Paul Pierce, the former Celtics star, is now telling a California court he is tapped out. In a filing obtained by TMZ, Pierce claims his last paycheck from Fox Sports arrived in August, his average monthly income of $119,000 is now zero, and he has about $300,000 in the bank. While his current money woes may be shocking, Pierce was once rolling in dough, with earnings topped $195 million over a 19-season NBA career. So how did we get here?
Boston drafted Pierce 10th overall in 1998 out of Kansas. His rookie contract was worth $6.3 million over four years. He has said on the Club Shay Shay podcast that his first-year check was about $1 million, and that the lockout, taxes, and his agent’s cut shrank it fast.
The money grew quickly from there. In 2002, he signed a six-year, $79.3 million deal with the Celtics, the biggest contract on his Spotrac record. He won the 2008 championship and Finals MVP, and a two-year, $37.9 million contract covered the 2008 and 2009 seasons at an average of about $18.9 million a year. A four-year, $61.3 million deal followed for 2010 through 2013.
Pierce was traded to the Brooklyn Nets in 2013. Spotrac lists a two-year, $10.8 million contract in 2014 and a three-year, $10.6 million contract in 2015. He played 15 of his 19 seasons in Boston and wrapped up his career with the Clippers in 2016 and 2017.
The career total depends on who is counting. Spotrac puts Paul Pierce earnings at about $195.1 million across four teams. Celebrity Net Worth lists $197 million to $198 million. TMZ has reported his career earnings at over $200 million, and Princess Santiago, the mother of his youngest child, has made the same claim in court. Pierce has said that endorsements covered him so well during his playing days that he never had to touch his NBA money.
After retiring, he became an ESPN studio analyst in 2017 and later worked at Fox Sports 1. In a July filing, Pierce told the court his income had been steadily decreasing and reported $1.5 million in income for 2025. He said his Fox Sports 1 employment ended in 2021 and that his residual payments would stop in September. Complex reported that his disclosures showed $1.5 million from Fox in 2025, plus another $713,000 tied to a show he co-hosted with Joy Taylor that was canceled in mid 2025 after Taylor left the network. Complex also reported his monthly income at $165,000.
The financial disclosures come from his child support fight with Santiago. She filed a paternity suit on January 12, and Pierce acknowledged in April that he is the father of their son, King Rafael. Santiago asked for $29,811 a month in child support. Pierce offered about $4,145 and said he had been voluntarily paying $5,000 a month. He asked for joint legal and physical custody, and she asked for sole custody. He also claimed she earns more than $400,000 a year.
In his July filing, Pierce said he already pays $24,000 a month in child support for his other children and $20,000 a month in spousal support. In August, the court ordered him to pay $8,508 a month in temporary child support for King, plus $100,000 toward Santiago’s legal fees.
Santiago went back to court in October. She alleged Pierce had not produced all of his bank statements or information on his trust distributions and assets. She also alleged he withheld records on his cannabis company and his Fox Sports 1 income, and that he failed to disclose an ownership interest in a commercial property. She said he never paid the $10,000 he was ordered to give her for a forensic accountant, and she asked for another $40,000 in legal fees. Those are her allegations.
Pierce’s newest filing pushes back. The Paul Pierce earnings picture he presents is a sharp drop from his playing days. He says he earned about $23,000 last month from partnership interests in other business ventures. He says he pays about $28,000 a month in child support and $20,000 a month in spousal support, and that he has $300,000 in the bank and $3 million in property.
He lists about $48,000 a month in bills. That includes $8,000 for childcare, $5,000 for groceries, $7,000 on eating out, $3,200 on utilities, $1,000 on clothes, and $3,500 on entertainment, plus other expenses. His attorney wrote that Pierce is “drowning financially” and that he cannot easily afford the extra legal and accounting fees Santiago wants since his Fox Sports contract was terminated.
For the numbers side by side, Spotrac has Paul Pierce earnings averaging about $18.9 million a year at his peak contract. The filing puts his income last month at about $23,000.
The case is ongoing in California court.
