The past year in the NBA was highlighted by a variety of compelling stories, from Kawhi Leonard's sudden rift with the Spurs to Bryan Colangelo’s burner Twitter accounts. Yet one story that didn’t gain the most news coverage but may end up leaving the most important legacy for the league is the emergence of a conversation surrounding the mental health of players.
Beginning with Kevin Love and Demar Derozan, a number of players began to come forward last season and speak publicly about their struggles with mental health. Some of these stories were highlighted by Jackie MacMullan’s five-part ESPN series written about mental health, featuring interviews with Shane Larkin, Marcus Morris and Trae Young. The bravery of these players in coming forward to talk about their struggles has been immensely impactful in helping to address this topic. Derozan and Love were not the first to speak openly about their mental health struggles, as players in the past such as Keyon Dooling, Metta World Peace and Royce White have all advanced the topic, but this is the first time that the NBA has taken steps to address these issues.
Since these stories surfaced, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) hired Dr. William Parham to fill a position as the NBPA’s head of mental health and wellness, and they have begun to prioritize the matter with NBA commissioner Adam Silver reportedly prioritizing creating some form of mental health policy for the league.The NBA and NBPA reminded players in September that they have mental wellness help available for every player in every city, and that players are encouraged to make use of whatever they feel they might need.
These are all steps in the right direction as the NBA seems to again be on the forefront of progressive change for American sports leagues; however, if the NBA wishes to maintain the progress that they have begun, there is one lobbying voice that they must reject.
It was reported back in August by MacMullan that some NBA owners have been pushing to get players’ mental health histories included in their medical files. According to MacMullan's report, the owners argue that they have a right to know these issues before they make commit to multi-million dollar contracts with these players. On the surface this argument may seem valid, but it actually threatens to halt or even reverse all the crucial mental wellness progress that the NBA has made over the last few seasons.
Most of the players who have so far spoken about their own mental health problems, have also mentioned the difficulty they had in deciding to speak due to the stigma associated with mental illness. Especially in a hyper-masculine environment like an American sports league, players will always be reluctant to speak unless there is a massive change of culture and perception around mental health. This change won’t occur, however, without discussion also occurring around the issue. NBA owners who force players to choose between their mental well-being and their careers only encourages players to bottle up their struggles and never speak to anyone. For a successful NBA future, and health of the players who make up the league, it is crucial that the NBA continues to allow confidentiality to be non-negotiable.
Weidner's Words: Mental health in the NBA
