Where Are They Now? 7 Forgotten Retired Basketball Players

NBA has been around for a long time, and probably each of us has a favorite NBA player from our childhood we all grew up watching. Now with YouTube and an easily accessible record of videos from basketball games of all years past, it’s easy to look back and relive those days when our favorite NBA star was in his prime.

In this article, we’ll go over some of the most popular former NBA all-stars, and try to get an insight into how they spend their now more private lives, with their glory days long behind them.

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Maybe one of the best players of all time, he was an 11x All Start, managed to make 7 All-NBA teams, and led the NBA in scoring a total of four times in his career. He had an amazing career, and left a long-lasting impression on the basketball scene, making NBA history.

Nowadays he likes spending time with his family in Charlotte, NC. He has five children, and his livelihood is based on his former NBA stardom. He sometimes appears in various shows as a former NBA athlete.

He had a tough period where he spent a lot of money on gambling and drinking, as well as just overspending in general. Earning a total of $150 million, he now is worth around 1 million dollars.

One of the all-time greats, Michael Jordan even though he retired from playing basketball, he is very active as a person overall. He has contracts with Nike, through the Air Jordan series. Officially, he retired from basketball in 2003.

Michael Jordan is now the owner of the Charlotte Hornets, but this is not his sole business venture. He owns several golf courts, as well as restaurants, and is involved in DraftKings at the same time. He’s made very wise financial decisions over the years, unlike some of his former NBA colleagues.

Shaquille has a very varied career after his NBA time ended. After playing a total of 19 NBA seasons, he retired as one of the most legendary basketball players of all time. During and after his NBA career he appeared in several movies and TV shows, and he still pursues some acting roles to this day.

He starred in many commercials and owns 155 Five Guys franchises, owns Auntie Ann’s pretzel stands, as well as a Krispy Kreme donut franchise. At the same time, he also started the Big Chicken food chain restaurant. He isn’t a stranger to controversy as well.

Steve Francis is well remembered for his crowd-moving basketball tricks even before many of today’s great even knew what NBA was. A Houston Rockets star, Steve Francis fell off the NBA path to stardom relatively quickly.

Nowadays Francis is heavily involved in philanthropic work. He owns the Steve Francis foundation for educational and recreational opportunities for at-risk youth. Steve Francis also launched a music label named Maserati music in 2010, and he’s also part of a sports management company.

A great NBA player, Magic Johnson earned a lot of money during his NBA career. He is one of the rare examples of NBA players who managed to turn the money they earned from the NBA, into something meaningful after their basketball career ended.

Now Magic Johnson owns a Starbucks franchise, 24 Hour Fitness franchise, and many others such as Burger King to name one. Estimates are that his business ventures serve around 40 million people every year.

As part of the Pistons, he won the NBA championship consecutively. He played for a total of 10 years before he finally retired, and after his career, he founded Piston Group, a manufacturing company that has grown over the years.

Most newer NBA fans might not know Shawn Kemp, but he was one of the best players of his time. During his days in the Seattle SuperSonics, he set the dunking standard for big basketball players. His career ended in a bad fashion, and now he owns a restaurant named Oskar’s Kitchen in Seattle, where he lives.

Besides these top 7 forgotten retired basketball players, we’ve decided to include a few honorable mentions. These are also players that many different generations were blessed to see perform on the court.

Larry Bird is a basketball legend who dominated the game in the 80s and 90s. He spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics making him a team icon. After his retirement, the Celtics decided to retire the number 33 that he wore for 13 years.

In his lifetime, he won Rookie of the Year, MVP, All-Star MVP, Finals MVP, Executive of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Bird is the only one in NBA history to get all of these achievements.

At the 2024 All-Star Weekend, the NBA Retired Players Association named Larry Bird the 2024 Legend of the Year. At the moment, Bird serves as a consultant to the Indiana Pacers. Before that, he was the team’s advisor from 2017 until 2022.

It’s worth mentioning that in May 2024, a museum holding his name opened up in Terre Haute, Indiana. The museum holds memorabilia from Bird’s incredible career and much more.

Next, we have another retired basketball legend who briefly caught up with Larry Bird. Charles Barkley was an exceptional player with a long career that lasted from 1984 until 2000. During his 16 seasons in the NBA, he played for the 76ers, the Suns, and the Rockets.

Many fans claim that he is one of the greatest rebounders and scorers in history. In 1993, the NBA named him the MVP and he also entered into the NBA’s 50th.

Today, Barkley works as a TV analyst on CBS and TNT. He covers the NBA games alongside Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny "The Jet" Smith on "Inside the NBA". In October 2022, Barkley signed a 10-year contract with Warner Bros Discovery Sport, owned by TNT.

However, in June 2024, he made a decision to retire following the 2024/25 NBA season. Two months later, he reconsidered his decision and decided to remain with TNT Sports for the duration of his contract.

Although Jeremy Lin hasn’t officially retired, he hasn’t played an NBA game since 2019. Lin was the first US player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to appear on an NBA court. Many fans remember his amazing performance during the 2011/12 NBA season, which led to the cultural phenomenon of “Linsanity”.

Lin is also the first Asian-American to win the NBA Championship. He managed this achievement in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors, despite playing only 23 games and starting only 3. This was actually his very last season in the NBA.

After that, he decided to join the Beijing Ducks in China, as well as four other teams in the span of four years. Now, he plays for New Taipei Kings alongside his brother Joseph Lin.

In March 2024, Lin received a suspension in Taiwan for anti-doping violations. However, his suspension only lasted until April that same year.