An NBA champion walked away from $36 million, and three years later the boat he sailed on came back with someone else in command.
Bison Dele said it himself in 1999: "There's never been two snowflakes alike." Here is what happened next.
In the video below, filmed after a game on May 3, 1999, Dele, then a Detroit Pistons center, is asked to compare teammate Joe Dumars with Michael Jordan. He answers: "It's like snowflakes. They're all unique, different."
He was born Brian Williams, won a title with the Chicago Bulls in 1997 and changed his name to Bison Dele in 1998. Before the 1999 to 2000 season, he retired at 30, giving up the last five years and $36.45 million of his contract rather than be traded. Then he bought a catamaran.
On July 6, 2002, he sailed from Tahiti with his girlfriend, Serena Karlan, his brother, Miles Dabord, and skipper Bertrand Saldo. The last satellite phone call was on July 8. On July 20, Dabord brought the boat back to Tahiti alone.
Then it fell fast. The boat was later found with its name plate removed and possible bullet holes patched. Dabord was detained in Phoenix on September 6, accused of using Dele's signature and passport to buy about $152,000 in gold. He died on September 27.
Here is the part nobody can settle. Dabord's version, relayed through others, was an accident and self defense. The FBI said the boat showed no evidence of it. Authorities concluded Dele, Karlan and Saldo were probably killed and thrown overboard. No bodies were found.
He walked away from $36 million and sailed into the Pacific. The boat came back without him.
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