Paul Pierce "drowning financially" after earning $200m over basketball career

[ozgod]

Paul Pierce has shared the sad Truth about his finances and apparently they're not good.

(click to enlarge)


And from the Globe:

Paul Pierce earned nearly $200 million in salary over the course of his 19-year career, most of which was spent with the Boston Celtics.

But the 2008 NBA Finals MVP is now reportedly struggling to pay his bills, according to TMZ.

In legal documents obtained by the tabloid giant, Pierce claims that he is ?drowning financially? and  ?tapped out? while trying to make his regular court-ordered support payments ? especially after no longer receiving income from Fox Sports, which last year canceled a sports talk show that featured Pierce as a panelist.

?He said his average monthly income was $119K, but now it is zero,? TMZ wrote. ?He said he earned around $23K last month from his partnership interests in other business ventures.?

The documents are part of an ongoing court case between Pierce and his ex-girlfriend, Princess Santiago. Pierce and Santiago have a son who was born in February 2026.​

According to People, Pierce was ordered to pay $100,000 in attorney?s fees and an additional $10,000 for a forensic accountant, per court documents.

?His attorney said the fees ?no longer reflect [Pierce?s] actual income? and claimed he?s ?unable to keep up with his obligation to pay his own counsel and forensic accountant, let alone pay additional funds to the other side in attorney?s fees and forensic accounting fees,?? People?s Natasha Dye and Danielle Bacher wrote.

Per TMZ, Pierce disclosed in the filing that he currently pays around $28,000 in child support and another $20,000 in spousal support per month ? while claiming that he only has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property assets.

The 49-year-old Pierce also disclosed his monthly spending in the filing acquired by TMZ, which reportedly accounts for an additional $48,000.

According to TMZ, Pierce said in the filing that his $48,000 monthly bills includes $8,000 in childcare, $5,000 in groceries, $7,000 on dining out, $3,200 on utilities, $1,000 on clothes, $3,500 on entertainment, and ?various other expenses.?

https://www.boston.com/sports/boston-celtics/2026/10/27/paul-pierce-nba-basketball-finances-spending-court-tmz-boston-celtics-bills/?p1=hp_primary

This latest information was revealed in legal filings in which Truth is trying to get out of a court order to pay legal fees of $100k and a forensic accountant of $10k to his ex-girlfriend Princess Santiago.

[Adelaide Celt]

Sad to hear and hope he can get around the legal fees. Unfortunately much of this predicament appears to come from very bad decision making and recklessness. Not that it would make a massive difference but the spending on groceries, dining out, utilities, clothes and entertainment needs to be cut down immediately. Maybe even live like a normal person for a while.

[Who]

It sounds like he is trying to get his spousal and child payments reduced since he no longer has that TV money coming in.

They are talking more about money in vs money out and cash savings. They do not talk about wealth - investments, houses, etc. He might just be cash poor, asset rich.

So he might not have much financial problems at all. I saw a comment elsewhere saying the spousal and child payments are based on monthly cash in/out flows rather than wealth. I don't know if that is accurate or not. But from the information above it is all centred on that and nothing about his actual wealth.

My guess is that Pierce has loads of wealth. Just not good cash flow. That his cash flows were based on his previous job and now they no longer line up. So he is trying to get spousal and child payments reduced (which are ridiculous) since he is entitled to do that since his job situation has changed.

[libermaniac]

It sounds like he is trying to get his spousal and child payments reduced since he no longer has that TV money coming in.

They are talking more about money in vs money out and cash savings. They do not talk about wealth - investments, houses, etc. He might just be cash poor, asset rich.

So he might not have much financial problems at all. I saw a comment elsewhere saying the spousal and child payments are based on monthly cash in/out flows rather than wealth. I don't know if that is accurate or not. But from the information above it is all centred on that and nothing about his actual wealth.

My guess is that Pierce has loads of wealth. Just not good cash flow. That his cash flows were based on his previous job and now they no longer line up. So he is trying to get spousal and child payments reduced (which are ridiculous) since he is entitled to do that since his job situation has changed.

It says he has $3 million in property assets. "while claiming that he only has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property assets."

[Who]

It sounds like he is trying to get his spousal and child payments reduced since he no longer has that TV money coming in.

They are talking more about money in vs money out and cash savings. They do not talk about wealth - investments, houses, etc. He might just be cash poor, asset rich.

So he might not have much financial problems at all. I saw a comment elsewhere saying the spousal and child payments are based on monthly cash in/out flows rather than wealth. I don't know if that is accurate or not. But from the information above it is all centred on that and nothing about his actual wealth.

My guess is that Pierce has loads of wealth. Just not good cash flow. That his cash flows were based on his previous job and now they no longer line up. So he is trying to get spousal and child payments reduced (which are ridiculous) since he is entitled to do that since his job situation has changed.

It says he has $3 million in property assets. "while claiming that he only has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property assets."

Oh my bad. I misread it. I thought it was $3mil in cash / in the bank. I missed the property assets part.

--------

Does it mention financial assets anywhere? Stocks & shares? Bonds? I don't see any mention of those.

I wonder if that is because he has none or because he has not included in them because it changes how wealthy he actually is.

[Neurotic Guy]

It sounds like he is trying to get his spousal and child payments reduced since he no longer has that TV money coming in.

They are talking more about money in vs money out and cash savings. They do not talk about wealth - investments, houses, etc. He might just be cash poor, asset rich.

So he might not have much financial problems at all. I saw a comment elsewhere saying the spousal and child payments are based on monthly cash in/out flows rather than wealth. I don't know if that is accurate or not. But from the information above it is all centred on that and nothing about his actual wealth.

My guess is that Pierce has loads of wealth. Just not good cash flow. That his cash flows were based on his previous job and now they no longer line up. So he is trying to get spousal and child payments reduced (which are ridiculous) since he is entitled to do that since his job situation has changed.

