Photo Credit: David Gonzales/Corbis
Former First Round Draft Pick Rashad McCants Says Khloe Kardashian Cost Him $70 Million
Rashad McCants had a very promising college career. In the 2003-04 season, he led the ACC in scoring, and in the 2004-05 season McCants led the Tar Heels to a championship.
After winning the title, McCants declared for the NBA Draft and was picked in the first round with the 14th pick, by the Minnesota Timberwolves. His NBA career, though, could not live up to the hype McCants generated during his time in college. Most of all, it was a very short career.
During his first two years as a pro, McCants was constantly bothered by injuries, but then, going into the 2007–08 season, and after starting the season as a rotation regular, McCants was part of the starting lineup for the second part of the season, averaging close to 15 points per game.
In February of 2009, McCants was traded to the Sacramento Kings where he played for one season, his last NBA season to this day. McCants has since washed out of the D-League (twice), the Phillippine Basketball Association, the French Pro A League, the Chinese Basketball Association, Novo Basquete Brasil and the Lebanese Basketball League. Sure, having a short and mediocre NBA career, not reaching the possible potential happened to many players, but McCants said there was a different reason – Khloe Kardashian.
The two dated for about six months in 2008 and officially broke up, shortly before McCants was traded to the Kings. He told the Charlotte Observer:
“But McCants’ biggest regret was his highly-publicized relationship with reality TV star Khloe Kardashian late in his career, which he said gave people an opportunity to doubt his commitment to the NBA.
“Without that situation in play, I’m a $60-70 million player,” McCants said. “Easily.”
McCants did not specify how his association with Khloe cost him a major contract, but him being a high volume shooter who was average at best, as well as his questionable personality in the locker room, may have played a bigger role than his relationship with Kardashian.
