Keyon Dooling surprisingly retired last week and had recently a candid conversation with CSNNE's Jessica Camerato.

“The average career is 4 1/2 years and I tripled that, almost,” Dooling said. “The grind of the NBA just has taken its toll on me, on my body. More so than that, my family . . . I’ve missed birthdays, school conferences, dropping my kids off, school plays, school dances. I’ve missed just being daddy so much.



"I have enough. I have all the resources I need, I’m a blessed man. I’m not limping away; I was able to walk away.”

Dooling realized he wanted to retire after re-signing with the Celtics in July.

“I was talking about it with my wife and with my pastors and all the people that are in my life, and nobody wanted me to retire. Nobody wanted me to retire,” he said.

Dooling said that memories and years of repressed emotions came to him at this time.

"I actually had such a meltdown that I had to get professional help and I ended up in the hospital," said Dooling.



"It just all came to a head. To be honest with you, I blocked a lot of things out of my life. I’m a man who’s been abused, sexually, emotionally, mentally. I’ve been abused in my life, and there’s so many guys around the NBA who have been abused and I know it because I’ve been their therapist. I didn’t even have the courage because I blocked it out so much that I couldn’t even share that.



“It took literally a meltdown for everybody to see how serious I was about not playing ball anymore."

Dooling had been abused by both strangers and people he knew as a child.