same time.

When we reach enough maturity, around mid 20's, it now becomes time for us to gain greater self awareness and put in the time and effort to upgrade the tools we have, deal with our past traumas/influences, and address the impacts of our upbringing.

When you're a child, teen and younger adult, yes, there is more leeway, so that's when this is true.

After a certain point, this is just an excuse and just a sign of not engaging in growth and self improvement.

Many people fall into this false idea of using how you grew up as an excuse for behavior and decisions when they reach proper adulthood (no, not 18 years old "adult"). This is part of why we find so many adults acting like children, among other things like impacts of "safe" drugs on adolescent brain development and all the other fun stuff.

A part of the growth in being an adult, unless you have some sort of mental illness impeding you, in which case, that's the thing you need to deal with, but a part of the growth as an adult is being able to realize what tools you were (were not) given in your upbringing and to put in the work to upgrade your tools, to grow, improve, etc.

[Dominator83]

There's just no excuse. Even when you consider that players only take home about half their salary, that's still $60 million earned. And he got a good payday on his last contract not even all that long ago.

Gotta live within your means. And operate knowing that there's an expiration date to when the money train ends. I mean ****, if I had a large volume of money like that , I would just invest safe in stocks that are just stable and pay a good dividend. With the volume I'd have those dividends can make for some good passable income. Think with the big head but the small one

[og15]

Why should she get any child support if he has full time custody of their son. She gets 10k in support AND he has him full time. What the **** is this bull. Forget his financial trouble why the **** is she getting a **** a dime of child support. That’s what is wrong with the system a lot of it is biased against the fathers

In his declaration, Trevor said their son, Tristan, “has been residing primarily in” his care since December 2023.

He said, “While the judgment provides for equal parenting time, in reality, Bree has not exercised her scheduled custodial time with our son.”

He added, “She does not pick him up on her designated days, nor does she make an effort to have any meaningful relationship with him. Instead, I have assumed full responsibility for his care, which includes providing a stable home, meals, clothing, transportation and other necessities.”

Because they have another daughter named Taylor that she doesn't allow him to see. He's also in court to lower the amount so I'm guessing it will be significantly less. There's also the chance that Trevor Ariza is being a little less than truthful where his son and Bree have been staying.

FWIW, I'm a guy and I got custody and child support so I'm not sure the system is all that biased against fathers. I know quite a few guys in my situation actually. We are growing, but a lot of fathers I know aren't active in their children's lives by choice yet act like victims when they have to pay child support.

He said he's being digging into his retirement savings to support himself, so he does have savings, the problem here seems to be multi factorial.

Looks like assets lost in divorce, excessive child support, unchecked expenses are all culminating, so that even having retirement funds and a nest egg is not the remedy here. The remedy is addressing all those expenses, even before the importance of investing, we also have to spend a decent amount less than we make.