Coming off a successful tenure as a Kentucky Wildcat, Antoine Walker declared for the 1996 NBA Draft, where he was later drafted by the Boston Celtics. Throughout his NBA career, playing for five different NBA teams, Walker averaged 17.5 points per game along with 7.7 rebounds.

Furthermore, he was a three-time All-Star as well as an NBA champion. At the end of his career, he amassed a grand total of $108 million as he settled into his retirement. What more could a retired professional basketball player ask for after a successful college career along with honors such as being an All-Star, earning a championship ring, and bringing in millions of dollars?

However, Walker's luxurious lifestyle and care-free attitude towards his financial state led to his inevitable fall. He filed for bankruptcy in 2010.

According to Matt Egan of CNN, there were many reasons that contributed to Walker's financial downfall. His excessive spending on cars, jewelry, estates, and gambling were all major factors that led to his bankruptcy. However, the key reason that caused his net worth value to decrease substantially was the Great Recession.

Knowing the detrimental potential money could have on the lives of other basketball players, Walker teamed up with Morgan Stanley's Global Sports and Entertainment Division, as reported by Thomas Barabbi of FoxBusiness.com, in order to educate young athletes on how to manage the money that they earn appropriately.

“I didn’t really have a concept of a dollar and when I get to the league, there was a lot of things I wanted to do personally, as far as taking care of my family, brothers and sisters, mom, putting them in better living situations.” Walker said. “I had a host of things I wanted to do but didn’t know how to do it and didn’t know the right way to do it.”

Now with a better understanding of finances, athletes will be equipped with the necessary knowledge in order to prevent future occurrences of financial troubles, and Antoine Walker will continue to do his part in ensuring that happens.