Paul reportedly earned around $200 million during his NBA career, but TMZ claims that Pierce says he is “tapped out” financially while trying to keep up with his court-ordered child support payments.
According to the publication, the 49-year-old Basketball Hall of Famer has hit a financial cliff, due to him no longer receiving income from Fox Sports.
Pierce was fired from FS1 in July 2025 after initially joining the network in early 2024 as a contributor on “Undisputed” before transitioning to the talk show “Speak.” The network revamped its focus which led to the cancellation of “Speak” and Pierce losing his gig as a daily on-air panelist.
Prior to that firing, Pierce was unceremoniously ousted by ESPN/Disney in April of 2021 for livestreaming himself playing poker, smoking, drinking, and relaxing with exotic dancers. It’s not an understatement to say it’s hard for the Top75 all-time player to currently find work in that field at the price he was getting paid.
One NBA fan referenced Pierce’s miscalculations since retiring from the league.
“Lesson here for Paul Pierce and others to keep the party private. One IG story got a guy fired from ESPN. Don’t learn that lesson the hard way,” he captioned on X above a photo of Pierce’s infamous livestream.
Pierce Was Caking At FS1, Now He Says He’s Broke
Court documents claim that Pierce says his last check from Fox Sports came in August. He said his average monthly income was $119K, but now he isn’t generating any income at all. He said he earned around $23K last month from his partnership interests in other business ventures.
Pierce told the courts that he pays around $28K in child support and another $20K in spousal support per month, but claims he only has $300K in the bank and roughly $3 million in property.
He says he spends around $48K a month in bills, including $8K in childcare, $5K in groceries, $7K on eating out, $3,200 on utilities, $1K on clothes, $3,500 on entertainment, and various other expenses.
Santiago is making Pierce pay for ghosting her during her pregnancy and she is still pursuing, according to reports, another $40K in legal fees and another $10K for a forensic accountant. She claimed Paul wasn’t being honest about his financial records, so she wants a specialized expert to do a thorough review to ensure she leaves no crumbs on the table.
After two years of avoiding the issue, in April of 2026, according to a response to a parentage petition obtained by People, the NBA star, 49, confirmed he is the father of King Rafael Santiago Pierce, 2 months, whom he welcomed with Princess Santiago. Pierce went on to ask for joint legal and physical custody of King.
“I believe in growth, accountability and healthy co-parenting,” Santiago told People. “Paul has finally made an effort to see King and I appreciate that. At this time, I am focused on maintaining stability and consistent, healthy decision-making for our son while he continues building a positive father-son relationship moving forward.”
In court filings, the former Boston Celtics star’s lawyer said Pierce would have “great difficulty” paying these fees since his Fox Sports contract was terminated. Pierce is allegedly “drowning financially” and having trouble honoring his extensive monetary obligations
Paul Pierce Gets Financial Win In Court
Paul Pierce got dragged on social media, when it was discovered that he had impregnated a 40-year-old IG model who was seeking close to $30K per month from the 2008 NBA Champion.
The judge denied Princess’ request and Pierce was ordered to pay Princess $8,508 per month in temporary child support for their son, King. He was also ordered to pay $100K in legal fees. According to reports, Santiago is not done in her fight for more financial support. That’s also why we can’t be sure that Pierce truly is broke. It could also be a financial maneuver, as Santiago has claimed, to avoid paying her for a baby he initially denied and avoided speaking to her about for months.
“It seems like he’s hiding money from his ex-spouse,” one user commented on X under TMZ’s post. “But I could be wrong.”
Fans Can’t Feel Sorry For Paul Pierce
Most netizens just ripped Pierce for blowing through $200M and having a baby that he didn’t want this late in the game. Especially after all of the advice he gives people about relationships and money and the wild lifestyles of NBA ballers on his podcast weekly.
“If you make $200 million and have almost nothing now, you’re an idiot!” one netizen said.
“Made 200 million, More then 100 ppls life times and is almost broke. I don’t feel sorry for ppl like him,” another fan said, showing no sympathy for the troubled Pierce.
“Why should he pay spousal support in the first place?” one skeptical fan asked in the comments. “She isn’t capable of taking care of herself? $28k in child support per month isn’t enough? She needs $20k per month herself to survive?”
This is the game that Pierce played and as an OG of the game, constantly spitting game, it’s extremely hard to feel sorry for him at this time. His actions led to compounding financial problems. His arrogance remained at the level that it was when he was a part of the Celtics’ ‘08 championship with Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. But he didn’t adjust to living life at an All-Star level. You would think that after almost dying in a local nightclub as a star of the Boston Celtics because of a conflict with street rappers, Pierce would be grateful for all of his future blessings. Guess he’s just too deep in “the life,” and now it’s catching up to Pierce.
