Getty Image
In 2015, The Washington Post sat down with Delonte West and gave the world a firsthand look at the many problems he’d been forced to grapple with over the course of his basketball career, which began when he decided to turn his attention to the game to help deal with the bullying he faced as a kid.
During the conversation, West revealed he’d been hospitalized multiple times when he was younger as the result of repeated suicide attempts, and in 2008, doctors suggested bipolar disorder was to blame for his constant mental health struggles.
West managed to largely hold his own in the NBA but his performance on the court was overshadowed by the many issues he faced off of it, as he was arrested for illegally possessing three guns during a traffic stop in 2009 and blew so much of his money that he ended up applying for a job at Home Depot during the lockout in 2011 (he was also constantly hounded by a rumor that he slept with the mother of a teammate whose name rhymes with “Withdrawn Flames”).
West’s NBA career came to an end in 2012 and he sandwiched a short career in China with stints in the D-League before things appeared to really start to fall apart.
In 2016, someone captured a picture of West apparently begging for money in Maryland, although he’d eventually claim he was actually helping a quadriplegic homeless man who couldn’t panhandle on his own.
https://twitter.com/ASAP_SportsNews/status/747914066820227074
However, it looks like things have taken a turn for the worse since then based on a couple of disturbing videos that began to circulate on Monday.
In the first one, West is shown getting beat up in the middle of the street, and in the second, he’s sitting handcuffed on a curb while proclaiming he’s a member of the Navy SEALs and the President of the United States.
https://twitter.com/N90sKindOfWorld/status/1219339349843763203
One of West’s former teammates and his coach during his college days at St. Joseph’s voiced their support for him, and now, Dez Bryant has offered to do what he can in order to get the fallen player the help he clearly needs.
I see a lot dumb comments where folks making fun of Delonte west… this is not a joking matter …. I’m going to figure out how I can help him…. he need to be in rehab or something…
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) January 21, 2020
Here’s to hoping he’ll get access to everything and anything that might be able to help him get his life back on track.