Wizards rookie Chris Singleton found a novel way to spend some of his rookie contract money.
Wizards rookie Chris Singleton found a novel way to spend some of his rookie contract money. REUTERS

Washington Wizards rookie forward Chris Singleton made headlines last week when he announced that he had spent $10,000 on lottery tickets for the $656 million Mega Millions drawing that took place last Thursday.

He announced his intention via Twitter and then became another part of the story as the hype mounted up to the drawing.

Though no official winners have come forward yet, three winning tickets were sold and someone will claim that prize. Singleton did not win the grand prize, but he did win something, according to his twitter account.

When he made the purchases, he described it as an investment. While some could dispute the smarts behind that investment; Singleton defended himself in a novel way.

He told the Washington Post, [It was either] that or blow it in the club.

That quote, and his ridiculous choice to spend $10,000 on lotto tickets in the first place aren't likely to gain him many fans or much sympathy.

The average income in the United States for a family of four is $46,326 and people making that or less aren't likely to take kindly to a 22-year-old blowing a quarter of their yearly take-home on a foolish investment.

This also comes just after two prominent NBA players, Allen Iverson and Dennis Rodman, have been revealed to be broke despite making multiple millions during their playing careers. The list goes beyond them to Julius Erving and Antoine Walker, as well as many other players.

Hopefully this was just a little blip for Singleton, but if the NBA is serious in their desire to address the post-career problems that befall players like those listed above, they may want to sit Singleton down with a financial planner sooner rather than later.