Former NBA player Baron Davis credits the smartest financial lesson he ever learned — “A fool and his money will soon part” — for helping him grow a $60 million net worth.
Money Wise
He explained this in a 2015 interview with NextShark, and Davis’ journey to wealth recently resurfaced.
After his $12.69 million rookie contract with the Charlotte Hornets., the two-time All-Star realized disciplined spending and smart money management were key to long-term financial success.
“I think the best advice that I’ve ever gotten is, ‘A fool and his money will soon part.’ So since I’m a fool, I keep my money over there, and I just be a fool over here and pay for my foolishness. I use my budget to pay for my foolishness, so money and a fool will soon part,” he said. “So for me it was just trial and error — just stickin’ to it, stickin’ to it — and always knowing that at any moment my career could be over, and then I have all this work and nothing to show for it. So I never wanted to be that.”
And he credits his education at UCLA as a key reason he has been able to preserve his NBA earnings long after his playing days ended.
“When I went to college, I thought that I was gonna be an accountant because I knew I was gonna come into a lot of money, and I needed to know how to count it all and do what I needed to do with it,” he said.
The financial trajectory of the average NBA player is often tragic — marked by mismanagement and a lack of preparation — but that was not the case for Davis.
As Finurah has previously reported, the average NBA career lasts roughly four to five years.
During that short window, many players — often without formal training in personal finance — underestimate their newfound cost of living and struggle to adjust once their careers come to an end.
In some cases, players have openly acknowledged blowing through their rookie-season salaries, as Shaquille O’Neal once admitted, before being forced into immediate financial restructuring.
Davis, however, seems to be the exception to that reality.
The former two-time NBA All-Star spent 13 years in the league, earned approximately $147 million in salary, and today has an estimated net worth of $60 million, according to Spotrac.
Aware of the financial pitfalls that had derailed many professional athletes before him, Davis prepared for the possibility that his career could end abruptly.
To do so, he implemented a strict money-management system that accounted for discretionary and high-cost spending.
That risk-aware approach led Davis to prioritize budgeting for personal expenses while safeguarding the bulk of his earnings from lifestyle inflation.
Davis attended UCLA from 1997 to 1999, where he majored in history and completed sociology coursework, before being selected third overall in the 1999 NBA draft by the Charlotte Hornets (now the New Orleans Pelicans).
He signed a four-year rookie contract worth $12.69 million.
Over the course of his career, Davis played for several teams, including the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Cleveland Cavaliers, and New York Knicks.
His peak earning years came in the mid-to-late 2000s, when his annual salary often more than $15 million during his prime seasons with the Warriors and Clippers.
After the NBA, Davis transitioned into entertainment and media investing.
He launched Verso Entertainment in 2005 while still playing for the Warriors, according to Sports Business Journal.
Through Baron Davis Enterprises, he also invested in Blavity Inc., participating in the company’s $6.5 million Series A funding round in July 2018, according to FinSMEs.
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