Speaker 1: Charges. That's created by port Lay and Control Media. It's
Speaker 1: produced by dB Podcasts in association with I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: This time a former Son's player who you might remember
Speaker 1: as t Rex. More video in just a moment, But
Speaker 1: this is Rex Chapman's mug Shawn, and we are learning
Speaker 1: a lot more about the charge up the charge. First
Speaker 1: time you ever gambled? And do you feel like you
Speaker 1: ever had an addictive personality? So we have vegas or whatever,
Speaker 1: got competitive, end up standing out there by six weeks.
Speaker 1: Next thing you know, I'm down a million dollars. People
Speaker 1: didn't know my story. People thought are gambled my money
Speaker 1: away party. And I did gamble the party, but that
Speaker 1: wasn't the reason I lost my fortune. My mom, she
Speaker 1: told me she still drives by the house. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean. But you know what, that's okay, that's okay.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Charges. I'm your host, Rex Chapman. Today on
Speaker 1: the show, we talked with a guy who had it
Speaker 1: all and then lost at all all of it. Our
Speaker 1: guest today has been crowned an NBA champion with the
Speaker 1: Miami Heat and an n C double A champion with
Speaker 1: My Kentucky Wildcats. While in the League, he became a
Speaker 1: three time All Star and the guy who once responded
Speaker 1: to the question why do you shoot so many threes
Speaker 1: by saying because there are no fours? Employee number eight,
Speaker 1: Antoine Walker. Antoine, thanks Bro, thanks for coming on man,
Speaker 1: thanks for having on the show. Rex. I've been knowing
Speaker 1: you for a long time. Uh, the first time I
Speaker 1: remember seeing you. And I don't know if you remember this, Antoine,
Speaker 1: but myself, Kenny Walker, and Jamal Mashburn, we're all back
Speaker 1: playing in the summer in Lexington and you came in
Speaker 1: and you were really highly regarded, but we had never
Speaker 1: seen you before. We didn't know anything about you, and
Speaker 1: we're all playing in the NBA by now, and but
Speaker 1: we were over there to hoop at Memorial Colisey and
Speaker 1: you walked in the gym and uh, you know, because
Speaker 1: you had kind of been compared to Jamal Mashburn at
Speaker 1: the time, and we were kind of checking you out,
Speaker 1: and you walked over to where we were, but we
Speaker 1: were talking about Glenn Robinson, big Dog. Glenn Robinson had
Speaker 1: just declared for the draft, and you walked up to
Speaker 1: us and you're seventeen and fresh out of high school
Speaker 1: and you heard that. We were talking about big Dog
Speaker 1: leaving school and you said, Glenn Robinson left. He going
Speaker 1: to the NBA, and we said yeah, and you just
Speaker 1: real matter of fact, he said, oh, so player of
Speaker 1: the Year is wide open. You hadn't even played a
Speaker 1: college game. You hadn't played a second. We hadn't even
Speaker 1: played with you in the pickup game yet. I mean,
Speaker 1: where does that confidence come from? Man? Man? You there
Speaker 1: was the days when Um, I was a skinny little kid,
Speaker 1: very cocky in the south side of the Cargo, and
Speaker 1: it just came natural. Man. That was like one of
Speaker 1: my biggest things. I think that helped me actually get
Speaker 1: to the NBA. But I was just a very confident individual.
Speaker 1: But why it just that's the way I was. I
Speaker 1: come from a trash talking you know, south side Kiss
Speaker 1: where I grew up against the guys I played against,
Speaker 1: and it was just so much trash talking. So that's
Speaker 1: how we motivated each other. It was just a certain
Speaker 1: confidence in order that I had about myself when I
Speaker 1: came in there, didn't know nothing, but um I got
Speaker 1: humble real quickly, you know. But it definitely was. I
Speaker 1: was definitely a very confident individual. Tell me about your childhood.
Speaker 1: You're the oldest of six raised by a single mom,
Speaker 1: you know, tell me about that experience. Yeah, just like
Speaker 1: you said, I'm the oldest of six raised by you know,
Speaker 1: my mom. Um fox boys, two girls had to grow fast.
Speaker 1: My mother had me at the very young age, so
Speaker 1: I had to assume the responsibility of helping out a
Speaker 1: ton um. Really raised by my grandmother who was very
Speaker 1: hard on me. Just been there in UM focused on school.
Speaker 1: And people don't understand my upbringing is a little bit different.
Speaker 1: I'm probably one of the few kids that was in
Speaker 1: the inner city that actually went to UM Catholic private school. UM. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that and and actually elementary and in high school.
Speaker 1: How did that happen? I don't know. Through the grades
Speaker 1: of God. My mom, for some of my reason, she
Speaker 1: felt like the Chicago public school system was not very good.
Speaker 1: I really could not afford to go to Catholic private school. UM.
Speaker 1: In the elementary school, she figured it out and bit
Speaker 1: the bullet and got me through it. And then in
Speaker 1: high school. UM, it was one of the situations where
Speaker 1: I got finial ad scholarship kind of thing. Yeah. But
Speaker 1: a funny story is that I graduated and everything, but
Speaker 1: obviously I got my transcripts, but I owed the school
Speaker 1: like seven eight grand when I graduated, so I actually
Speaker 1: didn't get my physical diploma. So I went pro, came
Speaker 1: back and wrote in my check. Yeah. So yeah, Mom
Speaker 1: was very appreciatives, uh, to my mom and and kind
Speaker 1: of sheltering me and not making me go to public
Speaker 1: school where it's more ganging, drug related so it's very
Speaker 1: difficult to get through. And she allowed me to be
Speaker 1: a kid and to play sports at a very very
Speaker 1: high level and and that probably saved me and gave
Speaker 1: me an opportunity to make it to the league. So
Speaker 1: always very appreciative of that. And I know I jumped
Speaker 1: the story around, but the rest is history. That's the
Speaker 1: growing up in Chicago for me that led me to Kentucky.
Speaker 1: I talked to Rick about you recently, coach p and
Speaker 1: he he told a story. He said. We asked him
Speaker 1: if any players ever really got to him, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: during practices or whatever. He said, no, nobody really. He said, Antoine. Antoine,
Speaker 1: he said, one time, Uh, Antoine. He said, he came
Speaker 1: over to me during practice and we had a really
Speaker 1: good team, really deep team, and he said, Antoine came
Speaker 1: over to me and said, coach, you better take him
Speaker 1: off of me, because I'm gonna ruin his confidence. He said.
Speaker 1: It just made him start laughing, you know, and Rick
Speaker 1: is pretty serious during practice, right, Oh, no question, no
Speaker 1: question about it's going to three second remating. All right.
Speaker 1: So you win the title and then you enter the draft. Uh,
Speaker 1: just after your sophomore year draft, You're drafted by the
Speaker 1: legendary Boston Celtics. What did that day mean to you?
