Former NBA guard Iman Shumpert revealed that several players from his draft class borrowed hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars during the 2011 NBA lockout, spending heavily on luxury cars and jewelry before receiving their first paychecks.
Shumpert explained that the lockout delayed his initial NBA earnings for several months, leaving newly drafted players without the income they had expected. Some of his fellow rookies responded by taking out substantial bank loans to finance their lifestyles.
“The lockout hits. So now I’m five, six months, no check, and all my, like the guys that got drafted with me, the guys is grabbing $1 million loan, $500,000 loan with this bank, another $3 million over there with that bank. And I’m like, bro.”
According to Shumpert, many of those players quickly began purchasing expensive jewelry and vehicles despite not yet receiving their NBA salaries.
Watching others enjoy their new lifestyles made him consider borrowing money himself. However, conversations with his father and brother changed his perspective.
“So everybody’s just iced up, cars, everything. And I’m just like, maybe I should, you know what I mean? I’m talking to my brother, talking to my dad, and they like, ‘You’ve been broke this long, and now you can’t wait a couple? You going to get a loan and start in debt.’”
Shumpert said his family’s reasoning made him reconsider the idea of taking on debt simply to demonstrate that he was about to become financially successful.
“And when they said it out loud like that, it just sounded so dumb to me. I’m just like, this whole time I haven’t had it. Now they tell me I got it. Just wait a couple months. And you want me to start in debt to prove to y’all that it’s coming in a couple months?”
Rather than follow the spending habits of some of his fellow rookies, Shumpert decided to wait until he actually received his NBA earnings.
“The concept just didn’t make sense to me. And I was like, you know what? No.”
