Larry Bird goes down in NBA history as one of the greatest shooting forwards of his era, and arguably a top 5 or 10 player of all time. However, his career was cut shorter because of how he tried to help his mother out.
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The Celtics legend was perhaps the best player in the league in the 1980s. His rivalry with the Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson is perhaps the most storied rivalry in NBA history between two players.
In that era, Bird won 3 titles, and he beat all kinds of legendary teams, from the Philadelphia 76ers to the Detroit Pistons, to, of course, the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bird was the first player to properly take advantage of the three-point line. There’s no telling how dominant he could have been had he played in today’s three-point heavy era.
Larry Bird sacrificed on a longer career to help his mother
Over his career, Larry Bird earned several accolades and achievements that ring through Celtics history. He will forever be regarded a legend for that franchise and for the league as a whole.
However, he missed out on a potentially longer career filled with more achievements. In 1985, Bird was at the prime of his career. He was winning titles and leading the Celtics to glory as he was slated to do.
However, that all changed when he took a trip to his hometown French Lick, Indiana. Bird was there to visit his family, and in the process, he decided to help his mother out with a new driveway that she needed for her house.
“Larry decides to do it himself,” Bird’s orthopedic therapist, Dan Dyrek, revealed, in this Youtube video. “Larry Bird, the superstar, out there breaking his back, literally, shoveling gravel. And that was the beginning of a process.”
Even surgery didn’t get Bird back to being 100%. He could manage the pain for some hours at a time, allowing him to continue playing basketball, but he definitely wasn’t the same.
Bird was also very scared by the entire thing. “Every time I would play, I was wondering if I was gonna be in a wheelchair,” he said. “Was I ever going to be able to, you know, walk on the beach or hold my kids?”
Bird holds an $80 million net worth
Bird’s career ended after the 1991-92 season. By then, Bird was still effective. He was averaging around 19 points a game despite his back injuries which begs the question of how he’d do if he hadn’t sustained such an injury.
Bird had made $24 million in his career by then, and he has a net worth of $80 million now. He surely could have lasted longer in the NBA adding to both totals.
