Former New York Knicks backup point guard Mike Bibby recalls discovering $4,200 missing from his hotel room, revealing he was being robbed right under his nose.
Missing Money
According to Complex, a fellow Knicks player had been stealing from Bibby while the team stayed at a hotel. The thefts occurred during Bibby’s 2011-2012 season, his only season in New York, but it was the missing $4,200 sealed in an envelope that prompted the 6-foot-2 veteran to involve hotel security and launch an investigation. The story resurfaced during an interview with Bibby on the YouTube channel Knicks Fan TV.
“It wasn’t the first time; it was the first time he got caught,” Bibby said on Sept. 25, referencing the repeated thefts.
The 2011-2012 season would be Bibby’s last in the NBA. Bibby had played in the league since 1998. He is currently the head coach of the boys’ basketball team at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona, with a net worth of approximately $60 million, according to Slam Magazine.
Although Bibby did not reveal who was stealing from his room, the search made it clear that it had to be someone with access.
Initially, Bibby assumed a maid had taken his money, saying, “I thought it was one of the maids because they were some of the only people that could get in the rooms,” but security footage revealed it was an unnamed Knicks player.
The player had managed to get his hands on Bibby’s hotel key and entered his room, and when Bibby and security searched the thief’s hotel room, pieces of the envelope were found.
The thief was someone Bibby had shared lunch with. The only indication of the mystery thief is that it was not Bill Walker, leaving the possibility of 15 other players by process of elimination: Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Baron Davis, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Steve Novak, Landry Fields, Toney Douglas, Jared Jeffries, Jeremy Lin, Josh Harrellson, Renaldo Balkman, Jerome Jordan, and Dan Gadzuric.
When Bibby confronted the thieving Knicks player, the perpetrator tried to deflect by claiming he was also a victim of hotel room theft, saying that his earrings had been stolen.
“He tries to make up a lie and say that someone went in his room and stole his earring so he needs to check on that too,” Bibby said.
The more than decade-old situation has since been resolved, but Bibby stated that if he had personally witnessed the player taking money from him it would have been a different situation.
“If I would have came back and caught him in my room, it would have been rough for him,” he said.