Published: September 19, 2009
Something that caught my attention this past winter was the article written by Toronto Star columnist Dave Feschuk that addressed the scary fact 60 percent of NBA players declaring for bankruptcy within five years of retiring.
Let that sink in for a moment: sixty percent of NBA players declare for bankruptcy within five years of retiring.
Ouch!
Since reading that article that stat has been bouncing around in my head and I’ve been itching for a chance to talk with someone who has a chance to mentor these players.
Enter Charles Smith, a former NBA lottery pick, and now the Executive Director of the National Basketball Retired Players Association.
He’s currently in Atlanta to conduct a conference for retired players at the golf course owned by Julius “Dr. J” Erving and I had the pleasure of talking with him about he got started with the NBA Player’s Association, how that role grew into his current role as Executive Director of the NBRPA, his role with the NBA’s Rookie Transition program, what he’s doing to lower the amount of former players who declare for bankruptcy, he shared the story behind developing and owning a prestigious Broadcast Technology Patent used to assist in providing content media management services and we finished our chat by talking about the event he’s running this weekend with over 200 NBA legends.
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