Almost every superstar minority athlete in America who came from a tough up-bringining who steps into millions of dollars ends up mis-managing their money. Feeling like they got cheated when they realize they don't have nearly as much money as they thought or hoped. Mostly due to trusting the wrong people on the wrong decisions. People who are acting out of self-interest, and are often times very good at playing heart strings to do so.
One of the best examples is Mike Tyson and Don King. Don having just the right balance of street and business savvy to earn Mike's trust. Especially in a war that feels like "us" vs "them" as a lot of influential white people find young, minority superstars with money and influence very scary. Because the love from the streets of athletes like Muhammad Ali, Allen Iverson, and Mike Tyson is more than genuine; it's fanatical. To the point where there's riots in the streets when injustice befalls the champions of the people. Because the people choose these champions for a reason; for their hearts; their symbolism; and hope to have their voices heard. Voices who have largely been silenced and trapped in the streets. Only to be spoken for by heros like their superstars who represent the streets. Which makes for loyalty that you simply can't buy or force; it's scary because that type of loyalty drives people to disobey the rules that they already hate anyway.
So it should come as no surprise at all that every single minority superstar who represents the streets has been targeted and driven as closely to poverty as possible. Driving with it- the hope of the people of the streets into the sewer. As crushing hopes and dreams and making people comfortable with control is the best way to take advantage of them. A sickening truth that has silently crippled minorities in America for decades. Felt most as an uneven distribution of wealth in America. Remembering that wealth is a suitable proxy for power, and money magnifies character. So when a group of privileged white folks want to cripple the power of the minority communities, one of the best ways to do it is to attack the resources and freedom of the leaders. The leaders who have earned the loyalty, hearts, and minds of the people.
So to stop a leader like Mike Tyson, you work through someone like Don King. Most effectively using the Police to leverage Don into doing whatever they need Don to do. Because almost anyone who has done real jail time probably has leverage looming over their head from the Police where if they don't comply with the Police they go back to Prison. So someone like Don is basically a double agent without having a choice. Slowly siphoning off as much of Mike's money as possible and probably having to pay some heavy bribery fees along the way. All with money that Mike literally earned with blood, sweat, and tears. A platitude that falls offensively short of what these elite fighters have to go through to be great at their craft. The preparation that it takes to step into an elite heavy-weight bout is almost other-worldly. And that's if you're lucky enough to have all the physical and mental gifts necessary to be a pro athlete.
So to know that people who have never stepped in the ring basically conned Mike out of money- strictly for their own self interests- literally disgusts me. And that's just one example of many. And it's not just sports either- champions like Tupac Shakur literally got set-up by off-duty Police officers to quietly ignite the entire Police force against "A self-proclaimed gangster rapper who shot a cop". I mean- as soon as you get that heat against you from the Police, you're basically done. They'll hit you through people like Don King to the point where it'll feel like a Mike Tyson right hook that you literally didn't see coming. Almost a locked-in knock-out.
Pausing here for a moment to draw special attention to the fact that those off-duty cops literally set that scenario up to bait Pac into shooting one of them. The facts are clear if you look at the case and protocol of off-duty Police officers. And hereinlies our first lesson for our young minority superstars: Nobody is really looking out for you but you; I promise you.
If the very people (the Police) who are supposed to be protecting and serving people, are quietly setting up the People's Champions of the minority communities to be ensnared by the justice system and financial ruin....then nobody is coming to help you my nigga, I promise. And worse than that- almost every agent, financial planner, or investor you meet is trying to get you to be their best friend, but in reality you're cannon fodder to them. Just like you sell a fake one way in the post to get your defender leaning, and then explosively spin the other way to the hoop. If you get the timing, pressure, and feel right- it gets em every time. And just like you're yamming on niggas off spins in the post, the greedy white people are doing the same thing to you in investing and finances, but you don't even see it. Like all the sudden you're in the fourth quarter, and you're down like 30 but you thought you were in the lead. And you're just like 'dang- where'd those points come from'
And that's the whole point. The finesse of people like the slick business Jews is all about getting points on you without you having any idea at all. Like the whole shadowy deception thing is the equivalent of the finesse it takes to get to your spot and get a turn-around fading jimbo; it just takes thousands of reps to get the finesse right, but when you do- it's silky smooth and almost an auto-bucket.
