I Played In The NBA With LeBron...Then Lost It All To Addiction | How Delonte West Found Sobriety

Rise Above with Kevin Lanning

Delonte West shares his powerful journey from NBA stardom alongside LeBron James to a decade-long descent into addiction and homelessness, c

Key takeaways

• Addiction often begins subtly, masked as fun or relief, but can spiral rapidly without intervention.
• Identity tied solely to athletic success can collapse after retirement, leading to existential crisis.

Main topics

• NBA career and fame
• Addiction and substance abuse

Notable quotes

"I sat down on the curb and I didn't get back up for another 10 years."

Conclusion

Delonte West's story is one of profound fall and even more powerful re

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) You know, I had to get his number. They didn't call you, man. And then it was like my mind couldn't go without thinking about that feeling. Speaker 1 (0:13) You had a great rookie year in Boston. Then where'd you go? Seattle after that? Speaker 2 (0:18) Yeah. Speaker 1 (0:19) And then you went to Cleveland. Speaker 2 (0:22) Cleveland. Speaker 1 (0:22) You went to Boston one year, Seattle for one year? Speaker 2 (0:25) Half a year. Speaker 1 (0:26) Half a year. Yeah, Speaker 2 (0:27) because they was going to Oklahoma. Speaker 2 (0:33) I was up for contract in Boston, so when I went to Seattle, the owner was tied up with contracts with the state, and so he wasn't into, right at that time, he wasn't trying to negotiate or extend anybody. I opted out. At the same time, Brian just said I was all new to me as a young player. I didn't think I had the type of... Resume is just the main trade or something, but it was kind of mutual. We know you are for extension, not extending anybody. We look for some places for you to go. And Cleveland was the interest. I played a good game against them early in the season. And that was the one team that was reaching out. That ended up being another amazing run. Some of the best years in the league in Cleveland. Yeah. Then went back Speaker 1 (1:32) to Boston. You had a great career in Cleveland. Speaker 2 (1:35) Thank you, bro. Speaker 1 (1:36) That was when Seattle, they were the Supersonics, and then they went over to OKC Thunder. Yeah, Speaker 2 (1:43) uh-huh. Speaker 1 (1:44) And then that's when you split. Yeah, Speaker 2 (1:46) that's Speaker 1 (1:47) the halfway Speaker 2 (1:47) through the season. So the first half of the season in Seattle, they didn't go to Oklahoma until... the end of the year. So the season over with, the next season they start up the Oklahoma. So at the trade deadline in Seattle in February, I went to Cleveland. Speaker 1 (2:04) Got it. And LeBron was already there for one year, right? 2003 he went there. Got it. Dude, it is a pleasure and an honor to have you. And I can't thank you enough for coming on. And it's crazy because you and I were just talking the other day. Speaker 1 (2:23) where you're at today, Speaker 2 (2:24) your Speaker 1 (2:25) willingness to spread the message to the person out there who was in your shoes at one point, who needs to hear that message. Speaker 2 (2:33) I Speaker 1 (2:34) respect that in you, man. I really do. For Speaker 2 (2:37) sure. I appreciate it, kid. Speaker 1 (2:38) Yeah. And in December, you're going to have a year sober. Speaker 2 (2:41) Yeah. Speaker 1 (2:42) Wow. Did you think a year ago you'd be where you are today? Speaker 2 (2:46) I didn't. I didn't. Man, it happened like... One moment at a time. And then once I started really enjoying, you know, how my body was feeling every day, you know, learning, you know, just, you know, even if it wasn't about addictions, it was like you taking these classes and seeing different therapists. They come in with, you know, packets, you know, for you to do throughout the class. And you just, and it's more geared to... you know, self-healing and self-empowerment, you know, and you're higher, you know, you're the god of your choice. And, Speaker 1 (3:30) you Speaker 2 (3:31) know, those type of things when you come, you know, you then took your body and your mind and spirits in the opposite direction all the way into the dumps. You know, self-healing and learning about yourself, you know, that's like, you know, something that you really get into. So time was not even something I was paying attention to. Speaker 1 (3:50) Yeah. We were talking about just before an active addiction, how like six months will go by like that. Then a year will go by like that. Speaker 2 (3:58) Yeah. Speaker 1 (3:58) And it's crazy because if we don't take that action, that leap of faith to get ourselves better, to help ourselves, like I blinked my, it was just fun in college at first. Right. Speaker 2 (4:09) Then Speaker 1 (4:09) after college, it was like, all right, a couple of years after college, me and the boys are going to go just have some fun. Like everyone's doing the same. around me and then I blink my eyes and I'm 30 and then I'm like holy then I blink my eyes again and the time just keeps passing by it's scary. Speaker 2 (4:25) Yeah it is yeah it is I mean I can't believe um I say my last year playing in Dallas you know I was my kids were born that year that summer I went to play in China two years And I got, my kids are two years apart. So, and I'm doing it like that. I'm saying like this because I'm like adding it up now. I'm doing the math. And