He had a fortune of more than 100 million dollars, he was an NBA figure, but he had to sell his championship ring because he was bankrupt.

Antoine Walker was an NBA star, which between the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s had its moment of greatest relevance in sport. He is remembered for forming a lethal duo with Paul Pierce on the legendary Boston Celtics team. Although he also won a ring alongside Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’neal in the Miami Heat.

Although he came to have a fortune of approximately 100 million dollarshis career fell from grace due to his addiction to alcohol and gambling. Their terrible decisions even led them to have to sell one of their championship rings because they were bankrupt.

What was Antonie Walker’s career like?

Born in Chicago, in the South Side neighborhood, He had a tough childhood. It can be said that his interest in basketball and his fanaticism for Michael Jordan saved him. Thanks to sports, in his adolescence, while attending Mount Carmel High School, he was able to develop as a player and get away from bad influences.

He received several college offers, but opted to attend the University of Kentucky and play for Rick Pitino’s Wildcats. He spent 2 seasons there, between 1994 and 1996. That last year was a fundamental piece for the team to win the university title.

After that championship, he appeared in the 1996 draft, and the Boston Celtics selected him 6th overall with the idea of ​​using him as a fundamental piece in their reconstruction. By then the team was going through one of its worst moments, but the new member stood out in his first year.

The following year he raised his level, but the team did not raise its head and could not enter the playoff phase. In ’98 Paul Pierce arrivedwhich had an immediate impact on the performance of the Boston Celtics. With similar numbers to Antoine, the team greatly improved its performance, although in 1999 and 2000 it still failed to enter the playoff phase.

From 2001 onwards, Pierce exploded and Walker fell into the background, but they reached the final phase of the championship, as in 2002 and 2003. The tough defeats in the playoff phase ended the coach’s job, and the arrival of Doc Rivers led Walker to leave the team, and He was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.

In this team, Antoine’s level began to decline. Going from 20 points per night to an average of 14. This caused him to be traded to the Atlanta Hawks, where he played half a season until returning to Boston. Upon his return, he greatly raised his level in 2005, and that led him to be involved in the largest transfer in NBA history to the Miami Heats.

Although he was on the substitute bench, he was important in his income, contributing an average of 12.5 points to win the championship. After the title, he played one more season with the team, but they were eliminated in the round of 16 against the Chicago Bulls. And his last season he did not play fully, in the Minnesota Timberwolves, where after 46 games he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies. From then on, both his career and his life took a nosedive.

From millionaire to poor: what happened to Antonie Walker

Between bad decisions, waste of money, alcohol and gambling addiction fell into bankruptcy. In January 2009 he was arrested in Miami for drunk driving. Months later he was charged with 3 crimes for issuing bad checks after having incurred debts in three Las Vegas casinos.

He spent the $110 million he had earned from his NBA contracts and in 2010 He had to play again in Puerto Rico to pay his debtsbut it lasted only 12 games. He then signed for the Idaho Stampede and played for 2 years although he showed poor physical condition. In 2012 he retired from basketball and in 2013 he had to sell his ring to pay his debts.

In August of that year, he announced that he was debt-free and rehabilitated. Since then He works as an NBA analyst for television and gives talks to young people at the Boston Celtics Foundation to raise awareness about the misuse of money.