And it probably even feels similarly to a rookie who gets disrespected with a nasty turn-around fade. It just feels like they were totally out of their depth and can't put together everything that it takes to make such an impossibly smooth shot. But we all know what it takes: thousands, if not tens of thousands, of reps. period. And you'll never learn the shot or how to defend it until you put the reps in.
So that's what's happening to almost every young superstar minority athlete who doesn't have business and finance training. They're getting buckets splashed in their face and they don't even know what's going on. Mostly because it's so easy not to pay attention when it feels like you have unlimited money. Which they effectively do compared to having nothing, that is until their not-so-good friend Lifestyle Creep shows up to their crib to party and just never leaves. Lifestyle Creep is one of the worst Creeps. It's the feeling that you continually need to spend more and more in order to feel like the "top of the world" feeling that you first had when you had enough money to do whatever the F you wanted.
I'm from Detroit and love cars, so I'll give you an example of Lifestyle Creep with cars. Once you first have a meaningful amount of money- there's no better feeling than picking literally whatever car you want and paying cash for it. And then the next best thing is getting a second car. Probably something like a dope SUV or truck and a sports car. The feeling of switching between cars when you need them is lit, but then at some point- you start thinking about your next car. Something more niche, maybe a little sexier. And it feels great getting the car, but after the first day, you start to feel the weight of having three cars. As the fresh exotic car you just got needs more special maintenance and it takes like half your day to figure out how to get the car right. Then- these types of problems start to compound as you get more cars just because you like the feeling of having more. Then with more cars, you need more storage, a system to keep track of the keys. And then you have to deal with people constantly asking to borrow and joyriding your sh*t. And all the fun of getting more cars starts to have way more headaches than you anticipated. To the point where some days you literally say "f()k why do I have so many cars!?" Cars at different properties, cars at the office, cars at the shop, cars, cars, cars. And that my friends is what Lifestyle Creep looks like. The ugly part of being rich nobody tells you about. And sure- if you're rich enough- you can just pay people to take care of your cars, but then you have to worry about people abusing your cars and putting microphones in your sh*t to try and jam you up. Again- remembering that nobody is actually trying to help you. They're really just trying to back you down to their spot and splash a turnaround jimbo on you that you can't do anything with.
So what you'll find is that being good at being rich is actually way harder than you ever imagine. It takes a ton of skill and an elevated philosophy. Philosophy that has to include a fundamentally sound understanding of concepts like Lifestyle Creep. Or else that nigga'll never leave your crib and burn up all your bread. Truly- the worst kind of Creep.
The next worst kind of Creep for our young kings is the Gold-digging women. And even the ones that aren't formal gold-diggers are probably digging for clout or maybe even something more sinister. Same sh*t- trying to back you down and get you to their spots so they can control you out of makes or money, which is basically the same sh*t. As I know for a fact that a bunch of these witches are shagging NBA players and using subconscious influence to make them miss or turn the ball over...and they're getting paid to do it on the low. Almost as nasty as the Police.
But unlike the Police, I don't think the women mean any harm. They're just insecure. Summarized by the Van quote: "I need a photo with Drake, my instagram is weak AF." A quote that- at some level- represents the subconscious drivers of all women. They just want to feel secure. And if they can shag you over without you knowing it to be more secure, they'll definitely do it. These witches are almost as ruthless as the Police.
Getting too deep in bed with the wrong witch can be even more devastating than Lifestyle Creep, if you're not aware of the way the women move. Remembering cumming in a woman gives them material control of outcomes for you at an irreversible and subconscious level. Pausing here for a second to never ever forget this one. If you cum in a witch without truly, deeply trusting them- then you might as well buy a brand new Birkin bag to put in a copy of a 1-9 from-the-field stats sheet with 4 turnovers. Seriously- these witches are ruthless; they'll dawg you with a smile on their face while making a smoothie in the morning. Proud to increase their clout and personal standing at your expense.
