Saturday, February 7, 2015

NBA Star Tim Duncan Claims Financial Advisor Cheated Him Out of Millions

San Antonio Spurs basketball star Tim Duncan claims he should be added to the long list of professional athletes who have been swindled out of millions of dollars in bad business deals. Duncan has filed a lawsuit against his former financial advisor, claiming, among other things, that the advisor persuaded him to loan $7.5 million to Gameday Entertainment, LLC, but the financial advisor took 20 percent as a fee without Duncan's consent.  Various news outlets have reported that Duncan's losses from all the bad business deals could amount to more than $20 million. 

My question for Duncan and other athletes in this position is this -- why didn't you hire an accountant to verify the information being reported by the financial advisor?   Professional athletes need a team off the court as well.  

The Charlotte Business Journal recently named Michael Jordan its Businessperson of the Year.  Jordan's acceptance speech was much better than his Hall of Fame speech years ago.  At that speech, he asked of one attendee -- "Who invited him?"

http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/columns/story?id=4468210

I hope Jordan stays the course and builds the Charlotte Hornets into a consistent winner.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/12205207/michael-jordan-gets-emotional-winning-business-award

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Kobe, Inc.

Now that Kobe Bryant is facing another injury and missed season, he won't be in the NBA much longer.  It will be interesting to see if Kobe can turn his money, smarts, and charisma into the kind of business success that Magic Johnson has had.http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/10663439/kobe-bryant-announces-new-company-kobe-inc?ex_cid=espnapi_public