so we come, so one was born, I was playing in Dallas, my son Cash. And Aliyah was conceived while we were in China. So played two years. I have one, I come back home. I have a one and two year old. I remember. Speaker 2 (5:13) You know, going outside to, I went to the liquor store and, you know, I was back home. I went to the liquor store, so I knew everybody in the area. I came out and there was people still in the parking lot, you know, guys that just, you know, sit out there and talk or hang around the store all day or sit on the side of the store and drink. And I remember I was like, yeah, just typing it up. You know, I cracked open what I brought out the store and I drunk it out there. And then, you know, you start talking more and then you just, you know, you hanging out now. And I sat down on the curb and I didn't get back up for another 10 years. That's powerful. 10 years. Just in living like a Kona Matata. And like I had to come find Simba and say, you gotta come, you gotta come back to reality. And I'm out there like, man, I have no worries. You know, I just didn't even go back home. I didn't even know what was going on. What was going on with my family, my kids, my career, anything. I just, I didn't even have a phone for about eight years. Speaker 1 (6:33) Let's take a step back. Let's go to the beginning. Speaker 2 (6:36) Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:37) You're originally from Maryland. I'm from Maryland. What was early childhood like for you? One thing I've learned in my own recovery is that you can't do this alone, and you don't have to. I know that firsthand. I went through inpatient treatment at Karen Treatment Centers, and it changed the course of my life. That's why I am proud to announce that I have partnered with Karen for nearly 70 years. They've helped people and families not just break free from addiction, but actually heal and transform their lives. They're in network with all major insurance providers and same day admission is available. So if you or someone you love is struggling, don't wait. Call Karen at 855-352-0103. That's 855-352-0103. Help starts with taking that first step. Speaker 2 (7:30) Oh, man, it was amazing. It's amazing. I had the best, you know, I had the best experience, you know. Speaker 2 (7:39) You know, some, you know, it's, you can't really, you can't compare apples and oranges, you know. Some say, you know, I had cereal for dinner. Some say, yes, cereal for dinner, you know. It depends on, you know, the moment at the time. But what I'm getting at is that, you know, living in apartments, apartment complex versus living in a home of any size. You know, sometimes you come home or you go visit your friends, get off at their bus stop, and you say, you think for a moment, you say, hey, man, we don't have no house, you know. But then other times, you know, you, like, for instance, a lot of my classmates, guys I went to school with, played on Little League, Pop Warner football, basketball, they all, you know, both parents in the home. middle, upper class homes, you know, and they would spend the night over in my apartment complex all the time, you know. So bouncing around from apartments to apartments, you know, I don't know what it is. I mean, I guess I'm not, you got to, I know when I went to China, it was like have one, you know, it was you only have one kid or something like that, you know. I don't know what's the... Speaker 2 (9:03) How many children? Speaker 1 (9:05) Yeah, you're capped at a certain amount of children. How many Speaker 2 (9:08) children were the same age? I feel like everyone in our area born in the 70s, 80s, the 70s and 80s in particular, they just had the most amazing childhood. You know, it was like everybody was doing the same things, you know, because it wasn't, you know, it wasn't that much more. individual type of networks, you know, to where I could have a TV and you have a TV, but I would never know that you watch Channel 7 and I watch Channel 5. You know, you watch Fox and I watch UPN. You know, it was like just a set amount of channels. So everybody was kind of on the same wavelength. So it was so many kids my same age. everywhere in Maryland and D.C. and Virginia. And it seemed like everyone knew each other. So you could go outside and play hide and go seek. And you ain't got to come home for two weeks. And you'll be okay. You know, you'll be all the way in Virginia somewhere from Maryland. You didn't play hide-and-go-seek between five neighborhoods, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. And y'all didn't play basketball, football, went to the pool, played manhunt, you know, ran through the sewers, built a teepee out in the woods all in one day. You know, so. I was fortunate and blessed to live that life as a child. It felt almost like the same life. Speaker 1 (10:43) Free living. Speaker 2 (10:44) Basketball. Speaker 1 (10:45) Free living. Speaker 2 (10:46) Yeah, man, free living. Speaker 1 (10:48) Well, in my household, it was come back when the streetlights come on, check in, let me just make sure you're alive. Then go back to playing manhunt with your friends. Yeah. But that's a good point. So I was, were you born in 82-ish? 83. 