Quite often, we hear about athletes who retire and go bankrupt for various reasons.  Maybe they had a few too many kids by a few different women, or they gambled their money away, or they get caught up in bad business deals.  The most popular is probably just not managing your money properly and knowing that the money will stop streaming in someday.

Scottie Pippen, the NBA’s most famous “Robin” to Jordan’s “Batman,” was actually awarded $2 million in a lawsuit against former business partners.  You see, Pippen sued the Chicago law firm of Pedersen & Houpt for $8.2 million since that was the total amount he claimed he ended up putting into the Gulfstream II jet that he purchased in 2002.  We all know that you never get that full amount you want though, so he “only” ended up with $2 million in his pocket.

The story of how this all happened is pretty interesting.  Back in 2002 Pippen bought the jet for $4 million, but right after the purchase he was told the jet needed at least $1 million in engine repairs alone.  Scottie maintained that since Pedersen & Houpt were handling the purchase, they should have made sure the inspection was done before they approved the sale.  Since it wasn’t done, he sued for malpractice.  Now we know athletes have other things to worry about like basketball wives and where they can make it rain next, but mixing in a business class or book or even a pamphlet would help.

There is a long line of athletes that have lost a lot of cash over bad deals like this through the years, and I guess Scottie should have read the contracts, but good for him for getting some of his money back.  Let’s just hope he doesn’t go to Vegas with Barkley and Jordan anytime soon, though.

Greg Smith is one of the newest BSO writers and comes from a long background of high school star athletes and arm chair quarterbacks. You can follow Greg on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/g_twitty