Gilbert Arenas reveals life post-retirement for NBA players might not be as good as you might think. On the latest episode of Gil’s Arena, the 42-year-old described how players struggle once they walk away from the game.
“I mean (to) be honest it’s difficult,” Arenas said. “You’ve been pampered since you was skilled, right? AAU, college, high school, like you have been put on the pedestal. So, most of the time when motherf****** get to the NBA, they’ve never even done laundry before. When they got to college, somebody was doing their homework, somebody was doing their laundry.”
Arenas says once the players get to the NBA, they’re on their own for the first time and are trying to figure out how to be an adult with all the money in the world.
“When you’re done, it’s no different than somebody who has been in jail for 10-15 years or in the army,” Arenas continued. “Most players didn’t have Plan B’s. We’re Superman, right? So when we’re done, one, we didn’t know we were going to be done, so we sitting around trying to work out, and then it becomes a depression.
Arenas claims money ends up causing problems after a player retires.
“The money doesn’t matter at that point because the only thing that money does is get us in trouble,” Arenas stated. “So most guys’ habits, those bad habits, drugs, and gambling, that happens usually when they’re done because they’re trying to fill the void of practice and games.”
The three-time All-Star says the first year post-retirement is just fine, but when it settles in later that it is all over, that’s when things go south.
“When reality kicks in that you ain’t going back no more, now it’s like, ‘Alright, who are you?’ I was a basketball motherf***** playing,” Arenas stated. “Nah who are you? B**** I don’t know, I’ve been a basketball player since I was 10… So 10 to 35, 20-something years of being a basketball player.”
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Arenas says players also have to learn how to actually become fathers, now that they are at home most of the time. He believes the biggest problems come from them having to reinvent themselves from the person they have been for 20-odd years.
Gilbert Arenas Claims Most Retired Players Have Hard Bills From $100K To $300K Per Month
Previously, Arenas had also brought up one other issue that players tend to face once they retire. He stated it takes them time to realize they can’t spend the way they once did, and Arenas claimed most retired players have hard bills from $100k to $300k per month.
“So now, he has to adjust his life. You’re talking about a guy who can walk into any mall, buy whatever the f**k he wants any time he wants cuz he makes so much money every year. It’s gonna take him two years to understand that you can’t do it anymore. So that’s two years of, ‘Hey hey, you can’t do that.’ How many millions has he blown already?
“Now the other two years, he has to figure out how to cut his expenses. Most NBA players who retire, their hard bills, they’re sitting at $100k… $120k… $300k, normal, a month. Our bills. Ask Shaq how much he spends monthly. If he didn’t get the TNT job and he doesn’t have those endorsements, is he gonna stop spending $500,000 a month? Every month he’s waiting, that’s $500,000. This is just hard bills.”
Life does change drastically for these players once they retire, and they need to quickly figure things out. If they don’t their lives can very easily spiral out of control.
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