Speaker 1: It meant everything, um, and it's kind of weird. Through
Speaker 1: my draft process, I worked out from the second pick
Speaker 1: to the level pick, and these are some self workouts,
Speaker 1: you know, um, things I've never done before. And the
Speaker 1: Celtics was my easiest workout. It was crazy because I
Speaker 1: came in and I probably know I was other workouts
Speaker 1: for two and a half hours, um, you know, doing
Speaker 1: all these drills and doing all the stuff, and I
Speaker 1: going to the Celtics. I'm on the court probably thirty
Speaker 1: forty minutes. But the my meeting was at this time,
Speaker 1: mL car was the head coach and gim but the
Speaker 1: assistant coach was Dennis Johnson, Casey Jones. You had Maxwell,
Speaker 1: Tommy Heights, and Joe Joe White, Larry Bird was still
Speaker 1: a part of the thing. Read all back was around.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the people that were in my
Speaker 1: my meeting. So I was overwhelmed, you know, growing up
Speaker 1: being a huge basketball so I was overwhelmed. So I
Speaker 1: didn't really know that they really liked me like that.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to take that because just the
Speaker 1: length of time that I was there and there a draft, Um,
Speaker 1: they moved up to six because they didn't feel like
Speaker 1: I was gonna make it. Um, I kind of gotta guarantee.
Speaker 1: My agent kind of was like, you're not going past
Speaker 1: New Jersey at eight, and they moved up and took me,
Speaker 1: and I couldn't been more UM prouder or excited about
Speaker 1: going to a story franchise UM like the Boston Celtis.
Speaker 1: And it was perfect for me because they were in
Speaker 1: the rebuildings stage so I can be a part of
Speaker 1: the rebirth in the gaming opportunity to play a ton
Speaker 1: of minutes and be a part of some special So
Speaker 1: I couldn't ask for a better situation, UM, coming out
Speaker 1: of school and it just worked out perfectly for me.
Speaker 1: UM couldn't couldn't write the storybook, No, no better than that.
Speaker 1: But being a part of that organization UM is second
Speaker 1: and none. I still to this day consider the Boston
Speaker 1: my second home. I mean to get drafted, their play
Speaker 1: eight years of my career there, um, so I still
Speaker 1: considered at that my second home. Yeah, I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: of course I was in Phoenix when you came out,
Speaker 1: So I was playing against you guys, and you guys
Speaker 1: were you were. You were terrible right there at the
Speaker 1: at the beginning, and we had a good team, you know,
Speaker 1: out in Phoenix. But tell me about those years in Boston.
Speaker 1: What were some of the highs and lows that stand
Speaker 1: out for you? It wasn't easy in the beginning, as
Speaker 1: you said. Uh, and even after Paul was drafted, what
Speaker 1: were those years like Paul Pierce? Uh, they were tough
Speaker 1: because the expectations in UM in Boston are a little
Speaker 1: different UM than in some places. UM to sports town.
Speaker 1: People that are very engaged into the team and everything
Speaker 1: that you have going on. So it was great for
Speaker 1: me as far as basketball because it forced me to
Speaker 1: work and want to win and learn how to win.
Speaker 1: The best thing that happened to me was coach coming.
Speaker 1: I think after the first year Rick made the All
Speaker 1: Star team. Yeah, coach Patino coming over and making the
Speaker 1: All Star team. Want them had a lot of success. Obviously,
Speaker 1: we didn't have a ton of team success. Um, coach
Speaker 1: got a little impatient and kind of ran through our
Speaker 1: roster and didn't really give guys time to develop. We
Speaker 1: traded Chauncey Bill. It's not the fourth and one game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we didn't really get a chance to develop. But um,
Speaker 1: the time of Boston was great because we were able
Speaker 1: to make a run, get back to being a playoff team,
Speaker 1: and then we made it, made a legitimate run to
Speaker 1: the Eastern Conference finals. Didn't end the way I wanted to. Um,
Speaker 1: you're a guy that you play with. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you coach you or you played with you. It
Speaker 1: was a both. Danny ain't I played against Danny and
Speaker 1: then he coached me. Yeah yeah, okay, yeah I figured that. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, Danny came in and which was fine. He
Speaker 1: came in with a different agenda. You know how this
Speaker 1: is Rex and you you've been in the front office
Speaker 1: of teams, and I wasn't his guy. Um, I wasn't
Speaker 1: a guy that he felt like he could continue to
Speaker 1: build around. So I was a little heartbroken to get
Speaker 1: traded because I felt like we were right at that
Speaker 1: time in the Eastern Conference. We were one or two
Speaker 1: best teams in the Eastern Conference, probably missing a traditional
Speaker 1: point guard to kind of get us over the hump.
Speaker 1: But um, he decided to go a different direction and
Speaker 1: they did that, and I actually end up coming back
Speaker 1: and being a part of another good team that we
Speaker 1: got upset in the first round of the playoffs against Indiana.
Speaker 1: I think Reggie Miller's last year, thinking two thousand and five,
Speaker 1: I think it was Danny, by the way, Danny Angel
Speaker 1: loved really loves you. He I talked to him about Danny.
Speaker 1: Danny said, Antoine was a great player. He said, he
Speaker 1: got on the wrong side of one of your favorite coaches,
Speaker 1: Dick Harder. Dick Harder coached me when I was in
Speaker 1: Charlotte and Rest in Peace coach Harder. But I couldn't
Speaker 1: stand the Harder. I was a young player, none of
Speaker 1: none of us could stand him. But it just so
Speaker 1: you know, that's what he said. I also want to
Speaker 1: read you something that Rick said, uh, because I I
Speaker 1: wanted to know from Rick what his opinion of you
Speaker 1: was as a player. And he said, Antoine Wow. Extremely
Speaker 1: talented and really knew the game. People would be surprised
Speaker 1: with his basketball acumen. Highly competitive and loved the game.
Speaker 1: Also asked him about the game opener we beat defending
Speaker 1: champ Chicago and Jordan was yelling down the hall at
Speaker 1: him about him doing the shimmy dance. You remember that,
Speaker 1: what kind of Celtic team is this? Why did you
Speaker 1: have to look at it and say it's the youngest
Speaker 1: team in the last ten years. They only averaged two
Speaker 1: point three years of experience. This steam Dick will get
Speaker 1: better as the season goes on, and he'll be with
Speaker 1: all of that, we still have Michael Jordan's two on
Speaker 1: to Randy Brown controlling and the Walker and courses the
Speaker 1: turner over four and three rolls night my party, Walker
Speaker 1: to the basket and the turnover had a three point opportunity,
Speaker 1: and Rick Portino Celtics and leading seventy nine sixty seven.
Speaker 1: Antoine Walker with twenty nine points is the game's high score.
Speaker 1: He has ten more that Michael Georgian does. It just
Speaker 1: me my first game and people, you mean, you gotta
Speaker 1: understand from Chicago. So the first three championships, I was
Speaker 1: a fan, right like I'm like a huge fan. Michael retires,
Speaker 1: comes back, I come in. I play against the next
Speaker 1: three championship teams. I mean we went one knee eleven.
Speaker 1: So we opened up in ninety six against uh uh
Speaker 1: ninety a. Sorry against the Bulls got him the first game.
Speaker 1: Scottie sitting out for the contract situation. Scotty's sitting out.
Speaker 1: We catch Michael. I think I had like thirty had
Speaker 1: a huge night opening. I'm shamming. I'm dancing everywhere. How
Speaker 1: you hear that hour, I'm gonna stop all that dance.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna stop all that dance. I'm gonna stop all
Speaker 1: that dance. That's how you hear Michael telling me that Louibho.
Speaker 1: We don't never beat him again. But I went one
Speaker 1: eleven and three years against Michael. Uma was incredible. Incredible, man, incredible.
