NBA legend, Isiah Thomas recently joined Draymond Green on ‘The Draymond Green Show’ to have a long discussion about various different topics. During their session together, Green took the time to appreciate all the different avenues former players like Thomas have opened up for NBA players after their time in the league. While thanking him, the Warriors star also asked the Pistons legend for some advice on handling life after the NBA in the ‘outside world’. Calling the NBA a ‘fantasy land’, the 62-year-old recalled advice that the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had bequeathed to him.
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The 2x NBA Champion shared a story from 1982 the All-Star game, which was his first appearance. A 21-year-old Isiah went to Kareem Abdul Jabbar seeking some knowledge and advice for his career. The Lakers legend said something which is still with Isiah as he recalls,
“He said, ‘The best you can, try to stay normal. Wash your own clothes, iron your clothes, still do the dishes, still take out trash. Do the things that normal regular people in society do because… it is a fantasy world, a fantasy land. And when you come out, you ain’t going to be on the private plane all the time. You may have to go to the airport, you may have to stand in line, you may have to get your bags out of baggage claim and everything. Everything that regular people do.'”
Isiah Thomas’s words give a great insight into the world of retired NBA players. During their time in the NBA, athletes likely get used to certain luxuries that they may not get the chance to enjoy after their retirement. However, if they do maintain some semblance of normalcy in their life even as they are in a “fantasy land”, it would only be natural for the adjustment to the real world to be easier.
As Thomas explained the advice he received to Green, the Warriors star seemed to not only understand but completely side with the legend instantly. Perhaps much like it was for Thomas, Draymond had someone early on in his life to explain the same thing to him. And so, while Thomas’s words may have come as a bit of surprise for many others, Green seemed to already know what Thomas was talking about. It could be a big reason why the four-time champion seems beyond down-to-earth whenever he is not on an NBA court.
NBA Players’ lives after retirement
Athletes in the NBA have spent just about their whole lives playing basketball and preparing for the league. So, it is only natural for some to seem a little lost after their retirement, considering that they may not have paid attention to a more long-term goal until that point.
In that sense, Isiah Thomas is a bit of a trailblazer. During an era when it was common for former athletes to waste away all their money, and turn up bankrupt before long, Thomas started from scratch to build a life for himself after his retirement.
Even during his NBA career, Thomas set aside money to put into business ventures, hoping to build up enough wealth to survive after his retirement. Having done so in 1994, Thomas has since spent his time investing his money in a myriad of ventures, while also having worked as an NBA analyst for TNT.
Much like him, several other NBA legends such as Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley, and Richard Jefferson now work as analysts for companies such as TNT and ESPN, while having investments of their own. Others have elected to start their own companies such as Lanny Smith, who is now the founder of the clothing brand, ‘Actively Black’, a company that focuses on athleisure.
There are even those that have begun their own podcasts, with the most salient examples being Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, hosts of the show ‘All the Smoke’, a mainstay in the NBA ecosystem today.
In every sense, retiring NBA players now have more options than ever before on what to do after their time in the NBA. And legends like Isiah Thomas deserve all the credit in the world for it.
