With iconic NBA champions and MVPs such as Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Joel Embiid Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant, along with a new breed of NBA champions and contenders in Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker and Devin White, many basketball heads proclaimed that this 2024 Olympic team was as good as the Dream Team in 1992.
The 1992 United States men’s Olympic basketball team is still considered the greatest array of hoops talent ever assembled. The team consisted of Magic and Bird, Sir Charles Barkley, “His Airness” Michael Jordan and his faithful sidekick Scottie Pippen. St. John’s University’s own Chris Mullin, the pick-n-roll gods John Stockton and Karl “The Mailman” Malone.
“The Admiral” David Robinson, “The Hoya Destroya” Patrick Ewing, Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, and the most hated college player in history, Christian Laettner.
How Much Will Clyde Drexler’s 1992 Dream Team Gold Medal Fetch At Auction?
Most of those guys also did a great job handling their money and making it work for them after retirement. There haven’t been any reports of Clyde Drexler struggling financially, but the Hall of Famer did put his 1992 Olympic gold medal on the auction block earlier this week, becoming the first Dream Team member to have their medal hit the auction block, and it will be auctioned off by Goldin.
A gold medal as an original member of the incomparable Dream Team isn’t something you sell because you need a quick buck, unless you’re pressed for money.
In any event, as expected, Drexler will get a nice bag for the medal. The bidding started at $250,000 but is expected to fetch more than double that amount. That’s an exclusive and rare item plenty of collectors with money to burn would pay a pretty penny for. Some have reportedly projected that it will fetch close to $1 million at final sale.
In 2023, a duplicate gold medal consigned by “Dream Team” member Karl Malone sold for over $74,000. Drexler’s gold medal reportedly includes a letter of authenticity, which was signed back in April.
“Scarce doesn’t begin to describe this medal, as no other have emerged on the market, and limited to only 12 issued to the players from that vaunted and historic team, now available to a public hungry to secure this treasure and place it at the pinnacle of their collection,” the description reads in the listing on Goldin Auctions. “This is possibly the only opportunity one will have to secure a medal from this team, making this your chance to own a piece of not only basketball history, but world history as well.”
Drexler Is First Dream Team Member To Sell Gold, But Others Have Sold Memorabilia
In all fairness, Drexler isn’t the first Team USA member to sell off some apparel or merchandise from the historic event. A Michael Jordan signed, game-worn jersey fetched over $3 million on the auction block, while Laettner, the lone college player on the team, also sold multiple items from the 1992 Summer Games.
Drexler, a veteran wing for the Portland Trail Blazers at the time, wasn’t included on the initial 10-player roster. Drexler and Laettner were chosen as the final two members by the USA Basketball selection committee.
Drexler made huge contributions, averaging 10.5 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.0 rebounds during the 1992 Olympics, as Team USA smacked Croatia in the gold medal game.
Financial Hardships In Retirement
The stories of pro athletes accumulating millions and then going broke are endless. An inability to maintain the lifestyle you had as a player, due to a decrease in funds along with an increase in bills, often puts players in a rough spot. That’s why the NBA offers so much money-management advice to young players to help them avoid the financial pitfalls that come with a lack of financial literacy.
Such financial hardship leads to controversial moves like selling high-value memorabilia and even illegal activities.
Glen “Big Baby” Davis, who helped the Boston Celtics win their last championship in 2008 before this year’s triumph, was sentenced by a federal judge Thursday to 40 months in prison, plus three years supervised release, for his November 2023 conviction in an alleged scheme to defraud the NBA Players’ Health and Benefit Welfare Plan.
Davis was facing 20 years in prison, so, looking on the bright side, 3.5 years isn’t that bad.
More than a dozen former NBA players were charged in the multimillion-dollar fraud scheme discovered in 2021. They include: Shannon Brown, Alan Anderson, Will Bynum, Christopher Douglas-Roberts, Melvin Ely, Jamario Moon, Darius Miles, Milton Palacio, Ruben Patterson, Eddie Robinson, Sebastian Telfair, Charles Watson Jr., Terrence Williams, Antoine Wright and Anthony Wroten and Tony Allen pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and wire fraud.
Teflair gave some insight into his situation and that of Davis during an interview with Vlad TV three weeks ago.
Telfair says the judge was very lenient with him, giving him time served and supervised probation, doing community service.
“I thought I was going to get locked up for sure,” said Telfair, who also had ongoing legal troubles from a gun charge that he was facing.
He says he understood the gravity of the moment, while Big Baby, who taunted the authorities in interviews he did, quoting imprisoned rapper Young Thug and telling them to “take that sh-t to muth-f-n trial,” didn’t.
“He thought that sh*it was a game because he never really been through that situation and he didn’t understand that when they got ya Black ass in there it’s bigger than a case. You got to get super lucky, the Brooklyn-born Telfair said.
Drexler hasn’t been involved in any activities such as that, but it is curious why he would sell his gold medal. That question might be answered in the upcoming months.