Trevor Ariza is broke

[mathgeek]

Didn't expect this from him. He was a pretty high-IQ player when he played. I guess the lifestyle creep got to him.

[SupaManu]

It's very hard to modify a child support agreement, the person must show a substantial change in circumstances (retirement from the NBA alone would not nearly be enough to meet this) and i feel like he's doing some funny math here to try and meet that burden in order to potentially get the payments lowered.

[Snakebites]

The guy made over 100 million dollars in his career. That's wild.

[Jon1798]

Geez guys, read between the lines. It’s all BS. He’s in court fighting to reduce his child support payments. He couldn’t lose all of that money if he tried.

$0 in income for three years like he can’t make $1. Also while pulling from his very very likely taxable retirement account supposedly. Real estate valued at NEGATIVE $4.5 million. That’s not how real estate works. All the absurd expenses listed, $2,000 a month for groceries, largely just for himself? Have yall done the math? Laundry, like $6,000 a month in cars? The judge should laugh in his face and move on. Depending on how he approaches truly, maybe even have him investigated.

[cupcakesnake]

I don't have a strong opinion on this information, but I think everyone should remember that Ariza is presenting financial information to a judge with the expressed goal of ending child support payments to his ex-wife. There's a strong incentive for him to make himself appear as broke as he can possibly get away with.

I'm sure Ariza has some level of financial difficulty if he's able to credibly paint such a dark portrayal. I don't think we should react to this so strongly at face value, though. This isn't verified financial information. He's trying to get off paying 14k per month. The "negative 4.7 million" in real estate sounds particularly questionable. Real estate value is speculative, and there are obvious ways you can deflate or inflate your net worth using speculative assets.

[Rainwater]

Man, Trevor is not broke, lol. As someone who has worked in the system, Trevor is trying to give as little money as possible to his ex. To do this he has to show the judge he has as little income as possible. Every celebrity has done this trick including 50 cent and the guy is nearly worth a billion.

[og15]

how multimillionaires go broke is beyond me

is it **** hard to live within your means and have a nice, stable life

Getting 40.000$ weekly paychecks can make a person feel invincible and make them think theres no bottom. Also, pro athletes become millionaires in their teens, by the time they retire some forget that they shouldve put money to the side or invested

He said he has retirement, that's what he's living off right now, so he did save, seems like overspending is the issue.

That said, let's say he didn't save, Ariza played 18 years, until 36 and had his biggest contracts later in his career, starting to make millions as a teen is an excuse for not saving early in a career, it means nothing about why an athlete who plays until mid 30's would not be saving for the last 10 years of their career.

That said, this is not just pro athletes, lots of people have this issue, there are many doctors and high income professionals who are not ready to retire at retirement age because they were keeping up with the Jones', got divorced, etc and the money isn't there despite a yearly income that was very high.

[wegotthabeet]

They have a pension. They don't get to tap it until they are 62 years old.

Should start at 50.

Are you so disconnected from reality that you think that players should be treated even more differently than individuals who support them by watching them.

They get a 140% match on their 401k which is unbelievable.

Just for the sake of simple math after taxes and etc.

Let’s say he has 50 million in pure cash… get 20% of that…

10 million, but it in a low rate CD, at 3 or 4 percent, that is 300,000 to 400,000 dollars a year you get back before taxes for just having it in a CD.


Get a sub million dollar house and pay in cash and hell, prepay the property taxes for years if you want and be set. Rent it out for other individuals to pay you money.

Yeah ok, but what’s the average life expectancy of someone over 6”8? You’ve met dozens of 7 foot tall octogenarians?

Yeah yeah just become a **** landlord are you’re set.

[Nate505]

So assuming he netted half his income, the guy took home $55 million in his NBA career. If he would have saved 10% of it, or $5.5 million, and put it in say US treasury bonds that yielded 2.5% annually, he would have a cash flow of $137k a year.

Now, I'm trying really hard to find some sympathy for this guy...but considering 10% of his salary could have earned him more than what I make a year just by investing it, it's hard to do so.

[aj174]

I think that a lot of these documents are probably skewed, maybe he has money tied to corporations or offshore accounts to make it seem like he's in a dire situation. At least for his sake I hope that's the case

For the woman it's crazy that she's still getting 14k a month to raise a child, that should be adjusted. And if the claim of her not even caring for their son is true then I think both sides have things to work on

Hope for the best for both sides, but if I was in the NBA I'd use this tale as a caution

[Handlez]

I get food stamps and the mother of my three children abandoned us for drugs and men.

Life is a mofo.

[Pantsman]

Man the generation before the media deal boom in 2016 must hate life right now. Ariza would have easily been a 20M per player today.

[UcanUwill]

He pays $24,000 per month in child support?

WTF?

[sisibilio]

The series of mismanagement errors he made to get there with the amount he made is staggering. His contract earnings alone were nearly $120 million.

Sure. Still, having to pay 300k a year in child support is pretty darn insane.

[tsherkin]

The series of mismanagement errors he made to get there with the amount he made is staggering. His contract earnings alone were nearly $120 million.

Sure. Still, having to pay 300k a year in child support is pretty darn insane.

Yeah, that's not great, but he'd be fine if he'd handled his finances with even passing competence.

[Statlanta]

Not saying he's a saint but he played in DC, LA and NYC and was playing with some famous names. That's a lot of keeping up with the Joneses to protect your wife from leaving you and it still didn't work out

He needs to downsize and go monk mode if he can, and remember how he was living before basketball life.

[Alatan]

No tears spilled for idiots.

[The Laker Kid]

He's one of us now. Let's welcome Trevor with open arms.

[RHODEY]

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.

Sure it on him , but if your surroundings and (lack ofa responsible )network come into play then perhaps there is some gray space to be a bit less judgemental . Which is why a say he may have lack self awareness, and surely some ignorance.

[RHODEY]

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.

Its not an excuse, It was a statement. I said it can happen under the right circumstances. You can believe that's either true or not , but it cant be true or false at the same time.