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“Are you Delonte West?” Ad Policy

“I used to be, but I’m not about that life anymore.”

This was the back and forth between a random NBA fan with a smart-phone and the 32-year-old former NBA player, who was seen walking into a Jack-in-the-Box wearing a hospital gown and no shoes, the skin hanging loosely on his emaciated face. West has long been public about living with bipolar disorder, yet in a 2012 interview with The Washington Post he said that he felt that he was misdiagnosed and that he was no longer taking medication. Now he is out on his own, and it does not look good.

This is a deeply distressing situation. It also raises the question about what responsibility the NBA has for the mental health of its current and recently retired players. Did Delonte West have access to psychiatric help as a player? And more importantly, was it made clear that any effort to receive mental-health assistance would not reflect negatively on his opportunities in the league? Visit Cuba with The Nation! Learn More

This West sighting is just the latest instance of former players—think Lamar Odom, Gerald Green, Matt Barnes—who have exhibited behavior that was at best concerning and at worst life-threatening. If you want to throw Blake Griffin in for his beating of a team trainer who was supposed to be a friend, go right ahead. It raises questions about what kind of mental-health support truly exists in the medical world of an NBA team. One grimly recalls Milwaukee Bucks Center Larry Sanders leaving the league for his own psychological well-being and an owner saying to ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz, “I just gave him $30 million worth of mental health.”

The Delonte West story took my mind back to a letter sent to Adam Silver and the NBA executive offices last November by former player Royce White. The letter was private, but with Royce’s permission we are exclusively publishing it in its entirety below. No player has ever been more outspoken about the NBA’s absence of a competent mental-health program for players than 2012 first-round draft pick Royce White. His letter is an open plea for change as well as a damning indictment of his own experiences with the Houston Rockets. In one part White writes, “[I]n the absence of a clear mental health protocol or program, the risk for mismanagement is significantly increased. In Houston, that risk turned into result for me. There was very clear mismanagement during my time in Houston. From manipulation and interference with doctors to the lack of clear rules and interpretation of policy being used to instigate the conflict.”

I spoke to Royce White yesterday on the phone. He is now 24 years old, living in Minnesota, and launching his own foundation to confront mental wellness issues called Anxious Minds. The mission statement of Anxious Minds sounds very similar to many of the interviews Royce White gave as a rookie. It reads:

As the number of people with mental health conditions continues to grow, so does the need for awareness and support. The stigma surrounding mental health stands firmly as a road block to optimal awareness, diagnosis and support. Through open and candid conversation, we plan to help dissipate that stigma to create incredible new care opportunities. We believe this will create a much clearer picture of the mental health landscape and will allow awareness, diagnosis and support to reach new plateaus.

White told me that he was attempting to try and get in touch with Delonte West, with little luck. But he did ask me to publish this previously private letter in the hope that it would further spur the NBA to act in a manner that makes it safe for players to come forward without fear of being misdiagnosed or stigmatized. He said to me, “I’m going to keep my foot on the gas pedal no matter what happens. I’ve spoken to the NBA Players Association and they are with me on getting new protocols. It’s an insult for the union to buy in and not the owners. It’s an insult to the science. We need to act now and try to help people before stories like Lamar Odom’s and Delonte West’s repeat themselves. They absolutely will if the NBA refuses to change.”

Read the letter below in its entirety. Substitute “NBA” for myriad other corporations or institutions and it will sound all too familiar. We, to put it mildly, have a ways to go when it comes to bringing these issues out into the open.

[We at The Nation contacted the NBA for comment on the below letter. They said that they would get back to us. They did not. If they do, we will update accordingly.]