00:00:01
hello I'm Diana Drake managing editor of
00:00:04
knowledge at Wharton high school we're
00:00:06
thrilled today to welcome O'Donnell foil
00:00:08
one of only seven players in NBA
00:00:10
franchise history to play ten seasons in
00:00:12
a Golden State Warriors uniform
00:00:14
O'Donnell is the only native of saint
00:00:17
vincent and the grenadines to ever play
00:00:18
for an NBA franchise he finished his
00:00:21
13-year professional basketball career
00:00:23
in 2009 and remains the Warriors
00:00:25
all-time leader in blocked shots with
00:00:28
1140 while ranking seventh on the team's
00:00:31
all-time games played list with 641 and
00:00:34
while we could talk all day about a
00:00:37
Donald's professional basketball career
00:00:38
we also want to learn more about his
00:00:40
deep interest in financial literacy
00:00:42
especially for athletes this year adana
00:00:45
published the book winning the money
00:00:47
game lessons learned from the financial
00:00:49
fouls of athletes O'Donnell thanks so
00:00:52
much for joining us so before we talk
00:00:56
money I want to know more about you it's
00:00:59
not every day that I get to speak with
00:01:01
someone who grew up on a small island in
00:01:03
the Caribbean whereas canna Juan and
00:01:05
what was it like living there well
00:01:07
counter one is the best way to think
00:01:10
about it it's between Trinidad and
00:01:12
Tobago and debate owes its part of sin
00:01:15
vincent and the grenadines at the bigger
00:01:17
island you have to think a little bit
00:01:18
like Hawaii sin Vincent has I think
00:01:20
about 46 different islands that is
00:01:23
attached to it 26 I think above water
00:01:25
and kenna one is a very very small
00:01:28
island as part of the grenadines of sin
00:01:31
vincent and the grenadines and when I
00:01:33
was growing up with a population of
00:01:35
about coffee 5 600 which was booming at
00:01:38
the time and I what I remember most is
00:01:42
that we didn't have electricity we
00:01:43
didn't have indoor plumbing and I was
00:01:46
raised by my grandmother and I very
00:01:49
humble beginnings and I think what I
00:01:51
what I carry with me always is that you
00:01:54
know less is always more it's like my
00:01:56
grandmother i always find a way to help
00:01:58
out you know people in the village even
00:02:01
when when they didn't have much she
00:02:03
would take whatever she had which wasn't
00:02:05
very much and she will share it and sure
00:02:07
i was i'll be so frustrated and she say
00:02:10
you know we never know what we would
00:02:11
need tomorrow so I I
00:02:13
up you know with some amazing people
00:02:15
that help I think shape the weight and
00:02:18
the person that I am today how did you
00:02:21
end up with a career in professional
00:02:22
basketball I think basketball was more
00:02:25
thrown upon me I happen to be about 6 8
00:02:30
and I remember going to primary school
00:02:34
high school to another Island and in
00:02:36
that island they happened to play
00:02:38
basketball and my Island it was a lot a
00:02:40
cricket and soccer but in this island
00:02:42
there was a soldier who was with the
00:02:44
American and he learned the game of
00:02:45
basketball he came back and kind of
00:02:47
create his own infrastructure and Bill
00:02:49
his own code and so you know they had
00:02:52
really really serious basketball in this
00:02:54
island and it walks in as a 67 68 you
00:02:59
know person and they were like oh my god
00:03:01
you have to play basketball I'm like
00:03:03
what is basketball and literally within
00:03:06
that the confines of that first month I
00:03:09
learned his game they told me okay well
00:03:11
you just grab a rebound and you throw it
00:03:13
to me and that's it that's the game so
00:03:16
I've been doing this for a while I
00:03:17
remember grabbing the rebound and taking
00:03:20
off down the code making a layup was so
00:03:23
excited and I turn around and everybody
00:03:25
was in a groundless hysterical because
00:03:28
apparently have to dribble the ball in
00:03:30
basketball how was I supposed to know
00:03:32
what's inside you know that was my
00:03:35
introduction to boscos I thought okay
00:03:37
you know this is terrible I'm just gonna
00:03:40
you know this will be the end of it and
00:03:42
you know what there's a gentleman in the
00:03:44
island he said you know I would I could
00:03:46
teach you and I could teach you in the
00:03:47
night when nobody's around I thought
00:03:49
okay that sounds like a good idea and I
00:03:51
be it really started learning the game
00:03:53
and before long I was in a plane coming
00:03:56
to the United States and a basketball
00:03:57
scholarship and you started playing at
00:03:59
16 right hi 15 yeah 15 yeah so that's
00:04:03
kind of late but you picked it up very
00:04:05
late I I think in part you know I picked
00:04:08
up very late but one of the advantages
00:04:10
is that because I started to later I
00:04:12
felt like I was learning all the way
00:04:14
through my career it was never an
00:04:16
opportunity like oh I don't really need
00:04:18
this stuff I feel like I really needed
00:04:20
to learn and continue to grow throughout
00:04:23
my entire career
00:04:25
so speaking of your career can you tell
