Jeff Mayberry

The most repeated stat in professional sports is that most NBA players are in financial trouble within a few years of retiring. Jamal Mashburn did the exact opposite. He earned about $75 million playing basketball. He is worth more than that now, and it isn't because the $75 million sat in a bank. Here's what he actually built. Mashburn grew up in the Bronx. His father Bobby was a former heavyweight boxer and a New York City police officer. His parents separated when he was young and his mother Helen raised him. Rucker Park was a block from his house. He went to Kentucky, then fourth overall to Dallas in 1993. Twelve seasons with the Mavericks, Heat and Hornets. A career average of 19.1 points a game. An All-Star in 2003. Good career. Not a legendary one. Knee problems ended it at 32. And then he went to work. Today Jamal Mashburn owns more than 90 businesses. Thirty eight Outback Steakhouse locations. Forty Papa John's. Three Dunkin' Donuts. Car dealerships in Kentucky, including Toyota on Nicholasville and the Lexus Store of Lexington. Real estate across central Kentucky. A waste management company. Hotel development projects. He co-founded a venture capital firm with former NFL offensive lineman Winston Justice that invests in tech startups. He founded a marketing agency with offices in Chicago and Miami. He was an early investor in a cannabis company. He has sat on the boards of a hotel chain and the McClatchy newspaper group. He's also in thoroughbred horse racing, in a stable he co-owns with Rick Pitino and Chris Sullivan. That last name matters, because Chris Sullivan is the man who FOUNDED Outback Steakhouse. Mashburn didn't just buy franchises off a list. He went and got in business with the person who built the company. And here's the line that explains the whole thing. Asked about all of it, Mashburn has said the part he genuinely enjoys most is the car business, because that is where he got his MBA. Not Kentucky. Not the NBA. A dealership. He learned inventory, financing, margins, staffing and customer behavior by running one, the same way Junior Bridgeman learned the restaurant business by working a Wendy's window. Put the numbers side by side. Mashburn's net worth is estimated around $100 million. That is more than the current estimated net worth of several active NBA superstars who have earned considerably more in salary than he ever did. He also never stopped giving it back. In 1993, as a rookie, he established the Mashburn Scholarship Fund at the University of Kentucky, providing full scholarships to students from the Lexington area. He worked as an ESPN analyst for four years. He once made a $275 million bid to buy the Charlotte Hornets outright. It didn't happen, but the fact that a former player could credibly try is the point. Most guys spend their careers protecting the money. Jamal Mashburn spent his career earnings buying things that make more money, and twenty years later the basketball is the smaller number on his balance sheet. For more stories like this, follow us on any platform @thesportsontap