Mental health is currently at the forefront of NBA discussion right now (and it’s about time). The NBA and National Basketball Players Association announced that a mental wellness program for players would be developed. Soon, players began discussing their mental-illness battles. First, Toronto Raptors shooting guard DeMar DeRozan came forward about his struggles with depression. Cleveland Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love followed suit, writing a piece for the Players’ Tribune about his anxiety, the first time he suffered a panic attack and toxic masculinity. Washington Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. is the latest to discuss this topic. From Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington:
“A lot of people are coming out with things about mental health. I feel as if, yeah man I’ve suffered through a lot of things in my life. I’ve been through a lot of things,” he said.
“I can definitely relate to it all… I’m really good at keeping a poker face because when I was growing up my dad always told me ‘don’t let anybody see you weak.’ Nobody sees that I’m weak, but deep down inside I am going through a lot. Hell is turning over.”
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“That s— is serious,” he said. “I just go into a quiet place and breath, man. Just being mindful is the only way I know how to get through any anxiety, any depression or anything like that.”
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“We’re normal human beings. We face a lot more adversity, a lot more problems… It’s a little bit more amped up, we just can’t show it,” he said. “I feel like people who are on the outside looking in don’t really understand because they see us as superheroes, but we’re normal people, man. We go through the issues that normal people go through times 10.”
It’s great that Oubre, Love and DeRozan are coming forward about their struggles; it helps people realize that everybody, even multimillionaire, star athletes, deals with these issues. It helps humanize the players
