‘It was a very low point’

Joe Smith, the No. 1 overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft, talks about how he blew the $61 million he earned over nearly two decades in the league.

After a storied career at Maryland, Smith was drafted by the Golden State Warriors with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1995 NBA Draft. Smith, who played for twelve different franchises from 1995 to 2011, earned money over the course of his 16-year career $61.2 million.

During a recent interview with VladTV, Smith shed light on how his NBA earnings dropped to just $3,000. Although he earned more than $61 million during his time in the NBA, Smith claims he only took home about $18 million after taxes, agent fees and management fees.

“It was a very low point,” Smith said of his bankruptcy. “When I say I was in a deep, deep, deep depression, like I was mentally confused, I’m telling you I was there.”

Smith continued, “I bought my mother’s house in Virginia, I bought a house in the Bay Area and I bought a house in Milwaukee. That’s three houses that I bought and lost a lot of money to get them out of my hands. So when it The problem also came from the other side: I no longer earned anything from the houses when I had to sell them.”

In addition to buying several homes and a fleet of luxury cars, Smith blames his costly divorce for forcing him into bankruptcy.

“That really cost me,” Smith said of the divorce in 2011. “I laugh about it now, but that really cost me. The divorce didn’t do much for me. That’s where most of my retirement money went.”

Smith recently made headlines for his response to his partner’s OnlyFans account, which he said she had to do for financial reasons to support their family.