While most celebrity wives and girlfriends are only about the title and are content with just that, there are others who are out to make the most for themselves with the opportunity to shine. These women can be seen as most of the cast members of Basketball Wives. Let’s call them the ‘Top Stars’.
For those who don’t know what the show is about, Basketball Wives follows the lives of women who have some sort of romantic relationship with professional basketball players. These women are either wives or girlfriends or even baby mothers.
Basketball Wives, the reality TV series was introduced in 2010 and has run for 10 seasons. So far, there have been about 146 episodes in all 10 seasons and very few recurring names make the main cast of the seasons.
Some of the top stars of Basketball Wives have had stints in over 100 episodes so far and they include the likes of Shaunie Nelson, the ex-wife of Shaquille O’Neal, Jennifer Williams, Evelyn Lozada, and Tami Roman.
Let’s Meet the Top Stars of Basket Ball Wives, Shall We?
For dedicated fans of Basket Ball Wives, you would all agree that any episode with the names listed below would definitely be packed full of content.
There is a reason these women keep renewing their contracts almost every season with the franchise. As much as they cash out from the publicity and reality TV, VH1 – the show’s streaming platform, also gains massively from the content they offer.
Their lives being on display keeps a plethora of viewers glued to the TV because who doesn’t want to know what goes on outside the court of their favorite basketballer’s lives, right?
6. Malaysia Pargo
Malaysia Pargo joined the cast of Basketball Wives LA from 2011 till 2016 when the show went on hiatus. Upon its revival, Pargo joined the main cast of Basketball Wives, in 2017. She has been a main cast of the reality series ever since and has made a total appearance in almost 100 episodes since then till 2023.
Malaysia was previously married to Jannero Pargo from 2006 to 2014. They have 3 children together.
Jannero is currently working as a professional basketball coach after his college career at Neosho County CC and the Arkansas ushered in a luxurious basketball career. He played for the Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Bobcats, professionally.
After leaving the show in the middle of the 10th season, Malaysia revealed that she wouldn’t be returning or continuing with the franchise. This revelation comes as a result of a squabble she had with the other cast of the reality TV show.
44-year-old Malaysia whose real name is Laquisha, is worth about $3.5 million according to the celebrity net worth site. She has been able to garner such an amount of money not just from her stint on reality TV, though.
The basketball wife is also a jewelry designer and as a former wife of a basketball star, she gets a mouth-watering divorce settlement. This settlement includes half of her ex-husband’s NBA pension, $15,380 monthly child support, $7,500 spousal support, a 2015 Mercedes Benz G550, access to 3 checking accounts as well as the rights to 3 Beats LLC jewelry collection.
5. Jackie Christie
Just like with Malaysia, Jackie started off being a main cast of Basketball Wives LA before joining the main Basketball Wives. She has been in more episodes than Pargo, even though the 2 WAGs share a closer friendship than Pargo with other basketball wives.
Jackie Christie was married to Doug Christie, an American professional basketball coach who used to play for the Los Angeles Clippers before retiring and serving as an assistant coach to the Sacramento Kings from 2021.
Dough and his wife have been married since 1996 and have 3 children together. The couple share a relationship secret of celebrating their anniversaries, yearly, by getting married.
On the VH-1 show, Jackie lets viewers into her beautiful married world in spite of the squabbles she regularly has with her fellow co-stars. She tries not to hold on to those aspects of her life and focuses on mostly positives, according to the basketball wife.
55-year-old Christie’s net worth is pegged at $10 million and this is gotten from a career as an actor, director, and executive producer.
She is known for her roles in movies such as Deceitful (2013) and Lucky Girl (which she produced). Her directing skills saw the production of the 2015 video ‘Bossard Cognac’.
However, certainly, 2 movie credits do not guarantee a $10 million net worth. Doug’s wife is the CEO of the record label known as Jean Fya Records.
4. Tami Roman
54-year-old Tami has been a major cast of Basketball Wives since its inception in 2010. She was part of the second season of the show which premiered on December 12, 2010. Ever since Roman became a regular cast of the show.
She had a very rough upbringing and had to suffer to get to where she currently is now, per her IMDB profile. However, this VH-1 show isn’t her first stint in reality TV. She was once part of The Real World: Los Angeles in 1993 and this was when her fame began to rise.
Tami has also worked as a VJ, started a girl group of musicians, has modeled, and acted.
On her appearance on Basketball Wives, she was married to Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Anderson from August 26, 1994, till 2001. Kenny was an American former professional basketball player for the NBA whose professional career started in 1991 until 2006. She has 2 children with the former athlete.
At the time she joined the reality TV show, Roman was already divorced from her Kenny.
She remarried TV personality and former NFL player, Reggie Youngblood, in 2018.
The ex-wife of the NBA star is worth $3.5 million. Her wealth has come, mostly from her career as a reality TV star as well as an actress, model, rapper, and other businesses.
3. Jennifer Williams
When this reality TV show was first announced, one of the first names to make it to the list of cast members was 50-year-old Jennifer Williams. She was married to NBA player, Eric Williams from 2007 to 2011 and was a very integral part of the former Charlotte Bobcats player.
