When Chris Paul was drafted to the league he turned down a substantial amount of money.
The NBA player had been drafted in 2005 as the No. 4 draft pick by the New Orleans Hornets, Fox News reports. He was just 19 years old at the time.
During an interview with Forbes, Paul mentioned he had just $151 in his bank account as a college student at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC, when he entered the league.
One of his earliest actions was to bring on board a financial advisor, which ultimately resulted in him receiving an upfront offer of $100,000. However, his parents interceded, leading Paul to accept nearly a quarter of the initial offer.
“My financial advisor who we hired, they said they would send me $100,000 and my parents said, ‘No that’s too much,'” he told Forbes.
During an appearance on “The Shop,” he elaborated further stating, “You know what happened? I was at Wake in Winston. I went to the bank right up the street just so I could see what the statement looked like, right? ‘Cause we young, we don’t know. We ain’t never had no money like this. I went and got the statement that said $25,151… No education came along with it.”
Paul would go on to splurge his earnings at the Hanes Mall in Winston-Salem and even recalls buying a BMW 750.
The athlete would then see a meteoric rise in career earnings, currently totaling an astounding $389.9 million, according to Spotrac.
Understanding the importance of financial literacy during his childhood years, Paul now allocates his time off the courts to this mission. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he partnered with Black-woman-owned fintech bank Goalsetter, Oakland Fund for Public Innovation, and Nike to introduce financial literacy to 1,400 Oakland, CA-based middle school students. As a result, they gained access to valuable resources such as a savings account through Goalsetter’s app, along with $40 worth of Nike stock directed to their Goalsetter investment account.
