Basketball Star Who Went Bankrupt Wishes He'd Gotten an MBA

Former Boston Celtics player Antoine Walker was just 19 years old in 1996, when he was drafted by the NBA. Flashy endorsements and multimillion-dollar contracts followed. He’d “never have to worry about money again in his life,” then Celtics coach Rick Pitino said when Walker inked a $71 million deal with the team a few years later.

Yet 2010 found Walker filing for bankruptcy. He’d burned through his fortune after a series of real estate investments failed and big-time purchases, such as luxury condos, designer watches, and a Maybach car, added up. Looking back on the financial decisions he made through his career on a recent visit to Bloomberg Businessweek, Walker said that given the chance to do so, he “would definitely get an MBA today.”