While the basketball playoffs attract plenty of attention during mental health awareness month in May, we’d like to recognize something just as exciting: The league and its players continue to make great strides in raising awareness about the importance of mental health.
In 2018 the National Basketball Player’s Association (NBPA) launched a mental health and wellness program to provide players with greater access to mental health counselors; and the National Basketball Association (NBA) has transformed its Rookie Transition Program to place a greater emphasis on mental health education.
However, as the faces of an iconic sport with more than 1 billion fans worldwide, current and former NBA players have been, arguably, the most important factor in driving this awareness initiative. Their increasing willingness to share personal struggles and discuss issues often seen as taboo in elite sports can help others feel more comfortable about opening up or seeking treatment.
Below, we highlight some specific examples of NBA players helping to raise awareness and break down the stigma around mental illness.
Request infoDeMar DeRozan opens up on Twitter
Prior to the 2018 NBA All-Star game, Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan opened up to his 600,000 Twitter followers with a seven-word tweet about his struggles with mental illness:
This depression get the best of me…
— DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) February 17, 2018
In the following days, he completed an interview for a story published in The Toronto Star detailing his lifelong battle with anxiety and depression, hoping that his willingness to share might help others feel less alone.
“It’s nothing I’m against or ashamed of,” he told the publication. “Now, at my age, I understand how many people go through it. Even if it’s just somebody can look at it like, ‘He goes through it and he’s still out there being successful and doing this,’ I’m OK with that.”
DeRozan has continued to give interviews and discuss his mental health in addition to speaking about the unseen mental health issues professional athletes cope with across all sports. However, his initial tweet—and ensuing media attention—has been seen as pivotal in sparking the conversation that has altered the trajectory of how the NBA and NBPA have decided to approach the topic over the last year.
Kevin Love Publishes Personal Struggles
Weeks after DeRozan’s tweet, Cleveland Cavaliers forward and NBA All-Star Kevin Love published an article in The Players Tribune that took the discussion about mental health to another level.
In 2,000 words he described, in detail, a panic attack he experienced during a timeout that forced him out of a professional game, and the subsequent realization that it was the culmination of his lifelong struggle with anxiety, “It came out of nowhere. I’d never had one before. I didn’t even know if they were real. But it was real—as real as a broken hand or a sprained ankle. Since that day, almost everything about the way I think about my mental health has changed.”
Love also recalled his first time seeing a therapist—something he acknowledged was often seen as a sign of weakness in the world of basketball that he grew up in. He credits DeRozan’s tweet with giving him the strength to move forward with publishing his story.
Today, he continues to advocate for mental health awareness through a fund in partnership with Headspace. He also founded The Kevin Love Fund, which works with people to enhance their physical and emotional well-being, and was recently presented with the Champion Award at the fifth annual Change Maker Awards held at New York’s Carnegie Hall for his work in advocating for increased mental health awareness.
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Keyon Dooling Comes Full Circle
In 2012, Boston Celtics guard Keyon Dooling checked himself into a hospital and effectively ended his NBA career. Why? Because he had been suffering from paranoid delusions and hallucinations, which he would soon learn were symptoms of his post-traumatic stress disorder—a result of being sexually assaulted as a child.
Today, he credits taking the time to seek mental health treatment for saving his life. Following DeRozan and Love’s lead, Dooling published his own story in The Players Tribune, “Running From a Ghost,” in which he discusses the stigma around mental health “not just in the NBA, but in the African American community as a whole.”
Today, he’s back in basketball but in a different role. He serves as a player wellness counselor in the NBA’s new Mental Health and Wellness program. Through the program, Dooling works with current and former players as a mentor and guide to connect them with mental health resources they may need.
Metta World Peace Continues His Mission
Some people thank their parents. Others may thank God.
Former NBA player Metta World Peace made headlines in 2010 for thanking his psychiatrist during the Los Angeles Lakers post-championship interviews—and he has continued to advocate for increased mental health awareness ever since.
World Peace eventually raffled off his championship ring to raise more than $500,000 for mental health nonprofits, and he was recently honored by The Chicago School of Professional Psychology during the 2018 Social Impact Leaders Award Luncheon for his ongoing contributions in the field of mental health and community service.
A new documentary about his life, “Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story,” also discusses his struggles with mental illness and recently won Best Documentary at the 2019 Santa Barbara Film Festival. It will debut May 31, 2019, on Showtime.
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