So you have to be super careful with the women you have relationships with. Honestly- if I was an NBA player- if the witch can't go 5 for 10 from the stripe, they can pack their sh*t and head to one of Drake's parties. I just wouldn't be down with diluting the excellence of my game just to shag some nasty witch. Like- it's cool- you can do it for sure- but the cost is way steeper than meets the eye. Especially with witches who work their way around the league. Then you start having one player influencing another player because they shagged the same nasty witch a bunch. Noting that- if the witch is nice- then it could be helpful, but I mean like 9-of-10 from the line nice, which is almost impossible. So you have to be super careful with the cross-shagging. To the point where I bet there's some guys who set rookies up with a super-skank-nasty witche as something of a ball-busting procedure. As effective as it is sinister. But hey the league is competitive; hard to get there and just as hard to stay. People are going to be doing everything in their power to bust you down on the low, so you have to watch for it.
Here we have the most important principle. Learn to create your own offense just as well as you learn to lock anyone down on D. Same sh*t off the court as on the court. If you don't know all the different ways people are going to try and get a bucket on you, then you can't hope to be a good defender. And if haven't worked your @ss off to have a reliable bag on offense, then it's hard to justify calling yourself an elite player.
On D- you have to pay special attention to be aware of everything you're not aware of. Like there's a bunch of shots you know people are getting on you, and you don't really know how to stop it. Same sh*t. Except the costs off the court are usually way worse because they're permanent. Because if you don't anticipate the crossover when AI pulls the ball to one side, you'll never be able to shift your weight fast enough. You have to be extra light on your toes and anticipate with intention. So every time you talk to anyone who can influence your money or life, you have to look past the smiles and stay locked-in watching the ball and everything connected to it. Looking for a shift in the hips on a hesi to one side, so you don't get smoked on the cross-over.
It's your choice to sit and watch AI film hundreds of times or not. Learning every possible indicator of the cross, or saying F the film and doing your best not to end up with skates on at the ice rink. Do you sit and watch AI's shoulders and hips over and over again, or do you choose to just be good instead of great? Getting your soul snatched as you slide out of one of your Jordan's from a devastating cross-over that you didn't know how to look for.
It turns out that the same skills of watching film and learning how to guard a cross-over are no different than learning how to play lock-down defense in business and life. You have to watch for any case where your weight can get stuck in one direction enough for someone to take advantage of you. Lean in too far, they'll get ya; lean back too far, they'll get ya; put yourself in a position to not shift your weight to the correct side, they'll get ya.
So every time you step into an interaction with someone who can influence any of your sh*t- you have to be intentional about how they can use trust or something you want to get your weight going one way, just so they can yank you out yo shoes as soon as they get ya leanin. So you literally have to pay attention to how the person is trying to get you to lean, so you can understand how they're trying to break your ankles. Knowing that if you can tell they're trying to get you to lean one way, then they're actually trying to yank on you the other direction. The direction that helps them get a bucket on you. And hopefully it's just a bucket and not a poster, too. Remembering that it's not personal to most of these people, it's just hoops to them. The Jews and Women have been crossing people up and dunking on them since you could cross someone up. Gamers gonna game. That's just the bag they have.
On offense, having a deep and effective bag takes a ton of thought and work. You have to understand yourself as a player well and take ownership of knowing exactly what makes you unique in the league from the lens of being able to get the ball in the hoop efficiently. So if you know you're a shooter, you have to understand how to use your strengths to create offense. Like Steph understands that he's quicker than most players and is far more thoughtful about creating opportunities to get the ball with open space at his spots. And Steph has worked on it over and over and over again. Making his game uniquely his. Mastering ball screens, explosive cuts, and orchestrating his teammates to empower him. There's a level of thoughtfulness that most people just aren't seeing with Steph, and it's the main thing that makes him a great offensive player despite not having physical tools that are noteworthy. And there was no book that Steph could pick up entitled "how to be the best shooter in the NBA when you're under-equppied physically". Steph had to experiment, watch film, think, and refine his shooting strategy all without a playbook. It takes extra motivation, discipline, and care. More than most people have. And perhaps most importantly you have to be confident doing your own thing and taking responsibility of your own game regardless of what your coaches and teammates may say. Because they're not you! Not even close. They don't know how your brain works, how your speed feels compared to other players, how certain dribbling combos work better with your gather than others. And how could they know? Everyone is so so unique, you either take responsibility to learn and grow on your own, or someone is going to do it for you. And unless you get a coach like Coach K, more than likely you're better off to just trust yourself.
