Former Laker, Thunder, and Matt Barnes punching bag Derek Fisher is the new coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks. But he's also the new executive vice president of a con company called Luxury Asset Capital. It's the latter hiring that provoked his former NBA peer Baron Davis to chime in and allege Fisher was a stooge for NBA owners during negotiations for the 2011 collective bargaining negotiations that were particularly fraught and which the owners eventually won (taking back 6-8 percent in Basketball-Related Income from the players).
First, though, current NBA veteran Jared Dudley chimes in to warn unsuspecting players about buying into what Luxury Asset Capital is selling: an attempt to profit off overextended athletes.
The company's tag line is codified loan sharking: "Even individuals with substantial wealth face situations where easily gaining access to millions of dollars of short-term capital in a few days can be a major challenge." Basically, if an athlete has bought too many toys, Fisher's new company will loan them some cash, with a car or a house or even a pension as collateral should the athlete fail to pay them back, which they likely will.
As for the line about sellingf out the players in the CBA, during the 2011 lockout, then NBPA executive director Billy Hunter attempted to push Fisher out as the NBPA president two years before it was his time, with the players eventually pushing Billy out for gross financial negligence, including when he spent $22K of union money to buy...Derek Fisher a watch.
Fisher, a former NBA player and champion now coaching a WNBA team in Los Angeles, also works for a company that overtly preys on young athletes naive about their financial realities. What could go wrong? Next thing you know, Fisher will open up a service business of designated drivers.
