Hakeem Olajuwon is one of the most complete basketball players to ever grace the game.
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“The Dream” as he was referred to, was a phenomenal basketball player. The #1 pick of the Michael Jordan draft took his Houston Rockets to the pinnacle of NBA basketball twice.
Hakeem also holds the distinction of having won MVP, DPOY, and Finals MVP during the course of the same season. The sheer dominance Hakeem commanded in an era dominated by bigs is a testament to his success.
However, things were not always smooth sailing for Hakeem. Off-court distractions often affect player careers. While Hakeem’s career did not take much of a hit, let’s just say he couldn’t “Dream Shake” his way out of this one.
Lita Spencer, Hakeem’s girlfriend of six years, had sought maintenance and child support from Hakeem in 1988. Spencer claimed that Hakeem had split up with her and that her life changed drastically after that.
Did the court rule in Hakeem’s favor?
While not entirely favorable, the order did take into consideration the sensitivity of the issue at hand. Spencer sought $100k in a lump sum payment and $4500 per month for child support as she was going to head abroad for better job opportunities.
The jury, however, opined that Olajuwon should pay only a sum of $10,000 and child support to the tune of $1500 a month. Hakeem was 25 at the time and making only $1.5 million on average at the time.
This presented a considerable sum to the young all-star. However, his reported $300 million in career earnings seem to have alleviated all such pain.
Stories suggest that Hakeem Olajuwon promised Spencer to marry and reneged on his word. Weirdly, the condition placed by Hakeem to this apparently was that she should prove to him that she could bear children.
Either way, Hakeem Olajuwon lost a considerable chunk of his income at the time to Spencer. Sometimes even The Dream can have nightmares, clearly.
