Shawn Kemp blasted into the NBA as a first-round draft pick for the Seattle SuperSonics in 1989. At 19, he was the youngest player in the league. When Gary Payton joined the team, the two dazzled and dominated the court. “Shawn was a freak of nature,” Payton said, “It’s a great feeling as a point guard. I knew anytime he’d say, ‘WOO!’ . . . that’s my sign . . . I could just throw it anywhere and he’d just go and get it.” The Sonics were hot in the mid ‘90s. During Kemp’s tenure he racked up more than 15,000 points for the league. Today the six-time NBA All-Star is worth $5 million. He retired in 2003 with 14 NBA seasons under his belt.
Post-retirement, he has spent his time and energy supporting the city he loves by joining the chorus of sports enthusiasts who are fighting to bring the Seattle SuperSonics back. He also supports the vitality of downtown Seattle with his restaurant and bar investments. The restaurant business is notoriously tough terrain. Kemp took his chances on a sports bar in Lower Queen Anne, Seattle. He called it Oskar’s Kitchen, apparently named after Oskar, Kemp’s pet fish that swam in the bar’s aquarium. Unfortunately, the establishment did not make it, closing in 2015. Today he’s part-owner of a trendy restaurant and lounge called Amber Seattle which marks its chic spot on First Avenue. He also holds investments in several other Seattle ventures.
Steve Francis - An Entrepreneur
Steve Francis’ entrepreneurial spirit took off early with selling crack on the corner of his crime-infested city at age 10, but he escaped the dingy city for the bright lights and fast fame of the NBA. “It was messed up. I’m not glorifying it I got robbed at gunpoint a million times. I got my ass beat a million times. I saw drive-bys. But honestly, if you ask me what really scared me the most, . . . the drugs. The needles, man. The pipes. The PCP. The people slumped over with that look in their eyes.” A front and center view of the American crack epidemic.
Despite it all, he managed to land a decent NBA career. Drafted second overall in 1999, he was named NBA Rookie of the Year and was a three-time All-Star. His 9-season career was not long enough for Francis. Transitioning out would not be easy, it took a huge emotional toll, compounded by Francis who treated it with heavy drinking. When he pulled it together, he got into several business ventures. Out of his passion for music he launched a hip-hop label called Mazerati Music. It’s difficult for professional athletes, who have already had so much fortune, to strike it big again in the entertainment industry. Likewise, Mazerati Music sits on the shelf. Francis also launched a clothing line called We r One.
Evan Eschmeyer - An Attorney
Evan Eschmeyer headed back to Northwestern for a law degree just four years into his NBA career. Starting out at Northwestern, as the best men’s basketball player in the history of Wildcats basketball, Eschmeyer was courted by many pro teams. He went with the Nets in the 1999 NBA draft. Two years later he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. Persistent knee problems forced him to make a tough decision. Doctors told him to retire or risk never being able to play basketball with his children. Eschmeyer had to let go of a dream. “Being forced out of the NBA was one of the most difficult things I have ever been through,” Eschmeyer said, “Imagine you take a world-class painter and cut off his hands so he can never paint again. All of a sudden basketball was gone.”
Today, he and his wife and their three children live in Ohio. As a business attorney with a family farm to run, he keeps very busy. Half the time he’s working as an attorney with a renewable energy fellowship for the Environmental Law & Policy Center helping renewable energy entrepreneurs get started. Life after basketball can be sweet too.
Chris Washburn – Mortgage Company Collections
Chris Washburn’s future was so bright straight out of high school that he had to wear UV sunscreen. Washburn, one of three top high school basketball recruits in the entire nation, had the choice of virtually any college. He chose North Carolina State. His enormous size and agile hands brought the Wolfpack a powerful center. Despite his low grades, petty crimes and drug use, Washburn was selected in the 1986 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. By 1987 he checked into drug rehab. Washburn was not able to kick his addiction in time to live a professional basketball lifestyle. That hope summarily ended when he was slapped with a lifetime ban by the NBA in June of 1989. Third positive drug test, zero tolerance. He played only 72 games—career over.
Post-NBA, he bottomed out in total destitution, but finally overcame his vicious cocaine addiction. Washburn and his girlfriend tried their luck with a fried chicken restaurant in his hometown of Hickory, North Carolina, to little avail, doors closed in 2012. Most recently he’s been working the collections desk for mortgage companies while taking care of his elderly mother.
Latrell Sprewell – Priceline Pitchman
Another outrageous NBA personality is Latrell Sprewell. Notoriously, he grabbed his coach by the neck after the Golden State Warriors coach told him his passing was bad. He lost his contract and was suspended from the NBA for a year.
Other than that, he was a great player. He was a 4-time All-Star and made All-NBA First Team in 1994. However, at 36 years of age, Sprewell landed himself in retirement. It was 2005, and he rejected a 3-year, $21 million contract with the Timberwolves, arguing it wasn’t enough. Then he had nothing. Sprewell faced serious financial hardship. A $200 million custody lawsuit didn’t help. So, he became a pitchman for Priceline with a measly net worth of 50 thousand bucks.