83. I was born in 85, roughly the same age. Dude, we all watch the same shows. Yes. Now everyone's got their own tablet. Social media algorithms are different. And I feel like there was so much more in common back then. Speaker 2 (11:17) Right. You know, so many more kids Speaker 1 (11:19) could relate to one another and bond and over the same experiences. Right, right. It's interesting. That's the first time I've heard that. That's a great observation. So, okay, you are growing up. When did you start playing basketball? Speaker 2 (11:36) Well, basketball definitely in our era, you know, the Jordan era. Speaker 2 (11:44) How can, well, let's just leave it there, the Jordan era. And I'm coming out of one of those cities, Washington, D.C., and Maryland, where basketball is like the easiest thing to do. I've seen come out of there and then bias. So it's something about having a crossover. Speaker 2 (12:09) Philadelphia right up the street. You got New York and New Jersey. You know, you got that East Coast whole rivalry, that street. But it was almost like, you know, the West Coast and East Coast rap versus. It was like a thing with basketball up and down the East Coast. Who got the better, who got the best crossover? Who got the best guards, you know? Who got the best street ball team? So basketball was a part of life. coming up in D.C. So everyone had an Iverson crossover growing up. In their mind, they did. Speaker 1 (12:43) I Speaker 2 (12:44) learned once I played against him, I said, oh, that's the difference. Speaker 1 (12:47) Did you ever think you would ever stuff him in a game and then run it back and score? Oh, yeah, man. I saw that clip, dude. That was Speaker 2 (12:54) a Speaker 1 (12:54) sick play. Speaker 2 (12:55) I tell you a funny story. I said it because, you know, humorous, you know, me and Paul Parris and the guys, we always joke. Paul used to always riot us. The young fellas, we come in, every day he always got jokes for us, but it was a method to the madness. It helped us be ourselves, and that's what he was going for. Just be who you are, you know what I'm saying? So he would take the lead, and when we would come in, like, should I do this? How should I act? He started off with good old Jonin, cranking jokes. He always telling me, man, who the best player to ever come out of D.C.? And I was like, me. He was like, what about Iverson? I'm like, man, he got that crossover from me. And then we go, the first year we go on the play, I think we was in Philadelphia. No, we was in Boston. And Philly came to Boston. Speaker 2 (13:52) And Paul asked me the same thing. He was like, yeah, baby, it's the matchup now. You going to show us? You going to challenge you? I was like, tell me one more time. Tell everybody who got the best crossover in D.C. Like, me, man, I'm tired of telling you this. I was like, he said, I told him, Iverson got that crossover from me. I'm the coldest to do it. And Iverson's sitting. He called Iverson into the locker room. A.I. sitting right there. in the locker room next to Paul. I never paid attention to him. Like he's sitting there just as you are right there. I'm sitting there walking in front of him. I'm talking about, hey, he got there for me. I'm the coldest to do it. And so they, you know, as veterans and I come up underneath of them in the area. So they didn't really enjoy that. They had a bar. So I enjoyed making those guys laugh. And, you know, that's life as a young guy coming in. Speaker 1 (14:42) Those are good vibes. I mean, because you went into the league, you went into the NBA at 21 years old. Speaker 2 (14:48) Yeah, uh-huh, yeah. Speaker 1 (14:49) Imagine being fucking 20. Well, you did it, but like I'm 20, to the viewers, 21 years old and you're on the big stage. Yeah. That is young. Yeah, it is. 21. I didn't know my ass from my elbow. I Speaker 2 (15:01) know. People, I mean, people don't understand. It's like. You go, even if doing some years in college, you know, with sports, you know, being in any type of teams I was playing on and the success I was having, you know, people start paying more attention to you. And I mean by, you know, the basketball people, that takes the game as a business level. So therefore, you know, they start surrounding you in a way of before you're ready for it. you know, as a product, you know, as a future investment. And they need to protect their investment. So you start at a young age, you start, you know, make sure, you know, he got his tennis shoes, you know, you got tennis shoes showing up at the door, you got rides waiting for you, you got a trainer, you got people, nutritionists coming, and it's like you're sheltered in a way, you know, and you're allowed to just sit in that room. and just be the same person you've always been. So you, in a way, you're not aging mentally. You're aging through your growth in your respective sport. The better you get, the more they say, oh, man, he's getting better with time. But he's still, that's from 17, 18. Yeah. That's going from 11 and 12 grade, you go from being. skinny or undersized. Speaker 2 (16:32) underclassmen to somebody had a growth spurt to being a man amongst boys, you know, but you still playing, you still have the same friends, you know, you still playing manhunt, video games, but now when you go to the court, you got scouts watching you and you don't know it, you know, and it's like, it's a big deal for you and it's a big deal for everyone around you. Of course you too, but as far as like your growth, you're talking about being 21. And coming to college, you know, you coming from high school, you can put