Eric is a former professional basketball player turned farmer who has had a brief show as an actor. He starred in 2013’s The Caribbean Heist and 2 years later, he was featured in ‘Freedom from What’ painting by Pops Peterson.
Jennifer Williams and her husband had quite an eventful marriage which also made it to the show.
The now ex-couple had a go at each other during one of the series’ season finale. During a heated brawl, Eric threw a drink at his wife’s face and Jennifer returned the gesture. Later on, the Basketball Wives top star admitted that she did cause the fight.
Soon after, news of their divorce made waves and it didn’t really surprise her cast members and viewers. At the end of the day, she walked away with $30 million in divorce settlement. Totally, her net worth is $25 million.
She makes as much as $300,000 per every season of Basketball Wives as well as an additional $40,000 on the reunion show, per celebrity net worth.
The ex-wife of NBA player, Eric has other ventures that fetch her money, though. She who started off as an attorney after joining a law firm in the early 2000s, decided to venture into real estate instead.
She also owns Flirty Girl Fitness, a cosmetic line named Lucid Cosmetics, and a fashion boutique called Classy Girl Wardrobe.
With such wealth, she still finds it necessary to give back to the community by co-founding ‘Project Save the World’, aimed at fighting diseases and ending world hunger.
Both Eric and Jennifer have moved on romantically. They have both dated other people now but Jennifer remains a huge cast member of the reality TV show.
2. Evelyn Lozada
Birds of a feather, they say, flock together. So, it is no surprise that close friends, Evelyn and Jennifer have 2 of the top spots on this list.
Unfortunately, there was a time when these 2 would have probably sued anyone who called them friends, owing to a fall-off concerning something malicious Jennifer said about Evelyn. But time has passed and it looks like all the beef has passed with time, too. Although we still aren’t sure if we can call them best friends anymore.
Lozada was also one of the first names that came to the executive producers’ minds when they were choosing their line-up for the TV show.
The 48-year-old started from the very first season, starring alongside Jennifer, Royce Reed, Suzie Ketcham, and Gloria Govan upon first air.
Evelyn took a long break from the show after the 9th season but promises to be back with the cast for a season 11. Her reason for the long hiatus was her desire to have more time with her family as well as create more opportunities for herself.
She eventually went on another reality TV dating show ‘Queen’s Court’ where she found love.
Her appearance on the Basketball Wives was due to her then relationship with Antoine Walker. She was in a relationship with the American former professional basketball player for about a decade. They got engaged in 2006 but 2 years later, the relationship came crashing.
Of the WAGS in basketball history, Evelyn is said to have one of the messiest relationship timelines. She has been accused of being involved with a married man earlier in life, dated co-star, Tami Roman’s ex, Kenny, and many more men, especially athletes.
Her relationship with Chad ‘Ochocinco’ Johnson was quite the rollercoaster and it even got physical at some point.
Following her stint on the dating reality show, Evelyn has found love again and got engaged to Lavon Lewis whom she met on the show.
Evelyn Lozada is said to have amassed a net worth of $4 million. This money was realized from her appearances on the VH-1 reality TV show as well as her businesses. She owns and runs Dulce in Coral Gables, a shoe boutique, and once worked as a secretary to an entertainment attorney.
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1. Shaunie Nelson (O’Neal) Henderson
Shaunie Nelson was married to the renowned NBA star, Shaquille O’Neal. She has been in about the same number of episodes on Basketball Wives as Evelyn Lozada. According to IMDB, Shaunie has been in 121 episodes of the show while Evelyn has been in 120 episodes.
Shaunie and Shaq were married for 9 years and this failed marriage has remained the 4-time NBA champion’s biggest regret. They got married on December 26, 2002, after being together for 4 years and being engaged for 2.
On the 7th year of their marriage, by November 10, 2009, Shaunie filed for divorce from her athlete husband. The divorce was finalized in 2011 and she was to take home a huge amount in divorce settlement but decided to save the athlete a lot of money by agreeing to a private, undisclosed settlement deal.
Shaq and Shaunie however share 4 children together but they both had other kids from previous relationships. 2 of the kids have taken in their father’s footsteps in playing basketball.
Aside from appearing in many episodes of Basketball Wives, from its conception, Shaunie has gone on to become one of the show’s producers. In fact, she is the top executive producer for Basketball Wives.
Shaquille O’Neal’s wife is now remarried to a pastor. She married Pastor Keion Henderson in 2022. She has also dedicated time to her duty as the first lady of her husband’s church. This means she shuffles between the reality TV and her other responsibilities.
It is no wonder then, the rumors that she would have fewer appearances in the 11th season. Shaq’s ex-wife would focus more on her behind-the-scenes job on the show, moving forward.
Also, this season promises to be filled with more of sisterhood, growth, and positivity and less drama and fall-outs. Possibly, the pastor’s wife’s doings?
Shaunie O’Neal Henderson is said to have a net worth of $38 million. Starting off her professional career in Fox Entertainment as a film marketer is no small task.
The 49-year-old has her own spin-off show from this franchise titled Shaunie’s Home Court and has also been on other reality TV shows and documentaries.
She also has also launched a shoe line while actively remaining in filmmaking.