It says he has $3 million in property assets. "while claiming that he only has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property assets."

Oh my bad. I misread it. I thought it was $3mil in cash / in the bank. I missed the property assets part.

--------

Does it mention financial assets anywhere? Stocks & shares? Bonds? I don't see any mention of those.

I wonder if that is because he has none or because he has not included in them because it changes how wealthy he actually is.

It does say he earned 23k in business ventures last month. So that could mean anything. The monthly expenditures are ridiculous and he should be able to get his head above water if he?s willing to make a lifestyle adjustment. It?s sad given that he?s made enough to be set for life, but there are worse stories out there and he still has good earning potential.

[ozgod]

Apparently around 78% of pro athletes go broke after just 3 years of retirement. Obviously most of them aren't getting paid supermaxes  or nine-figure deals but that's pretty high, don't you think? Apparently it's a) lack of knowledge about saving since the money has to last them the rest of their life; and b) insanely high expenses, not just for themselves but all the hangers-on they attract.

Charles Barkley might have earned the moniker "Bread Truck" for raking in millions of dollars ? but he wasn't always a pro when it came to managing his NBA earnings.

"I first was an idiot when I got my money," Barkley said on the Club Shay Shay podcast hosted by former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe.

Barkley recalled he had three or four cars at the time, but NBA icon and mentor Julius "Dr. J" Irving cautioned him against spending extravagantly, questioning how many of those cars he could drive at the same time.

"[Dr. J] said, 'Chuck, this money got to last you for the rest of your life,'" Barkley recounted. "'Everybody knows who you are. You pull up in a Kia, they know that's Charles Barkley. You pull up in a Mercedes Benz or a Rolls Royce, that's Charles Barkley."

A stunning 78% of professional athletes go broke after just three years of retirement, Craig Brown, an NKSFB Sports Business Division partner, told FOX Business' "Mornings with Maria" in 2022.

Barkley references this statistic on the Club Shay Shay podcast, emphasizing the importance of having money left over as you age.

"I don't mind a little ice, but too much ice," Barkley said, calling out younger athletes splurging on Dior shoes and Louis Vuitton shirts. "They do know that money ain't gonna last forever, right?"

Aside from spending lavishly on themselves, Barkley added, plenty of professional athletes are urged to blow their earnings on friends and family members. He said he learned "a tough and painful" lesson when he started telling people no for the first time.

Irving advised Barkley to think about his future self instead of trying to impress others.

"'The problem is ? it's not the fact that you can't afford that car ? it's the fact that the $300,000 you spent on that Bentley, if you bought a car for $70,000, $80,000, you would have had $200,000 more in the bank and it would have been growing and growing,'" Barkley remembers Irving telling him.

"'And in one year, three years, five years, twenty years, that $200,000 is going to be worth a lot more.'"

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charles-barkley-reveals-why-nearly-095700400.html

[gift]

related?

https://x.com/paulpierce34/status/2115260374350278721?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2115260374350278721%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=

In 2015, Clippers players were posting emojis while recruiting DeAndre Jordan to re-sign, and Paul Pierce uploaded an entire picture of a rocket emoji.

Eleven years later, Jaylen Brown posts 🧢 [cap emoji] to question Tatum?s account of his trade. Pierce, seemingly responding to reports about his finances, types out ?Cap.?

Paul has now tried both uploading the picture and spelling out the picture. Somebody please show this man the emoji keyboard.

[Donoghus]

Toine and Pierce.  Hopefully Tony Battie & Waltah aren't next.

[snively]

Alimony and child support can make a poor man out of a rich man in several different ways.

[Csfan1984]

Yup, some of these child support amounts are insane. They cripple men while women stay home and won't try to even pay a 1/4 of their bills. Be careful who you have children with.

[byennie]

Yup, some of these child support amounts are insane. They cripple men while women stay home and won't try to even pay a 1/4 of their bills. Be careful who you have children with.

Maybe so, but it's also crazy to blame that for his financial woes. If the guy had saved even $500k/year while he was earning $200M+ as a player, he'd have enough savings to support this lifestyle indefinitely on simple interest alone. And still with room to blow $190M. I feel for these guys on some level as it's obviously a product of the system at some level, but at the end of the day they've simply refused to acknowledge anything but a loose, superstar lifestyle their entire adult life -- and eventually it comes around.

[Donoghus]

Yup, some of these child support amounts are insane. They cripple men while women stay home and won't try to even pay a 1/4 of their bills. Be careful who you have children with.

Maybe so, but it's also crazy to blame that for his financial woes. If the guy had saved even $500k/year while he was earning $200M+ as a player, he'd have enough savings to support this lifestyle indefinitely on simple interest alone. And still with room to blow $190M. I feel for these guys on some level as it's obviously a product of the system at some level, but at the end of the day they've simply refused to acknowledge anything but a loose, superstar lifestyle their entire adult life -- and eventually it comes around.

100%.  I'm a CPA and actually do some work with professional athletes.  You'd be amazed at some of the overhead and outflows some of these guys have.  Head scratching & ridiculous.  A decent amount of athletes have no financial acumen whatsoever, are listening to the wrong people, or just getting bad financial advice all together.

[Csfan1984]

Absolutely. They should have been much more responsible. That's in spending and in life style. Basketball isn't forever every player has to retire at some point. Setting up long term should be the goal even when on a rookie contract. Budget and be disciplined.

[Donoghus]

Absolutely. They should have been much more responsible. That's in spending and in life style. Basketball isn't forever every player has to retire at some point. Setting up long term should be the goal even when on a rookie contract. Budget and be disciplined.

What's even scarier is what's going on with a lot of the NIL kids right now.