Speaker 1: That's so great. From six to two thousand and three,
Speaker 1: Antoine Walker was a bona fide star for Boston. He
Speaker 1: made the All Star team in two thousand two and
Speaker 1: two thousand three. The Celtics had made the Eastern Conference
Speaker 1: finals in two thousand two, but in two thousand three
Speaker 1: they barely made the playoffs and were swept in round one.
Speaker 1: During the summer of two thousand three, Boston dealt Antoine
Speaker 1: to Dallas. The next offseason, he was traded to Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Midway through the OH four oh five season. Boston realized
Speaker 1: it was time to bring Antoine home for the playoff run.
Speaker 1: It turned out to be the right decision. The Celtics
Speaker 1: got hot and earned the three seed in the East,
Speaker 1: but we're upset by a Pacers team featuring run Artest,
Speaker 1: Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O'Neill, and Reggie Miller. Antoine was up
Speaker 1: for free agency that summer, and his services were about
Speaker 1: to be far from free. Free agency market came. Danny
Speaker 1: wasn't willing to pay what I wanted on the market.
Speaker 1: We negotiated, went back and forth for a long time,
Speaker 1: and nothing could happen. And then the Miami Heat situation came.
Speaker 1: So when I get the call from Pat and he's
Speaker 1: telling me, you know, he couldn't the money wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: be while I wanted to be in kind of breaks
Speaker 1: down the situation to me. Uh, he said, if you
Speaker 1: can get Boston to do a sign and trade, take
Speaker 1: some money back. And you gotta remember the Miami Heat
Speaker 1: were coming off the Eastern Conference Championship against the Detroit Pistons.
Speaker 1: They had just it was the first year with shack Um,
Speaker 1: it was gonna be the second year with Shock, and
Speaker 1: they were championship trying to get to the championship. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, I would love to have this opportunit
Speaker 1: because I started looking at the roster, I'm like, I've
Speaker 1: never been in a championship contender. I've never played with
Speaker 1: a guy like Shock and Alonzo Morning and d Wade,
Speaker 1: so this could be a great opportunity for me. Danny
Speaker 1: did not want to take any money back with you,
Speaker 1: was surprising. So I called an owner. I called Wick,
Speaker 1: I called Gross Back and I'll said, listen, I've done
Speaker 1: a lot for this organization. Um, you know you guys
Speaker 1: do not want me. You're gonna go in a different direction,
Speaker 1: you know, Can you guys do a sign and trade
Speaker 1: and allow me to go continue my career. And they
Speaker 1: figured it out and that's how thirteen players got involved.
Speaker 1: So it got to be a lot of mumble jumble
Speaker 1: guys making eight hundred, nine hundred thousands desided to be
Speaker 1: a lot of So that's how the trade got so large.
Speaker 1: Because Boss, they really did not want to take any
Speaker 1: money back. You know, Lord behold, they get it done.
Speaker 1: Now we get another roadblock. Shack was up, so Shot
Speaker 1: could have took He was grandfather then, so Shot could
Speaker 1: have took his bird rights three for ninety and at
Speaker 1: that time, thirty millions a year was heard of in
Speaker 1: the NBA. Besides what Michael didn't so call Shock and
Speaker 1: obviously you know I know Shock. We're not best friends, um,
Speaker 1: And I said, hey, big fellow, I want to come
Speaker 1: down and play with you and help you get this championship.
Speaker 1: You know, he had this thing with Kobe going on
Speaker 1: at the time that he wanted to get one by himself,
Speaker 1: and and he was like, look, Pat was like getting
Speaker 1: to take five years for a hundred and we can
Speaker 1: work it out. Shock did it, Um, Shock took the
Speaker 1: five years hunted and you can look at the paperwork.
Speaker 1: I signed it like a six year, fifty two million
Speaker 1: dollar deal. I deigned a six year deal to make
Speaker 1: it work. Then, you know, six year deals were unheard
Speaker 1: of at that time. So I ended up taking sign
Speaker 1: a six year deal with them and and all that,
Speaker 1: and then we hit another roadblock. We get to the
Speaker 1: physical they cleared me. Then they come back and said, well,
Speaker 1: you got some author rities you may not be able
Speaker 1: to fill six years. So now the last two years.
Speaker 1: They don't want to guarantee the last two years. And
Speaker 1: we're in a twelfth hour, like I got like six
Speaker 1: hours to make a decision or the dealers tore up.
Speaker 1: Everything goes back and it was August, and you know,
Speaker 1: you get thirty days into a free agency, like I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: so I just signed the deal. Pap you know, made
Speaker 1: some promises that hey, we went it all, will figure
Speaker 1: this thing out, making a great owner, and we went
Speaker 1: on with the deal, but everything went of courting the playing.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was unbelievable, and you know I talked
Speaker 1: about the team Kamarati with the Wildcasts, but for the
Speaker 1: what the heat was unbelievable. We had to stay fifteen strong,
Speaker 1: and you know this rex be in the league. It's
Speaker 1: very hard to find six seven guys out to dinner.
Speaker 1: But we had that type of team. We were so close.
Speaker 1: We hung together, we partied together, and I always tell
Speaker 1: people about my time Miami. I never partied and played
Speaker 1: basketball like this in my life. But I was sold
Speaker 1: because we were talking about win the championship. It was
Speaker 1: something I never did. He sold me on being a
Speaker 1: six man of the year you do some other things.
Speaker 1: So the first twenty games, I came off the bench
Speaker 1: and we were tenanten Shock missed the first few games
Speaker 1: with injury, and Pat just I wouldn't say panicked, but
Speaker 1: he came down. He felt like he had to come down.
Speaker 1: He fired stand. In my first meeting with Pat, he
Speaker 1: was like, you're starting. He was like, you're starting at
Speaker 1: the three. He said, you are best passer. You're gonna
Speaker 1: put you throw in the post. He said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: get you out early. And you know, with the second
Speaker 1: unit to be your time. But this first unit, I
Speaker 1: want you to spot up, get the ball in the
Speaker 1: big fella and play off. D wait in shock, but
Speaker 1: I played my money and you know how rous is.
Speaker 1: He's like, and that's how it's gonna go. If you're dud,
Speaker 1: don't want right, this is getting start out. Are you
Speaker 1: gonna be the foul Terry puts up? They look when
Speaker 1: the first championship in franchise history, Well, you know what
Speaker 1: happens next. You know how we eventually you know do
Speaker 1: this on charges. I shared my story about after my career,
Speaker 1: you know, addiction to painkillers, alcohol, gambling. Uh threw me
Speaker 1: down in a downward spiral, you know, twine Uh, and
Speaker 1: I lost everything as well. Just a little history to
Speaker 1: my story. A lot of people think, you know, at
Speaker 1: that time, I had a gambling situation that took place
Speaker 1: in Vegas and you know this rext one time. So
Speaker 1: I used to train in Vegas. At this point, I
Speaker 1: kind of transition. They should train in Chicago. I transitioned
Speaker 1: from Tim Grover and I suhould go out to Vegas because, um,
Speaker 1: they just have a training facility. I used to like
Speaker 1: the on court stuff. So I would stay out there
Speaker 1: probably like five weeks. Usually stay with a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys Kevin Garner, t lou Chauncey Billups. This is kind
Speaker 1: of their training facility where they used to train that.
Speaker 1: So I used to go out there. Should be like
Speaker 1: thirty or forty pro So we work out twice a
Speaker 1: day like any other time. But at night we're in Vegas.
