Players of professional sports can have really short careers. Some
players have already made their millions by the time they retire, and
they can go into other sectors (or just sit on the beach sipping their
cold beverage) as they please. Others aren’t so wealthy after a career
in the sport and may need to move on to other prospects.
There are even a number of NBA players who decide they are going to
train for another career while they are still playing. In the modern
age, however, the contracts tend to be worth so much that this might
not be required.
When you look through the best NBA odds, you may
be able to predict some of the players who are going to make an impact
on a team, a fixture or a whole season, but predicting what is going to
happen when a player retires is virtually impossible.
Michael Jordan
Let’s start with Michael Jordan, one of the all-time greats. This is a
man who has not exactly retired into the background since his career in
basketball ended in 2003. A lot of us recognize MJ for his work with
the Air Jordans brand with Nike, but how much of his time this takes
up, we don’t know.
Jordan now owns the Charlotte Hornets, but this is also something of a
sideline for him. He also owns golf courses and restaurants, and is
even involved in DraftKings. He’s been known to use a lot of his wealth
for charity and philanthropy, too. Jordan continues to be a king off
the court as he was on it – a true
hall-of-famer.
Shaquille O’Neal
Did you know that Shaquille O’Neal has had an incredibly varied career
since his NBA time came to an end? He’s even had a spell as a part-time
police officer working in Florida!
Shaq has also released four albums in the rap genre and has managed to
perform at a number of venues. He also works as a sporting analyst (no
surprises there) and hosts The Big Podcast with Shaq. This is a man who
keeps himself busy!
Vin Baker
Vin Baker was incredible for a spell in the late 1990s, as a huge
player in the NBA. Sadly, he had his demons off the court and had a
long battle with alcohol, which led to him having to get help to end
his addiction. This was all part of the end of his career in the NBA,
but he would go on to make a difference elsewhere.
He does still appear as an analyst on Fox Sports and other basketball
channels, but he is now a pastor at the church his father runs, along
with being basketball director of Camp Greylock.
Vin Baker is someone who had a lot of promise and made some bad
decisions, but his courage has led him to making a difference in other
people’s lives. We admire him for coming back in such a positive way.
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson also had an unbelievable career and was a real favorite
on the court. He earned a lot of money for the era he played in, too
Since his career ended, he has turned himself into the franchise king,
using the money he earned during his NBA career to buy franchises in
Starbucks, 24 Hour Fitness, Burger King and many more. It has been
estimated that his businesses serve up to 40 million people every
single year.
Johnson is not the only former NBA player to show what incredible
entrepreneurs they can be, though. We have already seen the likes of
Shaq and Michael Jordan who have made some spectacular investments and
turned their money into even more.
Vinnie Johnson
He was part of the Pistons team that won consecutive NBA Championships,
and played for over 10 years before his retirement, but he showed that
he still had a huge amount of passion. He started Piston Group, a
manufacturing concern that has become absolutely massive. He remains
CEO today and the company has done wonders for the local community,
through outreach and employing a number of the young people of Detroit.
Summary
Achieving success in the NBA is hard enough for anyone, but the fact
that so many pros have gone on to carve out success for themselves in
other areas shows that there can be life after basketball. Some have
made even more money in other industries than they would have through
their careers shooting hoops, and some are making a huge difference to
people’s lives.
