“Making a killing off him buying 10 birkin bags”: Fans accuse Tony Snell's wife of lavish spending as NBA veteran misses service deadline

Tony Snell has played nine seasons in the NBA. He needs one more season in the NBA to become eligible for the NBA's premium lifetime healthcare plan that covers members of the family.

Feb. 2 was the deadline for Snell to sign with a team. However, no team signed the veteran and he became ineligible for the retirement healthcare benefits.

The story of Tony Snell garnered a lot of media attention and sympathy from the NBA community. In the midst of all this, his wife did something on Instagram that drew heavy criticism from fans on X/Twitter.

In a recent video on X, Snell’s wife Ashley was seen flaunting Birkin bags on a personal jet. Ashley put out a Birkin challenge for the public, showing off her bags on a jet. She captioned her post:

“Can anyone beat this or I won?”

The video drew strong reactions from fans all over social media. Alluding to Snell asking NBA teams to sign him for a minimum contract, one of the fans wrote:

“She’s making a killing off him buying 10 birkin bags and he’s out here begging for a contract.”

Another fan wrote that they had no sympathy left for the Snell family:

“Ok my sympathy is capped now I can’t lie.”

Here are some more reactions from fans on X.

Tony Snell's two sons Karter, 3, and Kenzo, 2, suffer from autism. He also mentioned that he wants to take care of his sons and his wife through healthcare benefits.

Charles Barkley urged NBA teams to sign Tony Snell

After hearing Tony Snell’s story, Charles Barkley on NBA on TNT urged NBA teams to sign Snell for his 10th season so that he could get healthcare benefits:

“The NBA’s been great to all of us sitting up here. And you guys are gonna be playing basketball forever making a gazillion dollars. I hope one of you guys signs Tony so his two autistic kids can get great medical care. …

"I hope a team signs him for the rest of the season, because I don’t know a lot about autism, I ain’t gonna say that. But man, I know it’s gotta be expensive to have two young kids with that situation. I’m hoping the NBA, we always talk about what a family we are, let’s sign that kid for the rest of the season.”

Despite the call from the former MVP, no team came forward and signed Snell. Some reportedly couldn’t give Snell a spot with the trade deadline coming up and some couldn’t because of the serious luxury tax that would come from it.

Snell, 32, played for six different teams, including the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks. He is currently playing for Maine Celtics, the Boston Celtics’ G-League affiliate. Snell was also diagnosed with autism spectrum.