Speaker 1: So we're in Vegas or whatever. We'll go to the casino.
Speaker 1: All of us go to the casino, hang out and
Speaker 1: do that. First time you ever gambled and do you
Speaker 1: feel like you ever had an addictive personality. No, because
Speaker 1: I really didn't pick it up. I was like, ut
Speaker 1: forty minute, I like to hit and run. I wasn't
Speaker 1: a guy that sit there at for hours. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: was just like just like you did on the court. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I never was a guy that like sit there for six, seven,
Speaker 1: eight nine hours and just play. Um. So I would
Speaker 1: just say I was more like, let me just hit
Speaker 1: it run, hit and run. And then I didn't really
Speaker 1: gamble heavy, um until I was like in Vegas. Vegas
Speaker 1: was my thing. Um, I would say as addictive, yeah,
Speaker 1: because you know I'm competitive, So you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And um, I don't know if you did this, but
Speaker 1: you know, once I filed bankruptcy, so my stuff went deep.
Speaker 1: I looked at they went through and found so I
Speaker 1: was I won four million and lost four million. So
Speaker 1: I don't know how you mathematically create that, because you know,
Speaker 1: you know how it is. You can you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I still have tax issues from my stuff.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you listen, Vegas All Star Weekend next, I
Speaker 1: want eight hundred thousand. I didn't lose a bet All
Speaker 1: Star Weekend in Vegas in two thousand seven, but then
Speaker 1: the following year I come back and lose that million. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so I would, of course I would say it played
Speaker 1: a part, but it's kind of hard to you know,
Speaker 1: it's just different time ins and how it goes. But
Speaker 1: it was actually crazy to get those numbers when they
Speaker 1: did the audience and they had to go through the
Speaker 1: books because you know, Vegas obviously no Vegas got your
Speaker 1: play down today. Yeah to the PENNI yeah to the penny.
Speaker 1: When you're an active or retired world famous athlete with
Speaker 1: millions of dollars in the bank in a city such
Speaker 1: as Las Vegas, the world and blackjack table can be
Speaker 1: your buffet. Problem is, and I know from experience the
Speaker 1: house always wins. That's why these casinos are willing to
Speaker 1: give out six figure markers a k A. I O
Speaker 1: used too high rollers because they damn well, no, you
Speaker 1: will owe them in the end. So this particular summer
Speaker 1: was a bad summer. I end up got competitive, end
Speaker 1: up staying out that five six weeks. Next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm down a million dollars. When you say you got competitive,
Speaker 1: you're saying you started chasing it. You started chasing the law.
Speaker 1: So you know, yeah, look look down a hunt down
Speaker 1: a hunter, go get another market for a hunter. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm a big player of season, so my credit lines
Speaker 1: a half a million and I probably can get up
Speaker 1: to seven fifty. So I'm playing every day whatever, and
Speaker 1: you know, by the time i leave for the trip,
Speaker 1: all a million dollars. I'm pissed at myself and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm done. I'm done with the markets.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna figure this out. I'm gonna pay them back
Speaker 1: that money. And end up bumping into a guy out
Speaker 1: there that I've been knowing, and he was like, listening
Speaker 1: to one, you probably can get off the books for
Speaker 1: six hundred thousand, you know, say yourself full hunted, but
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to give your credit line and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. So I went to the casino said, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm looking for a payment plan. I'm trying to, you know,
Speaker 1: going back out of this. And the casino was fine
Speaker 1: um at that time, but they tried to handcuff me.
Speaker 1: They wanted me to pay a hunter grand of mine
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I'm not gonna do that. So it
Speaker 1: just got a little hand. So we get into negotiations.
Speaker 1: Were just gonna let the court system figure it out,
Speaker 1: and the whole thing. So in the process I tell
Speaker 1: that story to say, in the process of me dealing
Speaker 1: with that one situation in Vegas, you know, at the
Speaker 1: forty five days legally they can go and it's your warrant.
Speaker 1: And at this time I'm playing in the Centurion Classic,
Speaker 1: which is hosted by Seasons. This is the termament that
Speaker 1: everybody got to see Charles Barker's horrible swing. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So this is my fourth fifth year. I'm planning it.
Speaker 1: So I go out there that you particular year and
Speaker 1: get off the plane. I get a phone call from
Speaker 1: my mom and she's like, you all over the news.
Speaker 1: You old Vegas, this money. They got a war on
Speaker 1: for your arrest. I said, well, I'm in Nevada, saying,
Speaker 1: ain't nobody here. Nobody's bothered me in. Nobody came up
Speaker 1: to me, No police came up to me. Called my lawyer,
Speaker 1: figured out what was going on. So my lawyer tells me, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: you got any money to make a payment. I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got some money making payment. He was like, look,
Speaker 1: enjoy your trip, um, but when you leave there, you
Speaker 1: leave Tahoe, fly out of Vegas, and we're gonna make
Speaker 1: a payment, and then we get this thing squad away.
Speaker 1: I'm like, all right, no problem. So I took the
Speaker 1: public embarrassment for two days and people looking at me
Speaker 1: crazy and like they thought I was aggressive. And then
Speaker 1: my second day at night, I'm at the bar, so
Speaker 1: I can't gamble. So now I'm just in party mode,
Speaker 1: golf party mode, and the police come up to me
Speaker 1: and was like, hey, look, we gotta take you in.
Speaker 1: We gotta warrant for your arrest. Like what I say,
Speaker 1: We're gonna deal with that, and I'm trying to figure
Speaker 1: it out. But it's like three in the morning and
Speaker 1: I'm probably like ten vodkas in and I'm like okay.
Speaker 1: So I go to the jail and the police officers
Speaker 1: department was great. They didn't arrest me. There's like, listen,
Speaker 1: we know us late. Get in touch with your people
Speaker 1: in the morning. You know you gotta make something happen
Speaker 1: and we're gonna have to rest you. So we figured
Speaker 1: this whole thing out and end up making the payment
Speaker 1: there on the spot. So get him a hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty five thousand, had it wired over to them. They
Speaker 1: let me out, so never did any jail time, and
Speaker 1: those are just a few hours there waiting to get
Speaker 1: this money get over to him take care of that situation.
Speaker 1: But in the process of me going through that, the
Speaker 1: real estate market had crashed. People that know and that
Speaker 1: we're in that fielding two thousand seven, eight nine, we
Speaker 1: went through a recession. But part of the biggest part
Speaker 1: of my portfolio was in real estate pretty much like
Speaker 1: six of my money was in real estate on a
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty properties in the city of Chicago. I
Speaker 1: was welden out and commercial rehab rental, you name it.
