I blew $100m NBA earnings and had to work at Starbucks but returned to win title
Sports Illustrated called him ‘America’s Best-Kept Secret’ in 1992. A year later, the then-22-year-old was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 8th overall pick in the NBA draft.
The nearly 7ft big man became an All-Star in 1995, the first of four straight trips to the mid-season exhibition.
The Seattle SuperSonics traded one of their franchise icons, Shawn Kemp, to get Baker in 1997, and it was during this time that NBA legend Michael Jordan hand-picked him to be an early endorser of his signature sneaker brand.
Arguably Baker’s greatest basketball achievement came in 2000 when, as a member of Team USA basketball, he won an Olympic gold medal in Sydney, Australia.
However, Baker’s playing career would soon be derailed by off court issues, chiefly, alcoholism.
The center/power forward’s weight ballooned to 300 lbs as a result, and even though he was able to get it back down, his addiction took its toll.
When he was with the Boston Celtics, Baker revealed he was a recovering alcoholic who used to binge in hotel rooms and at home after playing poorly.
During games, he would drink Bacardi Limón from a water bottle in the locker room.
In an interview with the Boston Globe, Baker said Celtics coach Jim O’Brien smelled alcohol on him in practice and confronted him about it. The team suspended him and he was eventually released.
Baker developed a gambling addiction and reportedly lost nearly $1 million in one night in Las Vegas. He subsequently bounced from the Knicks to the Rockets to the Clippers as his career continued to spiral.
By 2006, his pro basketball career was done with and so too was most of his NBA fortune.
Baker amassed around $100 million in career earnings but bad investments drained his bank account and caused him to lose homes.
He was arrested for driving under the influence and was forced to return to his childhood home.
“There was a point where it was just waiting for the train to crash,” Baker told The Los Angeles Times.
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“The rock bottom for me wasn’t necessarily knowing and understanding that I couldn’t get back in the league. It was more than that,” Baker added. “And I mean this wholeheartedly. I knew I felt abandoned by God.”
Baker’s path to sobriety began with reconnecting with his faith and regularly attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
He attended rehab for the fifth time in 2011.
He was still broke when he left, though. “Out of inspiration” he called Howard Schultz, the founder and CEO of Starbucks, who also happened to own the SuperSonics when Baker was on the team.
Schultz set up an opportunity for Baker to work at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. Baker also made some money on some trips overseas to play in exhibition games, traveling to North Korea with Dennis Rodman.
Schultz later offered Baker the chance to train to become a Starbucks manager.
“My previous attempt at business—the restaurant I opened—was a spectacular bust,” Baker wrote.
“I’d never worked behind a counter in my life. And I knew nothing about coffee. But I needed a job, so I said yes.
“It was the best decision I ever made.”
Baker was a barista at a Connecticut Starbucks, becoming a management trainee and eventually having his own store.
“Working at Starbucks was the hardest job I ever did. I loved it. All I had to do was win the day,” he said.
“I was so lost in my own insecurity [in the NBA], so weighed down by vanity and ambition, I sought release in all the wrong places.
“Working at Starbucks showed me that a life of service—the life Jesus wants us to live—can happen anywhere. In the NBA, I’d been the fantasy Vin Baker, the basketball star pouring alcohol into an inner void. At Starbucks I was just Vin Baker. And I loved it. I needed it.”
Baker eventually returned to basketball after serving as an analyst for FOX Sports.
He also worked with big men around The Association as he returned the sport he once played.
Then, in 2018, John Horst and Mike Budenholzer, the general manager and head coach of the Bucks, gave Baker an opportunity to be on the staff of his former team as an assistant coach.
In the 2020 offseason, he spent two months working with franchise star Giannis Antetokounmpo in his home country of Greece.
“One night we were talking and we had never had this conversation. And Giannis said to me, we were at dinner, and he said ‘Coach, like, your story’s amazing. Like, I cannot believe it … it’s hard for me to even fathom what you’ve been through.’
“He was in awe that I had made it back from what I had gone through and I didn’t even realize he knew the extent of it.
Baker’s story got its fairy-tale ending when, in 2021, the Bucks won the NBA championship, their first since 1971.
They beat the Phoenix Suns 4-2 and ‘Greek Freak’ Giannis was named Finals MVP.
“It’s a miracle how the story has turned around,” Baker said.