$50M Worth Julius Erving Once Had to Auction His Championship Rings and MVP Awards For a $200,000 Debt

We as fans remember all the career highlights of the legends of previous generations and want to have a piece of what they had, not realizing what else even the likes of Julius Erving went through.

Dr. J was one of the biggest stars of the game in the 70s and 80s, who played for 16 years and is still remembered as the most electrifying player of all time.

But despite him being the icon of the game, his financial condition struck somewhat a bottom in 2011 when a Georgia Bank sued him for more than $200,000 for his failure to repay a loan.

Also read: Paying His Father $500,000 a Year, Shaquille O’Neal Once Revealed the Shocking Mind Games Behind Every ‘A** Whooping’ He Received As a Kid

A Bank Sued Julius Erving for $200,000 regarding a $1 million credit

According to Atlanta Journal-Constitution, J’s company, The Erving Group Inc. took a loan of $1 million in 2009 to invest in a Golf Club in Atlanta. The credit came down to $750,000 a year later.

But before the full clearance of the credit, the foreclosure of the golf club in 2011 led to the Bank suing Doc for an outstanding balance of $205, 277.84.

Around the same time, Erving put up his only NBA championship ring (1983) which he won with the Sixers, his two ABA championship rings, and multiple MVP trophies.

The auction it seems had nothing to do with the debt

Erving denied all the reports of his financial struggles at the time and stated that the auction has nothing to do with the debt trouble he got into.

“My family is 100 percent behind it,” the 16x All-Star said according to NBC Sports. “We decided to do it a long time ago. To claim it’s a fire sale or to clear up some debt, I don’t think so. You don’t do an auction overnight. This has been long planned. We had 4,000 catalogs that have been mailed already to people who buy this kind of stuff.”

It would have perfectly made sense if the timing of it all wasn’t the same because somebody suing you for a failure to repay a part of a million-dollar debt also doesn’t happen overnight.

But, as we speak the 72-year-old legend of the game reportedly has a $50 million net worth and might be away from all his debts and financial trouble. We hope it stays that way.

Also read: $60 Million Worth Charles Barkley’s ‘Beat Your Wife and Kids’ Statement Would Have Caused a Stir with Wife Maureen Blumhardt

About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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