Speaker 1: I was involved. UM. I had a business partner that
Speaker 1: was running it on a day day basis. UM end
Speaker 1: up having his own legal troubles and never told me
Speaker 1: and I did what know some of us athletes do
Speaker 1: sometime we trust the wrong people. Though he hasn't played
Speaker 1: an NBA game since two thousand eight, Walker is still
Speaker 1: spending plenty of time around courts. Lenders have filed foreclosure
Speaker 1: actions against at least fourteen of his investment properties, which
Speaker 1: include houses, condos, and apartment complexes. He entrusted a man
Speaker 1: named Fred Billings to run his portfolio of properties under
Speaker 1: billing stewardship. Mortgages were not paid. Buildings were not repaired,
Speaker 1: and many became uninhabitable. Billings is out on bond after
Speaker 1: being arrested for running a mortgage scam. He faces felony
Speaker 1: charges of fraud, forgery, and theft. Walker already owes the
Speaker 1: city of Chicago nearly a million dollars in court ordered
Speaker 1: fines for running his buildings into the ground. How much
Speaker 1: of your finances were you aware of? Because I knew
Speaker 1: I had money, but other people were handling it. How
Speaker 1: involved were you? I was involved enough where I knew
Speaker 1: where I was at financially. When was the first time
Speaker 1: you felt rich? Probably when I was ninety nine when
Speaker 1: I signed my max still, but I didn't have any
Speaker 1: money before that, not to they now, because I knew
Speaker 1: I had seventy one million dollars I was gonna make
Speaker 1: over the next five six years. But that was probably
Speaker 1: the first time. The only reason I say that, I
Speaker 1: think that just a little small education to what And
Speaker 1: that's a great question that you asked me. When I
Speaker 1: came in the league, I was a six pick um.
Speaker 1: I signed a three year, five point five million dollar contract.
Speaker 1: First year I made one six, second year one eight,
Speaker 1: the third year two point one. People don't understand after
Speaker 1: taxes living in Boston, you do, but most people don't understand.
Speaker 1: I bought my mom and half a million dollar home.
Speaker 1: I bought me a condo for like two fifty three
Speaker 1: hundred thousand. You gotta furnish it, a couple of cars.
Speaker 1: I'm the old this, I'm taking care of things. So
Speaker 1: my first year, technically I'm in debt. Like the first
Speaker 1: thing that that shocked me was taxes. I'm with you.
Speaker 1: I had no financial intelligence or background at all, so
Speaker 1: it just the process for me, and it took a
Speaker 1: while for me to get a hang of it. And
Speaker 1: the first couple of years were rocky because obviously I
Speaker 1: wasn't making that much and I want to do so
Speaker 1: much for family and friends and and take everybody on
Speaker 1: this journey, this ride be in the league, and you know,
Speaker 1: and fortunate enough, you know, my third year, I was
Speaker 1: able to sign a max contract and able to do
Speaker 1: some of the things I wanted to do, build my
Speaker 1: mom my home from the ground up, and just a
Speaker 1: lot of things that I had promised that I wanted
Speaker 1: to do once I was able to make it to
Speaker 1: the league. So those things were there, and I'll be
Speaker 1: the first I live a very expensive lifestyle, very materialistic.
Speaker 1: I used to have at points eight nine cars at
Speaker 1: one time. UM, a lot of jury. I was a
Speaker 1: watch guy. Um, I was really into watches at that time.
Speaker 1: When I came into league read and you know that
Speaker 1: we had little dress codes and you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: So we have to put clothes on. So we talked
Speaker 1: about so you know, yeah, so, um, I'm in my
Speaker 1: first year in Boston. We had to wear suits on
Speaker 1: the plane. We can't we have to wear a tie,
Speaker 1: but you have to have a suit on on. So
Speaker 1: I ended up spending a ton of money on clothes
Speaker 1: with different clothes designers, and so I had some fetishes
Speaker 1: on my own. Besides, my family had two kids. I
Speaker 1: was not married, so obviously that was automatic child support,
Speaker 1: so you got that. And then I had an entourage.
Speaker 1: You know, I would travel with seven eight guys, but
Speaker 1: not guys that I picked up out the street. These
Speaker 1: are guys that were in the ground with me every day,
Speaker 1: that that I grew up with, and and I took
Speaker 1: them on this ride with me. And you're basically you're
Speaker 1: footing the bill though, right, you're footing most of the Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: taking care of them and helping them out and in
Speaker 1: different situations. So I had a pretty you know, expensive
Speaker 1: group that you know that I was doing. Explain, explained, Antoine,
Speaker 1: if you wouldn't mind explained to listeners. You know what
Speaker 1: it's like being a multi millionaire and a professional athlete
Speaker 1: who and you're an all star, you know, at the
Speaker 1: height of your NBA popularity. What it's Can you explain
Speaker 1: to people what that's like? Did you ever physically see
Speaker 1: the money you had a mass in the bank or
Speaker 1: did it feel kind of like funny money to you? Well?
Speaker 1: You you get anything you wanted you basically, and that's
Speaker 1: the one thing that I tell you. You set your
Speaker 1: lifestyle up. What's that like? Going from having nothing? You know,
Speaker 1: you're at Kentucky, you know, you're a kid from Chicago,
Speaker 1: to overnight literally overnight having everything. What is that like?
Speaker 1: I know a little bit, But what's it like? What
Speaker 1: was it like for you? For me, it was the
Speaker 1: best thing that could have ever happened. I mean, and
Speaker 1: people don't understand it until you actually understand what financial
Speaker 1: situation you're going through. To see my mom struggling, to
Speaker 1: see me not be able to you know, pay you
Speaker 1: to get my diploma. Uh, to see my mom on
Speaker 1: on welfare and and you you see those things. We
Speaker 1: move six seven times, just all those things and then
Speaker 1: to finally make it and to put stability there. Always
Speaker 1: tell them the biggest thing is my little presdom. Now
Speaker 1: everybody has their own room. You don't have to share bedrooms.
Speaker 1: Everybody got their own bed you know, you get a
Speaker 1: house for six bedrooms. Now, Um, it's different. I mean
Speaker 1: it's a different feeling and it makes you feel special
Speaker 1: as a player. Um, it's something that you dream about
Speaker 1: to be able to take care of your family, and
Speaker 1: you roll with it. You don't think about the end.
Speaker 1: All you can think about is living in that moment
Speaker 1: and now. And you we created and build these lifestyles
Speaker 1: that we think that will never end. And that's the
Speaker 1: way I wrote. And in the process of doing that,
Speaker 1: obviously I was doing stocks and bonds and have my
Speaker 1: financial guy doing that. But I got seven years in
Speaker 1: I wanted to do something else. The real estate markets
Speaker 1: were really good at the time, so for four years
Speaker 1: I was heavily involved making good money in the real
Speaker 1: estate market, trying to establish myself as a businessman off
Speaker 1: the court and trusted in someone else and we all
Speaker 1: as athletes or sometimes does this and trusting people that
Speaker 1: we shouldn't have and no nobody to blame for that
Speaker 1: but myself, but trust someone. He ended up going through
Speaker 1: some personal problems of his own and end up actually
Speaker 1: doing real jail time at the time that I was
Speaker 1: going through my process. So in the process of me
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what's going on with my money
Speaker 1: and what finance position I'm gonna be in, the person
Speaker 1: who had the answers to that was on his way
Speaker 1: to jail and actually did five years in the rect
Speaker 1: The one thing that bothered me the most about my
Speaker 1: story was that, um people never ever give you an
Speaker 1: opportunity to explain. So when the vegan situation hit national
Speaker 1: TV and then on the flip side of the hand, ah,
Speaker 1: you have a financial troubles, they equate that immediately to gambling.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that didn't like the gambling. I wasn't
Speaker 1: an aggressive gambler, but it never put me in the
Speaker 1: financial strength. And I told a story earlier while I
Speaker 1: was telling you about that one time. That was the
Speaker 1: one time where I got out of control for me,
Speaker 1: where I got really competitive. Any other time it would
Speaker 1: be one of those situations, not saying it's peanuts, it
Speaker 1: will be a twenty or thirty thousand dollar loss. So
Speaker 1: that was for me that that wasn't the reason for
Speaker 1: me filing bankrupts. So when I went through this whole
Speaker 1: bankruptcy process, and obviously is my first time going through it,
Speaker 1: and I looked at it and I'm like, Okay, I
Speaker 1: got the biggest firm I could find in Florida at
Speaker 1: this time. On my Florida residents, If anybody know anything
Speaker 1: about bankruptcy, Florida is the best place to file bankruptcy
Speaker 1: um or it's one of the best places. I wouldn't
Speaker 1: say it's the best place. And we just went through everything,
Speaker 1: and at this time, and you asked me this question,
Speaker 1: I thought I was gonna play for four or five
Speaker 1: more years. I really thought. And when I made that
Speaker 1: decision to file bankruptcy and take Chapter seven bankruptcy, which
Speaker 1: was gonna get me debt free, I decided to. I said,
Speaker 1: lest you know what, I can go debt free. So
Speaker 1: I had about with assets and liquid cash, I probably
Speaker 1: was sitting on about twenty million dollars, but I owe
Speaker 1: twenty million, maybe a little bit over that, and I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what. They gave me a couple
Speaker 1: of different options, and they was like, look, if you're
Speaker 1: go and play and you think you can play four
Speaker 1: or five years, you should go debt free. And then
Speaker 1: if you make you another four or five million, you know.