So how does developing a bag offensively translate off the court? First you have to understand where and how you want to shine based on what you like and you're good at. Like the turn-around fade-- man- you have to love the shot deeply; it has to feel like home or it will destroy you. Mostly due to the sheer number of reps that it takes to shoot the shot well enough in the NBA to score efficiently. You have to be interested enough to watch MJ and Kobe do the shot over and over again until you dream about it. And if you're interested in it and good at it, then the work should feel fun instead of like school or chores. Obsessed to the point where you're frustrated when the shot does release right or splash hard enough. That was MJ and Kobe's attitude, as they did rep after rep after rep. Obsessed with the pursuit of perfection. Learning and critiquing on their own.
And that pursuit of perfection that fueled Kobe to have an unstoppable turnaround jimbo, is the same drive that led Kobe to be a quiet monster as an investor off the court. I remember watching some footage about Kobe at one point, and it talked about him getting into the stock market and him bothering the best person he could reach on the stock market with phone calls at all kinds of weird times. Just like Kobe took responsibility of the perfection behind his turnaround jumpshot, he took the same obsessive attitude towards investing. Just like there was nobody who was going to set aside time at practice for Kobe to do hundreds of turnaround fade reps, there was nobody that was going to hold his hand investing. He had to humble himself by admitting what he didn't know, and then attack it as hard as possible.
While I think Kobe's attitude was right, I do think he probably trusted some of the wrong people because they were experts. Remembering that- just because they're great at what they do- does not mean they have your best interest in mind. Often times the opposite actually. So out of the publicly available investments that I saw Kobe make, I think his Body Armor investment was probably best. Mostly because it aligned his expertise and reputation with the dollars he invested. Simple example: Kobe investing in a Sports drink company is way more likely to move sports drinks, than Kobe investing in a reusable diaper company is going to move diapers. Even if the diaper deal looks like a monster return, it's just not the best way for Kobe to invest. Superstar athletes should put their name and dollars behind investments that they can make a real difference in just by investing.
There are a couple shops helping athletes do this like Forthlane Partners in Canada, but the reality is that the more you put yourself in someone else's hands, the harder the cross-over hits when they yank on you if they turn out not to be perfectly trustworthy. So when you're starting out on your first investment or two, having a proven shop like Forthlane may help, but you should be very aware of the stickiness of dependence.
Accounting is perhaps the most clear in terms of how damaging sticky dependence can be. Once you have someone collecting all your books and records related to accounting, it's really hard to switch to someone else or do it on your own, once they lock you in. And any time you're locked it, you give the other person leverage. Almost like needing a particular big man on the team to set a screen in the paint to get you open at one of your spots. It may work while it works, but what if you want to hoop somewhere else? Or you need a bucket and that big is injured? It's just too dangerous of a dependency.
Ultimately- the best scorers in the world can score at-will with no dependencies. Hoopers like Book and SGA have a midrange shot that they can get to at will because they know exactly how to use their bodies and skills to create the space necessary to get their shot off. It doesn't matter whose guarding them, or whether they have a screen or not. They always have something in their bag that allows them to get a reliable shot off.
But nobody did that for SGA or Book. Nobody told them that midi-god form would suit them particularly well and they should find unique ways to get to reliable spots. They just put the work in to do it. It took self-discovery, learning, tolerance of failure, and disgusting numbers of repetitions. Sure- they've had people along the way to help them, but everyone's bag is different or nobody would score cause we'd all be doing predictable sh*t. You have to take ownership of your own learning and growth like Steph, SGA, and Book. Their work is the reason they're great shooters.
