Tracy McGrady Launches Advisory Program To Keep Young Athletes From Going Broke

According to Forbes, former NBA player Tracy McGrady is starting an advisory program to help younger athletes cope with their finances.

McGrady plans to use the knowledge he acquired of the financial world and his NBA experience to begin a financial advisory program to help athletes avoid the financial pitfalls often met by players who aren’t ready when they retire.

“You can relate to my story because I’ve made a lot of money, I’ve created a brand,” McGrady, 40, tells Forbes about working with younger players. “There’s some guys that have made hundreds of millions of dollars and have been broke five years after retirement looking for loans. I’ve had so many guys come to me and needed a loan or wanted to sell championship rings and s*** to me.

“It’s crazy the things that have come my way. And I’ve been a guy that’s maintained and elevated my lifestyle, even being retired six or seven years. So that will be my story to these guys. I didn’t have to change the way I’m living. I’m living the same way from when I was making $20, $30 million.”

Grant Haas, managing partner of the Haas Portman Family Office, will embark on this venture with McGrady, who recently became a partner in the company. Haas and McGrady connected through McGrady’s roommate from Mount Zion Christian Academy in North Carolina. The advisory program will act as an arm of Haas Portman, and help connect young athletes with experts from the finance and venture capital world, as well as connecting with McGrady.

Haas, in an email to Forbes, says, “the No. 1 goal, and the reason I’m so excited to launch this program with Tracy, is to educate players and help them make sound financial decisions. It’s the core of what we do at the Haas Portman Family Office, and it’s what we want for players who have a chance to write their own futures during and after their careers.”

“When you first start playing in the NBA, you never really think about all this money or the endgame,” McGrady says. “We’re just so in the moment, just trying to be the best we can be and perfect our craft. So especially when you’re in your prime, things are going well, you’re making a lot of money, it’s about the moment. It’s about that moment in time. You’re never really thinking about life after basketball.”