Speaker 1: I think the league minimum at that time had been
Speaker 1: pushed up to Lisa mill So I was like, at
Speaker 1: Warrist case scenario, I'll be playing for the league minimum,
Speaker 1: and um, I chased it. Man, I worked my butt off,
Speaker 1: and it's a funny story. So I called coach Patino.
Speaker 1: I said, Coach, I need to get a shape. So
Speaker 1: I've been sitting around um down and he told me
Speaker 1: to come to Louisville. So nas had a place down there,
Speaker 1: or he got me apartment. I think he got me
Speaker 1: an apartment and left me one of his cars. He's like,
Speaker 1: you don't even gotta drive to bring one of your cars.
Speaker 1: So he left me a car and for six months
Speaker 1: I stayed in Louisville. I didn't much. I stayed in Louisville,
Speaker 1: lost thirty pounds. I was so happy coach took a
Speaker 1: personal approach um and stayed there with me, work me
Speaker 1: out majority of the time. Um, he was going through
Speaker 1: something with his situation with his wife and you know,
Speaker 1: the infidelity that he had going on. So we were
Speaker 1: you know, I was going through my things. So we
Speaker 1: really bonded and got to the best shape that I
Speaker 1: can get into. At this time, I'm I think I'm
Speaker 1: like thirty one thirty two. I knocked off thirty pounds. Um.
Speaker 1: So I went to Charlotte. Obviously you've heard the stories
Speaker 1: of me and Michael having a relationship and everything. Um.
Speaker 1: Larry Brown was the head coach up there. Nazi was
Speaker 1: on the team and it was the summertime workout, like September,
Speaker 1: guys are getting ready for camp. He was like, man,
Speaker 1: just come up here, play with us for two weeks,
Speaker 1: trained with us. So I stayed up there two weeks,
Speaker 1: playing hard. Larry Brown's there every day. He's he's actually
Speaker 1: coaching the pickup games, you know, exactly, like you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Yeah, you know, it's like coaching the
Speaker 1: pickup games. Anyway, I think I played great. So all
Speaker 1: I want at this time, Rex, all I'm looking for
Speaker 1: is an opportunity. Let me go to training camp. Let
Speaker 1: me playing three or four preseason games. Let me show
Speaker 1: people I'm in shape. Let me just you know, get
Speaker 1: out there. That day came called Michael, called Larry. Michael
Speaker 1: tell him that Larry wanted to go with Darius Mouse
Speaker 1: was down there. He wanted to go with the younger
Speaker 1: Darius Mouse. And that crushed me. That like took the
Speaker 1: zap out of me. Like it crushed me. Um that
Speaker 1: I and I couldn't understand why I couldn't get into
Speaker 1: somebody's training camp, that I couldn't even get an invite
Speaker 1: to be one of the twenty guys even if I
Speaker 1: got cut you know a weekend. I just it was
Speaker 1: a black cloud that had been tanked. It was. It
Speaker 1: was a situation where I felt like, um, people didn't
Speaker 1: know my story. People thought I was you know, I
Speaker 1: gambled my money away party and at their gamba of
Speaker 1: their party. But that wasn't the reason I lost my fortunes.
Speaker 1: And besides acting me and really figuring it out, they
Speaker 1: went with that and they created a black cloud over
Speaker 1: my head. That's what I think. Do I know that
Speaker 1: for sure? Obviously No, I'm not behind in these front
Speaker 1: office and closed doors. And it came up that it
Speaker 1: was over with. I was like, you know what, twine
Speaker 1: is over I'm not going to get a call up.
Speaker 1: Nothing's gonna happen for me basketball wise. It's time to
Speaker 1: try to figure this thing out and do something else.
Speaker 1: I wasn't committed to stand in the protic shape that
Speaker 1: was going to be needed to play at the professional level,
Speaker 1: and I just said, no what, I'm gonna go ahead
Speaker 1: and call it and and that's what I did. For
Speaker 1: professional athletes, competition is king on and off the clock,
Speaker 1: even when it's all over. Antoine's career earnings were one
Speaker 1: hundred and ten million dollars. Antoine has always had a
Speaker 1: big personality, but as you can tell, an even bigger
Speaker 1: heart for those he loves. They say father time is undefeated.
Speaker 1: But for some athletes who make waves, even if they
Speaker 1: have more wind in their sales front offices league wide
Speaker 1: can put them out to sea, into open waters. When
Speaker 1: did you know I'm in trouble? You know when it
Speaker 1: came to money? When did you know? And how long
Speaker 1: was it before the rest of the world started to
Speaker 1: find out? Um? For me, UM at the meeting with
Speaker 1: UM the bankruptcy people and telling me what I would
Speaker 1: have to do and breaking down my situation. UM, I
Speaker 1: knew I was gonna be in trouble, but I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go back to it. I always thought rex I was
Speaker 1: gonna play more. I never thought that I was not
Speaker 1: going to get back on the basketball court. I never
Speaker 1: thought that. And that probably was the biggest thing. If
Speaker 1: I would have took that approach, I probably could have
Speaker 1: did a few things, probably still had to file bankruptcy.
Speaker 1: But what year was this, Twine? What year was that?
Speaker 1: Two thousand and ten? Okay, So it just was one
Speaker 1: of those things where I had to really you know,
Speaker 1: I evaluated and thought about it. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna play again. I have opportunity to put some
Speaker 1: money up. Um. Everything was out my system at this time.
Speaker 1: I was humbled. Uh you know, I had to because
Speaker 1: after my Gamut situation, part of my deal was that
Speaker 1: I don't get with the casinos no more, you know,
Speaker 1: So that was part of my deal. So all that
Speaker 1: stuff was like out my system. I was moving forward
Speaker 1: in different directions. So I'm like, yeah, if I can
Speaker 1: go steal me three four more years, right, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I I'm with you. I'm with you.
Speaker 1: It's such a hard feeling because and I was way
Speaker 1: too old to go back and play. That was you
Speaker 1: know part of it. You know. I was like, but
Speaker 1: I can I can understand. You were still a young
Speaker 1: man at that point, Twine. Yeah, so I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna get there, play me a few more.
