Antoine Walker, a 2006 NBA champion, wants athletes to learn from his financial mishaps.

At 19 years old, he was drafted into the NBA in 1996 by the Boston Celtics and remained in the league for 13 years. Yahoo Finance reports his career earnings amounted to $108 million, including a six-year contract worth $71 million that he signed at age 21.

While making all this money early on is an accomplishment, it also came with harsh learning lessons for Walker.

“The money came so fast without the education,” he told host Ross Mac on the “Financial Freestyle” podcast.

Walker’s first paycheck was tied to a $1.6 million payday, but after taxes, his actual earnings ended up being $800,000, he says. He came from “very humble beginnings” and had little understanding of financial literacy, particularly about taxes. This lack of knowledge, combined with excessive spending and real estate investments that went south during the Great Recession, contributed to his filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2010, according to CNBC.

“When I went through my financial hardship back in 2010, 2011 and I saw the mistakes that I made, it was just really from the lack of education,” he mentioned on the podcast. “Obviously I had financial advisors and they tried to guide me a certain way, but I come from very humble beginnings. So, we didn’t have a lot of money. I didn’t know nothing about making money [or] taxes. That’s one of the biggest things. How many people in their homes tell their kids about taxes?”

Walker was able to climb out of debt within two and a half years, and he now dedicates his time to educating athletes on how to avoid similar financial pitfalls.

“I try to put that back in their face and understand that this basketball career or any sports career is gonna be short-lived, and you got a whole life to live after your career is over with,” he said. “I just wanna try to get there in their head, and it’s tough sometimes when you’re talking to a 18-, a 19-year-old to let them know about thinking about 40. They don’t wanna think about that. They’re living in the now. So I try to get that in their head and think about generational wealth. They’re gonna eventually have kids, if they don’t have kids already, and making sure their kids are well taken care of. So it’s a process.”