{"id":1335630,"date":"2021-03-17T23:42:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-18T03:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1335630"},"modified":"2023-08-30T11:41:32","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T15:41:32","slug":"bill-laimbeers-father-sent-humbling-message-upon-entering-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/bill-laimbeers-father-sent-humbling-message-upon-entering-nba\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Laimbeer's Father Sent Him a Humbling Message Upon Entering the NBA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Future <a href=\"http:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/detroit-pistons\">Detroit Pistons<\/a> legend Bill Laimbeer had reason to jump for joy <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/bill-laimbeer-infamously-took-down-larry-bird-and-then-suddenly-became-steve-glassman\/\">when he reached the NBA<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a player is drafted or signs their first professional contract, it officially marks the culmination of a long journey. They have taken a monumental step in fulfilling their childhood dreams of reaching the pros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laimbeer\u2019s father was happy for him, but William Laimbeer, Sr., still had the edge over his son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bill-laimbeer-s-father-sent-him-a-humbling-message\">Bill Laimbeer's father sent him a humbling message<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Bill Laimbeer used to joke that he was the only NBA player who didn&#39;t make more money than his dad (a company executive).<\/p>&mdash; Michael Grant (@MichaelGrant_CJ) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MichaelGrant_CJ\/status\/740987702208827392?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 9, 2016<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>For many professional athletes, their first contract is the gateway to a new world beyond their uniforms and teammates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with all that they lose from taxes and fees, the money those players get is still a life-changing amount. <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-still-carries-his-strong-dislike-for-bill-laimbeer-off-the-court\/\">Bill Laimbeer wasn't one<\/a> of those players, though, as his father was an executive with Owens-Illinois, which produces glass containers and paper products. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/vault.si.com\/vault\/1986\/04\/07\/a-crashing-success\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sports Illustrated<\/a>, Laimbeer Jr. used to claim, &#8220;I'm the only player in the NBA who makes less money than his father.&#8221; In ESPN\u2019s <em>Bad Boys <\/em>documentary, Laimbeer said he made less money in his rookie season with the Cavaliers than his father did at his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Such are the facts that come with growing up around money, as the Laimbeer family did. But if anyone in the NBA believed Laimbeer\u2019s affluent childhood would make him spoiled or unwilling to fight, they were in for a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bill-laimbeer-nonetheless-became-a-detroit-pistons-legend\">Bill Laimbeer nonetheless became a Detroit Pistons legend<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Charles Barkley brawls with Bill Laimbeer in epic 1990 Pistons vs. Sixers fight | ESPN Archives\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/90-MMxiXI0Q?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/mike-tyson-was-even-able-to-intimidate-the-bad-boys-of-the-detroit-pistons\/\">Detroit Pistons were glad<\/a> they had Bill Laimbeer. Other teams were angry they had to go against the star center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/why-was-bill-laimbeer-most-hated-player-inba-he-had-weak-theory\/\">notoriously physical big man<\/a> who never backed down from a fight, Laimbeer averaged 13.5 points and 10.1 rebounds in 937 games across 13 seasons with the Pistons from the spring of 1982 through early in the 1993-94 campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Laimbeer appeared in four All-Star Games and won two rings with the Pistons. Some of Laimbeer\u2019s most memorable moments include fighting the Celtics and Bulls in brawls that got nasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-how-much-money-did-bill-laimbeer-make-in-the-nba\">How much money did Bill Laimbeer make in the NBA?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I\u2019ve watched certain platforms vilify Detroit Pistons great Bill Laimbeer and try to make him out to be a player that just fouls. That\u2019s so far from the truth and I addressed it in my sit down interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IsiahThomas?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@IsiahThomas<\/a> Bill was a PROTOTYPICAL 5! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LRyYlNfnnL\">https:\/\/t.co\/LRyYlNfnnL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2M8LDVYHxV\">pic.twitter.com\/2M8LDVYHxV<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Rashad Phillips (@RP3natural) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RP3natural\/status\/1284883144336965639?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bill Laimbeer made good money for his time, although it's nothing compared to what the league's top players make now. According to Basketball Reference, Laimbeer made $7.8 million from 1984\u201394. Signing a five-year contract worth $3.5 million in June 1984 certainly helped Laimbeer's bank account. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usinflationcalculator.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Inflation Calculator<\/a>, the $500,000 Lambier earned in 1984 is worth over $1,471,000 million in 2023. Laimbeer has also benefited financially from being a longtime WNBA coach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now in his sixties, Laimbeer has been the head coach of three WNBA teams, the Detroit Shock, New York Liberty, and Las Vegas Aces. The two-time Coach of the Year won three WNBA championships with the Shock. In 2021, Laimbeer retired from coaching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Stats and contract figures courtesy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/laimbbi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Basketball-Reference<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bill Laimbeer had a legendary career for the Detroit Pistons, but his NBA career started with his father sending him a humble message about money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":155,"featured_media":1576450,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4816],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bill Laimbeer&#039;s Father Sent Him a Humbling Message Upon Entering the NBA - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bill Laimbeer had a legendary time with the Detroit Pistons, but his NBA career began with his father sending a humble message about money.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/bill-laimbeers-father-sent-humbling-message-upon-entering-nba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bill Laimbeer's Father Sent Him a Humbling Message Upon Entering the NBA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bill Laimbeer had a legendary time with the Detroit Pistons, but his NBA career began with his father sending a humble message about money.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/bill-laimbeers-father-sent-humbling-message-upon-entering-nba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sports7\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-03-18T03:42:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-30T15:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Bill-Laimbeer-Pistons.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"833\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Elman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JakeElman97\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Elman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/bill-laimbeers-father-sent-humbling-message-upon-entering-nba\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/bill-laimbeers-father-sent-humbling-message-upon-entering-nba\/\",\"name\":\"Bill Laimbeer's Father Sent Him a Humbling Message Upon Entering the NBA - 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