WATCH: Success after pro sports: Former NBA player Mark Blount gives tips for entrepreneurs

Basketball player gives advice for starting and growing a business

By D. Watkins

Editor at Large

Published February 26, 2017 10:00AM (EST)

This Salon video was produced by Kevin Carlin

Time and time again we hear the story of athletically gifted young men from rough living situations being granted the opportunity to play professional sports­­­ — where they are snatched from the harsh cold grip of poverty and placed into a temporary world of extravagance, luxury and excess. Temporary because Sports Illustrated reports that 78 percent of NFL players and 60 percent of NBA file bankruptcy within the first 2 to 5 years after retirement. Those stats came to life on ESPN’s "30 for 30: Broke" — a documentary that focused on how and why so may athletes lost all of their money.

Mark Blount was well aware of these stories and vowed not to go in the same direction. Most know Blount for the years he spent as an NBA big man with various teams including the Minnesota Timberwolves, Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics, but now the 7-footer is playing a new position --  entrepreneur. Blount 41, has opened a series of Cinnabon and Auntie Anne franchises in addition to multiple investment properties since his retirement back in 2010.

Blount’s route to the NBA wasn’t easy. Before landing a job with the Celtics in 2010, he bounced around between a few semipro teams, which traditionally don’t pay much. One might assume that the journey has played a role in his hunger to be financially independent.

Blount dropped by Salon studios to talk about making the transition from the NBA to being a business owner, some tips for new entrepreneurs and gave us a glimpse into his new book "My First Triple Double."

Press play to learn more.


By D. Watkins

D. Watkins is an Editor at Large for Salon. He is also a writer on the HBO limited series "We Own This City" and a professor at the University of Baltimore. Watkins is the author of the award-winning, New York Times best-selling memoirs “The Beast Side: Living  (and Dying) While Black in America”, "The Cook Up: A Crack Rock Memoir," "Where Tomorrows Aren't Promised: A Memoir of Survival and Hope" as well as "We Speak For Ourselves: How Woke Culture Prohibits Progress." His new books, "Black Boy Smile: A Memoir in Moments," and "The Wire: A Complete Visual History" are out now.

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