When Rick Fox turned down a $33 million deal from Boston only to take a million from the Lakers: "I bet on myself"
When Rick Fox was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 1991, he wanted to pattern his career path with Larry Bird's. During that time, Bird had played 12 seasons and won three championships. So when Fox was asked by reporters on Draft Night what his plan was, he said he wanted to win three NBA titles in a 12-year NBA career.
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He also hoped that Bird would play much longer because when he arrived. Sadly for him, Larry Legend was already 35 years old and dealing with back problems. Bird retired after Fox's rookie season, leaving the Celtics in shambles.
The Celtics missed the playoffs in three out of the next five seasons and during the 1996-97 campaign, they won only 15 regular season games. At the end of that season, Fox became a free agent. He verbally agreed to a $33 million extension with the Celtics but while waiting for the contract, he got a call from the Los Angeles Lakers.
"They said I was the glue, I was the missing piece," said Fox on a "Giant Ventures" podcast.
"But they could only pay me a million dollars and so I had to look at 33 million or one million. It looks like a smart move today, but it didn't make my agents and managers happy when I turned down $33 million," Fox admitted.
The story of Fox's $33 million deal with Boston was complicated
But Fox's story wasn't as simple as turning down a big-money contract to win a championship. After Celtics head coach Rick Pitino, who was also the team president, negotiated with Fox on a Friday, he flew to L.A. to lure big man Travis Knight to come to Boston.
Pitino and Knight ended up agreeing on a seven-year 20 million deal during the weekend. Rick thought that by Monday, Boston would announce that they had signed both him and Knight. But that was not the case.
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"I thought on Monday I was going to get a contract. I went to get a haircut at the barbershop. I was in my car waiting for the barbershop to open up and my agent called me and said that I had been renounced," Fox recalled.
Related: "I can't get so close to it, too, because of my competitive nature" - Michael Jordan on why he can't get himself to be a fan of any one player in the NBA
Red Auerbach tried to fix things with Rick
It turned out, the Celtics did not have enough cap space for both of them and Pitino ended up prioritizing Knight. Red Auerbach personally called Fox to apologize on the team's behalf. Red told Rick to wait for 90 days as they had a plan in place to get the money to sign him. But that's when the Lakers called. And Fox bought into their pitch, despite the massive disparity in pay.
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"I bet on myself," added Rick.
"And more importantly, I bet on what I saw, which was greatness, is Shaquille O'Neal and the organization equally like the Celtics that were pursuing championships at all costs. And I always say, you put yourself in a room and surround yourself with the type of people that are championship mindset driven and will sacrifice at all costs to get there. And you will find yourself at some point at the top of the heap," Fox concluded.
After a couple of one-year $1 million deals in Los Angeles, Phil Jackson arrived and changed the fortunes of the Lakers. The Lake Show would win three straight championships from 2000-02 with Fox a key player on the team. Rick ended up playing until the 2003-04 season. He retired with the three championship rings that he wished for and played 13 seasons, one more than his original plan.
Related: "They were 1A and 1A. That's what created all the anxiety" - Rick Fox on the downfall of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal in Los Angeles
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jun 17, 2025, where it first appeared.
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