Being great off the court is no different. You just have to start by being real with yourself about your strengths and interests. Like a 6' guard should never be spending their time working on a hook shot from the post. Their time would be way better spent on something that fits their unique skills better, and that will make it way easier to learn, too.
Pick your bag carefully off the court. Which will help with lifestyle creep a lot, too. If you look at money like shot reps, you can only invest into a certain number of shots because they all take energy to maintain. Same thing with buying stuff and hobbies. If you have a bunch of cribs, they take a bunch of time and energy to maintain. You can do a bunch of Venture Capital investments but it takes time, money, and energy to manage. Same with relationships-- if you have a ton of relationships- they might create more harm than good. Like having 30 different shots in your bag that your practice, but half the shots are mostly air balls. Sure- you can afford to take the shot, but having a bunch of shots that are mostly misses sucks. It just sucks; missing sucks.
So pick a few key areas where you have an advantage and have fun, and then take responsibility. Same obsession required for mastering a turnaround fadeaway. Nobody is going to do it for you, and you really can't even get a lot from people just hearing them talk about it. You have to start small in an environment with low risk, and then just put the reps in and learn. Over and over and over again until you're elite at it. Otherwise- you're passing the ball to someone else with your own money on the line. Can you imagine Book or SGA not being able to take a game winning pull-up, so they have to pass the ball? No- never. Those guys want the rock in their hands in on a midi pull-up if at all possible. Great hoopers hate passing their fate to someone else.
So if you want to be great off the court, do you rely on a screen from someone else or just pass the ball? No. You get in the lab and figure it the f()k out until you can shoot your shot at a high level. Sure- watching film of someone doing taxes is way less fun than watching MJ film, but you have to just push through to figure it out and then you've got it. Otherwise- you're passing the rock and feeling your stomach turn on a miss. Laying awake that night hating that you didn't feel comfortable pulling up and taking that shot. So you can lay and pout, or sleep for a bit and get back in the lab.
And when you get back in the lab on the never-ending cycle of self-improvement-- what you're likely to find is that you need to work a bit on a fundamental or two, in order to even be able to put the right work in. Just like in order to be able to make a half million dollar Venture Capital investment on your own, you probably have a handful of fundamentals to get down first. By reading, watching youtube videos, talking to older guys in the league, and getting reps in where it's safe. Which might mean trying 6-12 $10K VC checks just to learn. Again- noting that if you let someone else negotiate terms and do all the paperwork for you-- you're just passing the ball. Fingers crossed they get that make I guess.
It all comes down to setting an intention that works for you and putting in the work until you get there. All the business and investing stuff isn't really that deep, but the greedy white people are hiding the ball a lot. So learning is a bit more of a challenge because you've gotta find the ball before you start doing your reps. But if you never set the intention that you want to find the ball all on your own, and work on doing the shot on your own, then you'll never get there. You'll always be dependent on someone else.
Even stuff like basic car maintenance like changing oil. If an NBA player was really trying to go HAM on the car stuff, then they're just an online order and a few youtube videos away from changing the oil. Just like watching film and then going out and doing it. Translating the details like hand and body position into real life just like watching film and running the adjustments on the court.
Something like changing oil may not be high on the priority list, but dealing with real estate and accounting are things everyone has to do. To the point where it is likely worth each team in the league investing in education for the athletes to get practical training closing a mock real estate deal on their own. Or do a simulation of the average NBA player taxes on their own, complete with sanitized examples from someone who's been running game for decades like the King. Because there's no reason for all the guys to be doing the same stuff and not help each other. Any chance to bond and improve for each team is worth it. And any chance for a veteran leader to help build the relationship with the guys is helpful. Especially when handling this stuff incorrectly off the court creates issues for people on the court.
It's all connected. Skills on the court impact skills off the court. Like I bet Steph could pick up golf or archery really quickly because the principles are so similar to being an elite shooter. Arm positions, core engagement, breathing, follow-through-- they're all critical to apply correctly in anything with aim and motion. So with the right attitude, work off the court can give you some big gains on the court and vice versa.
There's no reason for some of the most elite athletes in the world not to be just as elite off the court.