Former NBA player gets $0.38 royalty check for role in Eddie

Joe Kleine played 15 seasons in the NBA and earned an estimated $11.4 million, but it's a very small check he received on Wednesday that he might remember most.

The 6-foot-11 Kleine, formerly of the Sacramento Kings, Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers, played himself in the 1996 classic Eddie, suiting up for the Suns against Whoopi Goldberg's New York Knicks.

The movie included plenty of NBA talent, including Mark Jackson, John Salley and Rick Fox in prominent roles. Their royalty checks are probably a little more substantial.

Kleine's IMDB page indicated it was both the beginning and the end of his acting career, but the one-time NBA champion remains employed as an assistant coach at Arkansas-Little Rock.

[Dap R/NBA]