{"id":900099,"date":"2026-09-21T13:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T13:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900099\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T13:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T13:12:12","slug":"delonte-west-explains-how-basketball-discipline-helped-him-battle-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900099\/","title":{"rendered":"Delonte West Explains How Basketball Discipline Helped Him Battle Addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former NBA player Delonte West<\/a> is among the many athletes who have faced hardships after their professional careers came to an end. Having dealt with severe mental health issues during his playing days, West turned to drug abuse, which eventually resulted in homelessness and even arrest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In most cases, this would be a tragic tale of another athlete whose career was ruined by substance abuse. However, Delonte West\u2019s story serves as an inspiration, as the former Cleveland Cavaliers guard has turned over a new leaf<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Having battled addiction through sustained efforts and commitment, Delonte West has been sober for almost a year. While this successful endeavor could be attributed to many things, including external support from friends and family<\/a>, West also attributed it to his basketball discipline. He elaborated on this during an episode of \u201cRise Above With Kevin Lanning<\/a>,\u201d stating:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you start having time out for the God of your choice or the programs you\u2019re working on, which includes taking the proper medication, being on time, and showing up. Putting your all into going the extra mile the same way you\u2019re approaching the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to get extra shots up. I\u2019m going to stay here all night. This is going to be a part of my documentary. I\u2019m going to be here all night. They\u2019re going to be like, \u2018Man, he was a legend.\u2019 Be a legend in your recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what God wants to know,\u201d\u00a0West added.\u00a0\u201cThrough that, you\u2019re going to see how tough you really are. Sometimes you do drugs and you become the toughest out [there]\u2026 You\u2019ve got to start making names up for yourself. So, you start realizing how tough you are. You start being able to handle stuff. When you realize, \u2018Hey man, I got through that.\u2019 It don\u2019t get no worse than that, seeing hell every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before his experiences with substances and before all the abuse, Delonte West was an athlete who loved the game of basketball. While it already demands incredible effort to excel in any sport or discipline, the commitment required to become a professional in it is on a completely different level. Given the single-minded focus such pursuits demand, West simply shifted his focus toward self-improvement, making it a catalyst for his recovery.<\/p>\n

For obvious reasons, Delonte West\u2019s commitment to sobriety has had a positive impact on several parts of his life. But most importantly, it has allowed him to be close to his family and be a part of his children\u2019s lives, too. On that note, he shared a word of gratitude for his partners, who supported him along the way.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It\u2019s] amazing, man. God has restored and blessed me with three amazing wives in my life: Kimmy, Caressa, and Melissa. These are some of the most amazing people that have come into my life,\u201d he shared.\u00a0\u201cEvery single one of them has been like my superstar in my life during those times and still is, and they need to know nothing was ever wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

West continued by highlighting that people from his past, whether they were high school teammates, coaches, neighborhood friends, or even strangers whom he met briefly, reached out to share a word of encouragement as he continued his journey. Now, as Delonte West closes in on a year of sobriety, the former NBA player expressed gratitude to all those who supported him and stood by his side.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NBA player Delonte West is among the many athletes who have faced hardships after their professional careers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-900099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}