Speaker 1: Hey cut down a little bit of my lifestyle. When
Speaker 1: I went through the bankruptcy, I was able to get
Speaker 1: rid of some things and move some things around. And
Speaker 1: and a lot of people don't understand when you found bankruptcy,
Speaker 1: you can keep everything if you really if you can
Speaker 1: figure out a way to hey it, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And people don't understand that. Your creditors are
Speaker 1: usually like, okay, you file bankruptcy, can you still paying
Speaker 1: this car note? You know? You know, so people do
Speaker 1: understand that having the house, can you still pay this mortgage? No,
Speaker 1: they're not gonna take you don't have to move out
Speaker 1: your house, but can you pay for the upkeep of
Speaker 1: this place? And can you pay the taxes and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. So that was all the process and going
Speaker 1: through that at that time, Antoine, as a dad, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to ask you something, uh, someone who's been
Speaker 1: to jail for stealing in an Apple store to pay
Speaker 1: for my habits. I understand shame. Um. You know when
Speaker 1: stories came out that you owe this money child support
Speaker 1: and your daughter can't go to school, the school that
Speaker 1: she's been going to since she was little, because you
Speaker 1: can't afford the tuition. A guy who's made over a
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars in ten years is at the lowest
Speaker 1: point in your life? And if not, what was and
Speaker 1: how did you deal with that? Antoine? It was very
Speaker 1: disappointed that it was one of the low points because
Speaker 1: I had did so much financially for my daughter prior
Speaker 1: to that, and it was a bad relationship between me
Speaker 1: and her mom um that drove up to that. And
Speaker 1: sometimes people, um don't get it, and I think at
Speaker 1: that time she didn't get it. She was very content
Speaker 1: and getting that money every month, and now the denomination
Speaker 1: changes and now you're not gonna get that, and it's
Speaker 1: the blame game. And it became that point, and it
Speaker 1: did become very serious, and I had to go talk
Speaker 1: to the school. My daughter had been in private school
Speaker 1: a whole life, and it wasn't the fact that told
Speaker 1: the move. I told the school. I said, listen, um,
Speaker 1: part of my child support agreement is to pay for
Speaker 1: her to go to the school I can't afford to
Speaker 1: pay to her go to school, and you know, we're
Speaker 1: gonna try to figure out something different. Um wasn't that,
Speaker 1: And my daughter was very smart and still was a
Speaker 1: bunch of other good schools that she could go to.
Speaker 1: But that is a disappointing thing, because you do want
Speaker 1: your kids to go to the best school possible. But UM,
Speaker 1: I was more disappointed that me and my baby mother
Speaker 1: at the time couldn't figure this out, and we took
Speaker 1: it public. The Lord's point in my life was, UM,
Speaker 1: I built my mom a home from the ground up,
Speaker 1: four million dollars UM, fifteen thousand square feet UM, indoor pool.
Speaker 1: I think it was twelve thirteen bedrooms. And when I
Speaker 1: found my bankruptcy, I had an option to keep any
Speaker 1: home I wanted. I was gonna be able to afford
Speaker 1: to pay one mortgage, and my mom told me to
Speaker 1: keep my place and told me to let hers go.
Speaker 1: And I was like, no, I'll just live with you,
Speaker 1: and she said no, She said, you worked too, you
Speaker 1: don't need to live with me. She said, we're downsize.
Speaker 1: And that probably was the Lord's point, because that was
Speaker 1: my my dream to build her home from the ground
Speaker 1: up and I let her sit with the architect. I
Speaker 1: had nothing to do with none of the designs. I
Speaker 1: just opened the checkbook and get a a she want
Speaker 1: And that was one of my proudest moments of my life.
Speaker 1: And when it came down the bankruptcy and the upkeeping.
Speaker 1: You can imagine the upkeep on the fifteen thousand square
Speaker 1: for home, the taxes Morgeson, she just was like, let
Speaker 1: it go. It's crazy. And I shared the story. That's
Speaker 1: a really more occurrent story. And you know, sometimes you
Speaker 1: don't talk to your mom. And everything has been great.
Speaker 1: I mean, she's in great spirits, but during the pandemic,
Speaker 1: you know, some emotions hit. She was down a little
Speaker 1: bit and she hurt me because she told me she
Speaker 1: still drives by the house. You know what, But you
Speaker 1: know what, that's okay, that's okay, No, not a sense
Speaker 1: that that not the fact that she hurt me personally.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying that feeling comes up again. I know,
Speaker 1: I know, how do you take care of your mental health?
Speaker 1: You know what. I've been very fortunate. A couple of
Speaker 1: people looked out and you probably never saw. I filmed
Speaker 1: the documentary I know about it. Yeah, I filmed the
Speaker 1: documentary and I think that was the the best thing
Speaker 1: for me. And you know what was great about the
Speaker 1: documentary is I had my family and friends and people
Speaker 1: that have been in my circle and just to see them.
Speaker 1: I wasn't in the interviews, but to see the interviews,
Speaker 1: to see how they feel about you, to see what
Speaker 1: they think the head of them. And I'm not for
Speaker 1: sure if you know, um, but this was my first year.
Speaker 1: I got an opportunity to do all the financial literacy
Speaker 1: for the league. That's great. That was my goal, my
Speaker 1: dream to be able to turn my negative story into
Speaker 1: a positive story or to be kind of a learning
Speaker 1: tool for these young guys. And the opportunity presented itself
Speaker 1: and I we had did twenty six other thirty teams
Speaker 1: prior to the world shutting down. Um, but I ain't
Speaker 1: gona lie to you, Rex. That was like the best
Speaker 1: thing for me to be one back in front of
Speaker 1: my peers talk and sharing my story with the guys.
Speaker 1: Um having that interaction again, being around the guys, I mean,
Speaker 1: traveling to all the cities, like I felt like I
Speaker 1: was back a part of it, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I felt like I was back a part of it,
Speaker 1: and we also um during the pandemic, we did the zoom,
Speaker 1: so we we kept it going. UM. I was a
Speaker 1: big part of that, and I was brought in by
Speaker 1: the Players Association, and that's what made even more special.
Speaker 1: I'm with you, man, I was very similar, you know,
Speaker 1: because I do a lot of the drug stuff. And
Speaker 1: James Jones, you know James you played against James uh,
Speaker 1: he's the GM of the Sons now. A couple of
Speaker 1: years ago we were talking and I had, you know,
Speaker 1: been through some you know, real troubles and kind of
Speaker 1: felt like I was toxic. People didn't want to, you know,
Speaker 1: have much to do with me. And and I started
Speaker 1: doing NBA TV again, and I started doing Kentucky basketball again,
Speaker 1: and I saw these people that were welcoming me back in.
Speaker 1: And he turned to me one time and he said, look,
Speaker 1: he said, you're smiling again. I said yeah. He said,
Speaker 1: you got basketball back. And isn't that something you know
Speaker 1: all those times? You know, and you said it. You
Speaker 1: you know, you're traveling to the NBA cities and you're
Speaker 1: seeing familiar faces and a lot of stuff that we
Speaker 1: took for granted as players. We get a chance to
Speaker 1: make up for now. And you know, we all set
Speaker 1: out to be Grant Hill and Ray Allen who just
Speaker 1: scale through and they they're just all American guys and
Speaker 1: they're mentally put together. But a lot of us, you know, struggle,
Speaker 1: you know, giving everything and and and all of that.