00:04:27
us one of the highlights of your career
00:04:30
as a professional athlete i would say
00:04:33
probably one is draft night being
00:04:35
drafted is a extraordinary thing you're
00:04:38
coming from where i did and my mom
00:04:40
coming to the curt to the United States
00:04:43
for the first time a national television
00:04:45
were being drafted and I remember you
00:04:48
know just sitting there and just looking
00:04:49
at her face and she was nervous and I
00:04:51
was nervous I didn't know if I was gonna
00:04:53
get drafted I said that was a big deal
00:04:55
because it was like the beginning of
00:04:57
your career you know the opportunity to
00:04:59
play at the highest level um should I
00:05:02
would definitely be one of the
00:05:03
highlights of my career and the second
00:05:06
one I think for me it's just really
00:05:08
being at the same floor with some of the
00:05:10
people that I grew up with I mean I
00:05:12
remember the first time I play against
00:05:13
Hakeem Olajuwon and I was like oh my
00:05:19
gosh can I know right up my coaches like
00:05:22
yeah you get to God him I think they're
00:05:26
you know those experiences and are you
00:05:28
gonna carry them with you for the rest
00:05:29
of your life because when your when your
00:05:31
hero and somebody that you respect and
00:05:33
admire you know son in Florida at the
00:05:36
same time and your elbow in each other
00:05:38
and you're running and walking walking
00:05:40
against each other it's pretty special
00:05:42
yeah so during your time on and off the
00:05:46
court you watched other pros burn
00:05:48
through a lot of cash endorsements
00:05:50
merchandising money salaries and a
00:05:54
recurring theme has been that athletes
00:05:56
make a lot of money but they're poor
00:05:58
money managers so tell us a bit about
00:06:00
what you've experienced and why you were
00:06:02
inspired to write winning the money game
00:06:04
well as an advocate for I've always been
00:06:08
an advocate I was thought of myself as
00:06:09
an advocate for players and and it's not
00:06:12
that we all don't make mistake
00:06:14
financially I think the greatest society
00:06:16
as a whole make a tremendous amount of
00:06:18
mistakes when it comes to finance i
00:06:21
think it was about a month ago the New
00:06:22
York Times that an article talking about
00:06:24
you know people over 50 or not having
00:06:26
the financial know-it-all of how to
00:06:28
prepare himself for retirement and and
00:06:30
saving and financial savings but I think
00:06:33
it which sports is that one of the
00:06:35
problem is it's so immediate so
00:06:38
lead for example basketball have an
00:06:41
average career 4.74 football is to point
00:06:44
something and so you make all this money
00:06:46
in a very short period of time and you
00:06:49
couple that with the fact that athletes
00:06:51
coming to the league extremely young and
00:06:53
also that we don't talk about financial
00:06:56
literacy in general as a society we're
00:06:59
really behind us so you take all those
00:07:01
things and athlete becomes a microcosm
00:07:04
of the greater society in that there is
00:07:06
a tremendous amount of wealth they know
00:07:08
how to get rich but they don't know how
00:07:10
to stay rich and for me you know just
00:07:13
looking at that over the years and over
00:07:16
and over and seeing the patterns that
00:07:18
emerge I wanted to really take a closer
00:07:20
look so part of my master's thesis in a
00:07:23
sports psychology I got to interview a
00:07:26
10 retired basketball players and talk
00:07:28
to them about what is transition like
00:07:30
and how are they been able to handle it
00:07:32
and what are some of the challenges the
00:07:34
face and one of the things that keep a
00:07:36
cover occurring over and over was this
00:07:39
issue of financial distress and so I
00:07:42
start talking to them about what are
00:07:43
your experiences growing up and you know
00:07:45
they start a pattern start emerging a
00:07:48
lot of them have never been around that
00:07:50
kind of money they come from
00:07:52
disadvantaged background and the first
00:07:54
time they were really learning about
00:07:56
financial management was when they had a
00:07:58
check for millions of dollars so it was
00:08:01
a it was an interesting eye-opening
00:08:03
experience and I wanted to kind of dive
00:08:04
in motor that it into that kind of area
00:08:07
so I started writing at the book is
00:08:10
there one athlete story that stays with
00:08:12
you that really illustrates this point i
00:08:14
will say there's a there's a couple of
00:08:18
them and one of the things i tried to do
00:08:19
in the book is to kind of create this
00:08:22
grouping of people in one camp varsity
00:08:25
out of camp and i call him big balla tom
00:08:28
instead John and but part of it I
00:08:31
remember one experience I had you know
00:08:33
was that it was a great day I had walked
00:08:34
this athlete over to the bank and I got
00:08:38
him set up with a checking account
00:08:39
everything and I was so happy myself and
00:08:41
the next day he went out and buy a car
00:08:44
would money he did not have in that
00:08:45
account
00:08:46
and I just remember sitting in the room
00:08:48
