Darius Miles Reportedly Bankrupt

Former NBA player Darius Miles filed for bankruptcy in June, according to a report from Beth Hundsdorfer and George Pawlaczyk of the Bellevue News-Democrat. Miles, whose career was cut short by a severe right knee injury in 2006 (despite a later comeback attempt), accumulated more than $60 million in career earnings over the course of seven NBA seasons.

Miles is 34 now. It’s been 16 years since the 6-foot-9 forward was drafted by the L.A. Clippers right out of East St. Louis High School.

But injuries, legal problems and bad investments have left Miles asking the court to allow him to sell off his assets to pay creditors. Miles listed $460,385 in assets and $1.57 million in liabilities.

Miles and his bankruptcy attorney, Robert Eggmann, declined to comment when contacted this week.

If the report is accurate, Miles is the latest professional athlete to stumble into all too common financial pitfalls. Hundsdorfer and Pawlaczyk reached out to another former NBA star, Adonal Foyle, author of the 2015 book Winning the Money Game: Lessons Learned from the Financial Fouls of Pro Athletes, for comment.

“They need to understand that what they do isn’t just on the basketball court, they are the CEO,” Foyle said. “They need to find the right people to watch over their money and then watch those people. It’s a lot of work.”

Miles’ misfortune underlines an endemic problem in the NBA: lack of financial education. Managing money is a great challenge; especially when you cannot always trust others to manage it for you.

Click here to read the Bellevue News-Democrat article in full.