Athletes' Families Who Are Burning Through Their Money

Nothing brings a family closer than cold cash, am I right?

When athletes come into money and fame, they're typically faced with questions like: "How are we going to spend this wisely?" and "How can I make sure this money is here for my kids when I'm gone?" Sometimes, however, spending heads take a more careless direction, where the only questions are "How much for the baby elephant?" and “Does the John Varvatos edition come in gator skin?” 

Like any other brand of celebrity, athletes coming into money have to deal with these quandaries, as well as the issue of how to distribute the wealth to their families. 

The following are some instances where members of sports figure's families, who have gone hog-wild with the checkbook, lived with impunity off the family fortune or acted in a way that’s led to a hemorrhaging of cash. 

Hey, it’s not the athlete’s fault they're so generous. Or is it?

Paulina Gretzky

Modeling and singing are Paulina Gretzky’s “professions,” but it doesn’t seem like she’s been doing much of it lately.

Honestly, I have no idea what Wayne Gretzky’s daughter is doing now in terms of making her own money, but based on her frequent vacation photos on Twitter and complete lack of “Doing work on the runway” posts, I think it’s safe to say her current job is being the “hot girl at the bar” wherever she goes.

She’s burning someone’s money, but it might have shifted from her dad’s to boyfriend Dustin Johnson’s at this point. 

Actually, she’s definitely still living off the royalties of her hit-single “Collecting Dust,” from MTV’s The Real Orange County show. That’s it.

Brody Jenner

The son of U.S. Olympic decathlete Bruce Jenner has been off and on MTV reality shows throughout his twenties, mostly for being young, rich and spending his father’s money. 

The “prince” of Malibu is making some money these days on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, but at the age of 29 is attached to his father’s funds and that of the Kardashian entourage living in his father’s house.

At this point, it’s probably safe to say even Bruce is living off his daughters’ money now. There’s no way he’s still bringing in his own dough.

Marcus Jordan Blows $3 Million for UCF

So Marcus Jordan—son of NBA G.O.A.T. Michael Jordan—didn’t blow dad’s money in this instance, but his obstinance cost his university a cool $3 million in endorsements.

When Marcus began playing for UCF in 2009, he refused to honor the school’s contract with Adidas by wearing their brand of basketball shoes. The freshman played in a pair of white Air Jordan’s in his first college game, and as a result, Adidas canceled its contract with the university.

Marcus wasn’t asked to leave the team, of course.

Pamela Bryant

The shoe is on the other foot for this one—an athlete’s parent is using their kid for financial gain.

Kobe Bryant’s mother Pamela has just entered into a legal dispute with her son over a collection of his basketball memorabilia, of which she’s trying to auction off for money for a new house. 

Pamela decided to auction the money after her son refused to front enough money for the million-dollar house her and her husband wanted, and decided to finance the rest of their home purchase by selling a collection of Kobe’s basketball trophies, gear and memorabilia to auction company Goldin Auctions

Et tu, madre?

Deion Sanders Jr. and His Versace Sheets

As Aziz Ansari once said, “700 thread-count sheets? It’s like sleeping in lotion.”

Deion Sanders Jr. is a freshman at Southern Methodist. Primetime’s son might’ve only been a two-star recruit in high school, but based on a tweet sent out by his father, Junior is sleeping like King Tut in his dorm room.

Yep, those Egyptian sheets are Versace, player.

Gianna Bryant

Kobe Bryant’s daughter Gianna will never want for anything, considering his net worth is estimated to be somewhere around $200 million these days. 

That being said, Gianna was spied sporting in this full Marc Jacobs outfit and Gucci ballerina shoes before celebrating her seventh birthday last week. The shoes alone cost over $200. Mind you, those are shoes for kids.

Silver lining: it's definitely nowhere the worst daughter-spoiling in here.

Ekaterina Rybolovlev

Her father isn’t an athlete, but the daughter of AS Monaco owner Dmitry Rybolovlev is throwing money around like peanuts shells at a Logan’s Roadhouse Grill.

The potash tycoon has bankrolled his daughter’s many expensive buys across the world, including an $88 million apartment in Manhattan (the most expensive apartment in New York City).

Sure, she wasn’t holding a gun to his head and saying “Show me the money,” but the 24-year-old also didn’t turn down using dad’s money to buy a $153 million private island in Greece.

The Unitas Clan

Joe Unitas—a son from legendary NFL quarter Johnny Unitas’ second marriage—is planning to shoot a film about his father’s life titled “Unitas We Stand.” 

The movie is slated to feature Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, and has spurred a firestorm of controversy in the Unitas family. 

Johnny’s oldest son (from his first marriage) John Unitas Jr. has threatened to seek legal action if Joe goes through with the film, saying his half brother is riding “on the coattails of [his] father’s name.”

I can’t say who is truly at fault in this instance, but I will say that some portion of Johnny’s money is probably going to fund this insufferable feud.

Michelle Silva, Alex Rodriguez’s Niece

Presumably trying to be the cool uncle, Yankees star Alex Rodriguez took his 21-year-old niece Michelle Silva shopping at Blue & Cream, a New York fashion boutique.

Going for broke, Silva’s purchases totaled $17,600 by the end of the spree, including over $1,200 in shoes. It wasn’t a ridiculous amount for a guy like A-Rod, but not something the rest of us can yawn at.

The worst part of the whole affair was Silva’s mother taking the clothes away and making A-Rod return them to the store—except Blue & Cream doesn’t do returns.

So yes, somewhere in A-Rod’s apartment is a bag filled with $17,000 collecting dust.