MENTAL health is a hot topic in the National Basketball Association (NBA) nowadays, much so after Kevin Love (Cleveland Cavaliers) and DeMar DeRozan (San Antonio Spurs) publicly admitted that they have suffered panic attacks, anxiety and/or depression during the games and were seeking treatment.
According to Houston Rockets assistant coach John Lucas, who was banned twice by the NBA for drug addiction during his playing days, more than 40 percent of the current NBA players have mental health issues yet less than five percent of them are seeking professional help.
Those issues, Lucas says, can directly lead to drug and alcohol abuse.
Lucas, who now runs a wellness aftercare program for athletes, also believes nearly 10 percent of NBA players are bipolar and some of them need medication for the illness.
“I have anxiety, but I also come from a family with a history of depression,” said Cavaliers forward Love, who had experienced a panic attack during a November 2017 game against the Atlanta Hawks that forced him to abruptly leave the court.
The 6-foot-10 frontliner claimed the episode left him unable to catch his breath and his heart racing and that when he left the court, he was “running from room to room looking for something I couldn’t find” until he finally collapsed on the floor of the locker room.
\“My heart was jumping out of my chest,” recalled the 30-year-old Love. I couldn’t get any air to my lungs. I was trying to clear my throat by sticking my hand down my throat. It was terrifying. I thought I was having a heart attack. I was very scared. I really felt like I was going to die in that moment.”
Love, whose father Stan also played in the NBA with the Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards, 1971-73) and Los Angeles Lakers (1973-75) and whose uncle Mike was a member of the iconic American rock band, Beach Boys, from California during the sixties and seventies, later revealed that he was seeing a therapist.
A 2001 study by the U.S. surgeon general found that historic social and economic inequality, racism, discrimination, violence and poverty make African-Americans more prone to encounter mental health challenges.
During the 2017-18 NBA wars, 74.2 percent of the players were African-Americans and 80.7 percent of them were people of color.
In the aftermath of LeBron James’ defection to the LA Lakers via free agency, the Cavaliers locked up Love with a four-year $120-million contract extension last July 24. With the extension, which takes effect in 2019-20, the UCLA alum is set to earn around $145 million through the conclusion of the 2022-23 wars.
Love will make just over $24.1 million in the final year of his previous pact, which included a player option by Love in 2019-20 that was set aside by the new agreement.
The four-year extension is $9.7 million less than the four-year, $129.7 maximum deal that he could have received – and far less than the five-year, $221-million max deal that he could theoretically have gotten as an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019.
Last September 18, Love established the Kevin Love Fund to prioritize mental health. That day, the NBA players union also reminded its members that help for their mental wellness is available if needed, urging them to take advantage of that whenever necessary.
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Bandera. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.