Scottie Pippen Wins $2 Million in Lawsuit but Appears to be Broke

NBA legend Scottie Pippen cried when he heard that he'd been awarded $2 million in a legal malpractice case in Chicago.

"I don't want to really say anything. I'm just exhausted and tired," Pippen told reporters.

Pippen has had an interesting life. Hardly the player or businessman to match his buddy Michael Jordan, Pippen reportedly swam through $120 million in earnings throughout his career. His most dramatic financial decision was the purchase of a Gulfstream II corporate jet, which cost him a healthy $4.2 million.

Pippen ended up suing two attorneys at the Chicago law firm Pedersen & Houpt for $8.2 million. He alleged that his attorneys didn't effectively monitor his purchase of the jet, which was grounded after just two months for upgrades on the interior.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Pippen and his finances. It is not inconceivable that his attorneys and business managers found ways to get rich off of his labor, since that happens to NBA players on a regular basis. What can sometimes occur is that men can spend more energy working on their jump shots than actually becoming educated enough to keep from being financially destroyed. One of the saddest things about the NBA is that many of the men who control billions in wealth haven't been educated at their universities or in the public school system. Far too many players know nothing about business and money, but they know everything about basketball, women, jewelry and fancy cars. There's an old saying that "a fool and his money will soon part ways." Well, the truth is that many NBA players, by embracing ignorance over intelligence, soon find themselves to be the prey of Harvard-educated attorneys and agents seeking to suck them financially dry.

Of course, we can't put all players in the same basket. But the culture of the NBA has got to change, and we don't want our black boys being influenced by such silly behavior. This isn't to pick on Scottie Pippen, but most of us aren't shocked to hear a story about any NBA player going broke. There will likely be another one going broke next week.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and a Scholarship in Action resident of the Institute for Black Public Policy. To have Dr. Boyce's commentary delivered to your e-mail, please click here.