all that together. You're going from playing with your friends and, you know, it's not about age. You know how you get older. You go on the sixth flag, you talk to a girl, you're in ninth grade and she in twelfth. I Speaker 1 (17:15) mean, you just, boy, you might, you Speaker 2 (17:17) know, I'm mature for my age. But so you, You know, you were in 12th grade. You know, you have friends that's in the ninth grade. You know, that don't mean because it's age different don't mean y'all act so much different from each other. So you go from there to now you're in college. You know, overnight you're going to grow. You know what I'm saying? You know, I've studied algebra part two. You know, so therefore, you know, I'm with. You know, I'm going to the prestigious mental school now of college. Speaker 1 (17:55) Yeah. Sophisticated. Speaker 2 (17:58) Yeah, yeah. So most guys do one, two years in college. And the same thing, the fun continues, you know. That same bubble is still there. And even more so as you go up in the ranks. College, you know, you just let more restrictions, you know, it was more of a business start becoming a business. So it's more of a, you know, a business around you. including school, but school is kind of, it's more of an athlete. And aren't you a student here? Not like you're a student athlete. No, you're an athlete with a student badge. Yeah, students on the back burner. Yeah, yeah. And year two, now you're in the pros. So, I mean, that's a lot. Two years, you can do a lot of growing, maybe physically. Speaker 1 (18:48) You grow up quick. I couldn't imagine. And you are part of a business. Like you said, you are an asset to the owner of that team or that business. And they're there to monetize you. Speaker 2 (19:01) Yeah. And Speaker 1 (19:02) they got to protect you and they got to, they're sheltering you from the outside world. So in terms of experiences, relationships, all the above, there's only so much growth that one person can have outside of the sport that they're playing in professionally. Speaker 2 (19:18) Right. Speaker 1 (19:18) So in high school, you clearly stand out. You have a great high school career. You go on to play at St. Joe's. Now, during this time, from high school to when you went to college, were you drinking? Were you doing drugs? Anything out of the ordinary? Speaker 2 (19:36) No, nothing out of the ordinary, man. You know, of course, you had your red cup parties, beer pong, and, you know, you got the local tavern, you know. going there and studying for your finals, man. Everybody got their pajama pants on and their school hoodie. Going there, having a few brewskis. Definitely the type of years we were having at St. Joe's. But it wasn't, I probably can count, I mean, just on one hand, I know for sure, there were many times that, I mean, I know the feeling of being hammered. make it home to make it, you don't know how you make it home to the bed. And then the room is just spinning like, oh my God, I got to vomit, you know? But not in the sense of when somebody will say, you know, he's hammered because he's an addict. I'm talking about, you know, hammered of, you know, you mix tequila and Jack Daniels and, you know, vodka all in the same cup. with some tomato juice or something. And he was like, oh my goodness, I can't take it. So I can count on less than on one hand how many times I felt like that, even throughout my whole pro career, you know. Speaker 1 (20:58) Isolated incidents. Yeah. Which wouldn't warrant someone to be classified as an alcoholic or have a problem. We all have those. Yeah. We Speaker 2 (21:07) all have those Speaker 1 (21:07) nights we black out and we fuck up and we're like, oh shit, all right. So, okay. Now, junior year, St. Joe's. Speaker 2 (21:15) Yeah. Speaker 1 (21:16) You have a standout year. You guys go 27-0 your first 27 games. I think you finished up with 31-1 or 2 or something like that. Speaker 2 (21:25) Yeah, 31-2. You Speaker 1 (21:26) guys have a great season. Yeah. And you then declare. into the NBA. Yeah. And you get drafted. You're with Paul Pierce. Yeah. Gary Payton. Gary Payton. You're with two of the top dogs to do it. Yes, indeed. And I love that you said that he created that vibe where you guys can all be yourselves. Speaker 2 (21:52) Yeah. And Speaker 1 (21:53) fuck around with one another. Because again, like you said, you're in a business. Mm Speaker 2 (21:57) -hmm. Speaker 1 (21:58) Paul kind of wanted, he was a veteran. He wanted you guys all to be yourselves. And that's obviously going to bring out the best in you on the court as well. Yeah. You have a great year in Boston. Speaker 1 (22:11) You said you weren't really drinking? You weren't drugging? Nothing? No. You know, too crazy? No. Speaker 2 (22:17) And then, you know, in college, you know, them was the years when the, you know, DVDs was at its all-time high. You know, everyone had half-baked and, you know, Cheech and Chong DVDs and, you know. But when I played, oh, man, so in college, you know, I was... I had dreams of having a smoking room. I don't see too many of those stores anymore. We should get us a store where they sell just posters. Like black lights and posters. I mean, it's always Spencer. The early Speaker 1 (22:58) 2000s style. Yeah, so I Speaker 2 (23:01) had dreams of having tie-dye posters and black lights and Billy Bob Thornton. And one day when it's all said and done, I'm going to run