Paul Pierce made almost $200 million playing basketball. In a new court filing, he says he is down to $300,000 in the bank, with no TV check coming in.
The filing landed in his court fight with his ex-wife, Princess Santiago. She asked the court for $40,000 in legal fees and another $10,000 for a forensic accountant, claiming he has been playing games with his financial records.
Pierce asked the court to shut that down. His attorney said he would have “great difficulty” paying it, that he is “drowning financially” and “tapped out” trying to keep up.
“Drowning financially.”
Paul Pierce, through his attorney, in the court filing
His last Fox Sports check came in August, according to the filing. He says his monthly income was $119,000 with the TV job and is now zero, though he brought in about $23,000 last month from other business ventures.
The monthly math is where it gets ugly. Pierce says he pays $28,000 a month in child support and $20,000 in spousal support, plus about $48,000 a month in bills: $8,000 for childcare, $5,000 for groceries, $7,000 for eating out, $3,200 for utilities, $1,000 for clothes and $3,500 for entertainment.
Against all that, he says what is left is $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property. This is a man who played 19 seasons, won a title in Boston and was Finals MVP.
None of this is a judge ruling on what Pierce is actually worth. It is what he told the court while asking for a break, and Santiago is disputing his numbers. Still, the picture is stark: the TV money stopped in August, the payments did not.
Pierce has since answered the filing himself. On Instagram Live, he pushed back on the broke talk, saying he has checks coming in every week and that he talked up his money trouble so the judge would lower his support payments.
He pointed to 10 cars and three houses while he said it. His point was simple. The filing is a move in a support fight, not a man announcing he is broke.
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