Speaker 1: So I'm just proud of you looking back on all
Speaker 1: of it, Twine, Uh, what do you wish you could
Speaker 1: have or would have done differently? I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to say what one particular thing I think. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of break it down in categories
Speaker 1: when you think about financially. But I think I'm still
Speaker 1: gonna take care of my mom. I think I'm still
Speaker 1: gonna take care of my brothers and sisters, the family,
Speaker 1: peace and friends of the extended family and friends. Um,
Speaker 1: I think I would have more accountability, um for them.
Speaker 1: I think I would want them to have more hold them,
Speaker 1: more accountable. Um. I wouldn't just probably let loose cash
Speaker 1: go out the door as easy as I did, And
Speaker 1: I would say this is actually is one thing and
Speaker 1: for me and for more athletes and what we all
Speaker 1: make a mistake. We don't think about retiring. We just
Speaker 1: don't think about thirty five or four years old, and
Speaker 1: it's like when you came. I came in nineteen. I'm
Speaker 1: playing and I'm I'm getting up and down and I'm
Speaker 1: making money. I'm not thinking about thirty five. I'm not
Speaker 1: thinking about forty just going in, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: All I'm thinking about these checks rolling in. I'm playing.
Speaker 1: I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm having
Speaker 1: the most fun in my life. You're not thinking about that.
Speaker 1: And that's why I try to humble guys at and
Speaker 1: let them understand. I was a year and a half
Speaker 1: removed from the game before it hit rock bottom for me.
Speaker 1: You gotta know that what you're doing is really powerful.
Speaker 1: It's really powerful, and it's gonna help. It's gonna you're
Speaker 1: gonna You're gonna keep a guy or two or ten
Speaker 1: or twenty or a hundred from you know, going down
Speaker 1: the road that that you have because Antoine is powerful.
Speaker 1: You're an NBA All Star, You're champion in college and
Speaker 1: the pros people are gonna listen to your story, So
Speaker 1: sharing it is way powerful. Man. I'm more proud of
Speaker 1: you over this than I am over all the basketball stuff.
Speaker 1: And one thing I think you understand there's two rests
Speaker 1: from going through your child and tribulations. One thing about it,
Speaker 1: it's not you. It's a part of your story. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, it's more good than bad. It's a part
Speaker 1: of your life that obviously wish you could take back.
Speaker 1: But if you let it tear you down, it could
Speaker 1: lead you to a really, really dark place that you
Speaker 1: may not be able to recover from. But if you
Speaker 1: have some therapeutic situations to help you talk about it,
Speaker 1: to help you, you know. So that's what's been good
Speaker 1: for me. I've been had. I've had numerous opportunities over
Speaker 1: the last four or five years of my life to
Speaker 1: be able to talk about it, speak about it, and
Speaker 1: to be honest with you. It's not enjoyable, you know.
Speaker 1: I have to get my mindset and I don't know
Speaker 1: what you have to go through before. But you get
Speaker 1: tired of asking those questions. You get tired of answering, oh,
Speaker 1: why why did you do this? Or you know, But
Speaker 1: being able to be in front of my peers just
Speaker 1: past year, and to be with guys that you know,
Speaker 1: I said in that room I was on there, um
Speaker 1: was great to be able to get those guys to communicate,
Speaker 1: to talk to me, to ask me questions, UM, to
Speaker 1: know know what not to do, what to do. That's
Speaker 1: what feels good. You're giving back, man, And you're right though,
Speaker 1: and it wears me out some days. I know I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to go give a speech and I'm like, I
Speaker 1: do not want to talk about the worst fucking day
Speaker 1: of my life again today. And so but then I
Speaker 1: get there, and then I start seeing people and they're
Speaker 1: really into it and they're taking away something, and I think, well,
Speaker 1: it would be awful selfish of me to not share it. Right,
Speaker 1: That's exactly how I was. I think all those things
Speaker 1: are are therapeutic and get you through it. But to
Speaker 1: be honest with you, I mean, I'm bea forty five X.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's a part of my life, you
Speaker 1: know what. I love to be in half of my
Speaker 1: financial position that I was in. Of course, well who
Speaker 1: wouldn't want to be. But a lot of headaches are
Speaker 1: going too. That's right, that's right. And you're still a
Speaker 1: young man, Twine, You're still a young man. What's next
Speaker 1: for you? I would love to continue to progress and TV,
Speaker 1: but I'm now starting to think about UM, maybe wanted
Speaker 1: to be with the team if you've done that before,
Speaker 1: maybe in the front office scouting, Um, I want to
Speaker 1: stay a part of the game. I'm actually in the
Speaker 1: process of just figuring out because I never went down
Speaker 1: that path, whether it was trying to coach or scouting.
Speaker 1: I've never really really put a whole hearted effort into it.
Speaker 1: But maybe just trying to reach out now, trying to
Speaker 1: see if I can get on somebody, maybe start off
Speaker 1: scouting um of some sort. I do love TV, UM,
Speaker 1: but you know, like I know about TV, it's a
Speaker 1: million of us that um, you know, ex players in
Speaker 1: the field. It's not a lot of turnover in the job.
Speaker 1: You know, they're kind of using the same people. So
Speaker 1: I don't know if anything will open up in that
Speaker 1: in that spectrum. But Fox has been great to me.
Speaker 1: I'm already going into my fore fear with them, and
Speaker 1: I mean they still give me a piece, and you know,
Speaker 1: I still don't get in a couple of days a
Speaker 1: week and get an opportunity to talk the game. So
Speaker 1: I do enjoy that. I just want to stay in sports, man,
Speaker 1: this was I love to do. There's a place for you. Hey,
Speaker 1: letna switch this up. Last thing real quick. And a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. You were ahead of your time as
Speaker 1: a player. I mean you were you were six ten
Speaker 1: six and all right, yeah, that's what I'm getting to. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you're ahead of your time. When you watch the game today,
Speaker 1: what do you see and how do you think you'd
Speaker 1: fit in? I remember when I used to get criticized
Speaker 1: for shooting threes. Yeah, and now guys, now teams are
Speaker 1: shooting attempts at game. So I feel like I helped
Speaker 1: transition the game a little bit into that. So I
Speaker 1: was looking at that and you know, in my prime
Speaker 1: probably yeah, I probably make it three million, and you
Speaker 1: would save it this time. But there's big things on
Speaker 1: the horizon for you, Antoine, bro listen, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining me on charges today, being so open and
Speaker 1: honest about this journey. You know, your person who brought
Speaker 1: so much joy the millions of fans around the world
Speaker 1: when you played, you stood tall, and then your story
Speaker 1: took a turn. You truly are an inspiration, Antoine, your
Speaker 1: true testament to how overcoming things are possible. And uh,
Speaker 1: I want you to know, man, my door is always
Speaker 1: open to you. I'm excited for the next chapter in
Speaker 1: your life. Thanks for having me on the show About.
Speaker 1: For more of your favorite former NBA and w NBA players,
Speaker 1: check out the n B r p a's Legends Media
Speaker 1: and Entertainments digital series and podcasts Legends Live with Trill
Speaker 1: Withers every Thursday at four pm Central and the Hoop
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Speaker 1: Legends media and entertainment content on social media at NBA
Speaker 1: Alumni on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitch on Facebook at
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