and then how would I hold it what what
00:08:51
do I need to say and how how could I sit
00:08:54
in a way that he will understand and I
00:08:55
start writing a pamphlet so between my
00:08:58
thesis and this pamphlet became the
00:09:00
basis of this book how interesting
00:09:02
really interesting so what are some key
00:09:05
takeaways that might help help athletes
00:09:07
as well as all of us well it wouldn't be
00:09:10
surprising i think most of this stuff is
00:09:12
really common sense and one of the first
00:09:14
thing is you know being involved there
00:09:16
is a tendency to be kind of skittish
00:09:18
around money especially when you don't
00:09:19
feel like you're competent enough to
00:09:21
handle it so athletes tend to kind of
00:09:24
shy away from the responsibility of the
00:09:26
day to day immersion into their finances
00:09:29
where they take ownership of it so
00:09:31
that's a big part most of the time when
00:09:33
I at least get taken advantage of is
00:09:35
that they're not monitoring you know who
00:09:38
is involved in the finances they're not
00:09:39
doing the basic thing so being involved
00:09:42
is huge the second thing is assume
00:09:44
everybody is in good faith but anybody
00:09:47
who touches your finances should be
00:09:49
audited in a regular basis and what that
00:09:52
does is that if if it turns out to be a
00:09:54
great audit and everything is good then
00:09:56
you kind of fate is justified in the
00:09:59
people that you put it in so you think
00:10:00
we see it auditing is more of a negative
00:10:03
thing and and therefore we don't really
00:10:06
take the time to just do our due
00:10:07
diligence to make sure that the people
00:10:09
that we trust is worthy of our trust and
00:10:12
I think that's another important area I
00:10:15
will say finally it's just when you if
00:10:18
you ever if you ever want to really
00:10:20
truly be involved just write your own
00:10:22
check I mean just do that for a while
00:10:24
and I think you will see kind of the
00:10:27
cost of what you're doing I think
00:10:29
sometimes when I when I athletes have
00:10:32
secondary and tertiary people writing
00:10:35
the checks and paying their bills they
00:10:37
don't get to see the day-to-day
00:10:38
decisions that they're making and I
00:10:41
think it and the ownership of those
00:10:42
decisions mmm interesting what's next on
00:10:46
your career horizon you seem to be
00:10:48
involved in so many things I you know I
00:10:51
fit for me is this always about learning
00:10:53
always about gaining more knowledge and
00:10:55
always up being an advocate for players
00:10:58
I've always
00:11:00
that's going to be my my life's mission
00:11:02
is to continue to find ways to advocate
00:11:05
for players do you feel that through
00:11:09
your advocacy as well as advocacy of
00:11:11
others that athletes are improving in
00:11:14
terms of their money management have you
00:11:16
seen a change from when you started to
00:11:17
now I think the change is is that we're
00:11:21
talking about it now in a much more
00:11:24
meaningful way it's not swept under the
00:11:26
rug it's not oh my god we don't want
00:11:28
anybody to know I think athletes are now
00:11:31
being open to the idea you know what I
00:11:34
can start talking about this you know we
00:11:36
saw article Tim Duncan came out against
00:11:39
you know one of the people that he was
00:11:41
investing and said you know this guy
00:11:42
took money for me I think you see
00:11:45
players saying I'm no longer going to
00:11:47
hide and be a shame that somebody take
00:11:49
advantage of me I'm going to come out
00:11:50
i'm going to talk about it and hopefully
00:11:52
it will empower the next generation and
00:11:55
hopefully will help them so i think that
00:11:58
that is very encouraging and that's the
00:12:00
first start what advice would you give
00:12:02
to a high school student who might be
00:12:05
interested in a pro career in basketball
00:12:08
or some other sport um if you 610 it's
00:12:13
really really a lot easier but no no no
00:12:17
but I will say more than anything else
00:12:19
follow your passion but always
00:12:21
understand that Sports is about balance
00:12:25
and so gold work hard really is about
00:12:30
taking the time and spending it in the
00:12:32
gym getting better if you're gonna run
00:12:34
track is going out and doing those
00:12:36
things that there's no substitution you
00:12:38
know for working I tell all the athletes
00:12:40
I work with 10,000 repetition of a skill
00:12:44
you know makes you an expert in that
00:12:45
skill so you have to go out and really
00:12:47
really work at it but also remember to
00:12:49
have balance you want to have a call it
00:12:52
duality between sports and academics
00:12:54
really try to create that balance where
00:12:56
you have something to fall back on and
00:12:58
that don't define yourself with a career
00:13:01
there's only going to last a few years
00:13:02
you need something that's going to
00:13:04
define you for your entire life
00:13:06
for now and that's education so really
00:13:08
balance the two together great advice
00:13:11
well thank you for joining us today at
00:13:13
donalds been great talking with you
00:13:14
thank you for having me
00:13:31
you
