Player mental health

[Johnny Bball]

Mental health is getting worse for the public as a whole, so IMO it's just an extension of that rather than anything specific going on with the league. No doubt social media plays a part but again that is true for pretty much everybody on those platforms.

If anyone is considering it, I deleted social media about 6 months ago and have been noticeably happier/more productive as a result. Different strokes for different folks but that's been my experience.

Can confirm. Getting away from social media has made me much happier and clearer of mind. You don’t even need to delete them per say if you just take it off your phone you won’t have a constant flow of crap hitting you 24/7

Y’all really deleted y’all social media? People also use it to keep in touch with family and friends as well. I do agree that it can be toxic sometimes but if I delete it I would feel like I’m out of the loop, feel like I may miss something.

You could maybe keep it a small closed loop, but they are tlaking about IG/Twitter where you have to read the masses bitching, moaning and insults... social media is toxic when its outside that small closed loop. Even then, if you aren't smart enough to avoid the news/ads its still toxic. There is no way I would be on social media as an athelete.

[hardenASG13]

Dont feel any sympathy for nba players mental health. They live a life of luxury and their job is a dream come true to almost anyone who ever picked up a basketball. They dont have the stress of needing money for bills, having to work overtime to make ends meet, etc. They fly city to city where they are treated to luxury and a city and that pays a lot of money to come see them every night. They also can get any woman they want if they arent married in such cities.They can ignore social media if its bothering them (its true, you just dont have to open it up), or go the KD route and just say "you broke" to random idiots who trash them online. Its not a bad life.

mo money mo problems

If the problems are people asking for money, or idiots who would kill for your job and lifestyle (and ability for the most part to retire extremely comfortably by age 35) criticizing you online or in TV, id take those problems when compared to the average person. Its not like these guys are drug dealers or criminals that have amassed dangerous enemies on their way to wealth, they play basketball and are hailed as heros in their hometowns.

[G35]

it seems to be getting worse and worse by the year. To me, i see a lot of players struggling in this regard whether its malik beasly and wound up in jail, to markelle fultz, to ben simmons, and hell, even lebron james just swung on a player whos name he didnt know because he was crumbling under the pressure of being down to the pistons after getting blown out by boston.

these players are probably under the most pressure you can put an athelte under on an everyday basis, just due to how important 1 or two guys can be on the floor, the money, the negativity on social media and forums, and the 247 sports news cycle. I understand dealing with this is how they make all the money, but can you think ofs anything the players or the league can do to have less guys fall off the rails so often? it seems like the NBA is basically set up to drive players nuts right now, and the money wouldnt be there without it.

There are probably countless players dealing with issues and they are just introverted about it so I can only imagine how widespread this is.

This is not just an issue for athletes but Western societies in general. Social psychologists have said there are a few issues for this:

- Unsupervised playtime for children...this is important for children to play alone without adult supervision i.e. at the sandbox, where children learn to work things out without having to appeal to a higher authority

- Social media and how people use it to manipulate relationships...this is huge and has had a debilitating effect (particularly on females) on people's self image and their standing among their peers. Everyone....everyone is susceptible to peer pressure/influence

- Not having any traditions/cultural icons (not necessarily a person) that people can rally around ...basically no one believes in anything anymore...we are more cynical and jaded than ever

- We are becoming the "no-risk" culture...society has deemed any risk to be too much...and that is having a psychological effect when saying that any risk is unacceptable


Just like people talk about climate change...there are sociological changes that swing the pendulum. I think that future generations are going to figure it out...but we are going to have a bumpy road in front of us.....

[BigGargamel]

Dont feel any sympathy for nba players mental health. They live a life of luxury and their job is a dream come true to almost anyone who ever picked up a basketball. They dont have the stress of needing money for bills, having to work overtime to make ends meet, etc. They fly city to city where they are treated to luxury and a city and that pays a lot of money to come see them every night. They also can get any woman they want if they arent married in such cities.They can ignore social media if its bothering them (its true, you just dont have to open it up), or go the KD route and just say "you broke" to random idiots who trash them online. Its not a bad life.

Ugh. This is why I wish this kind of stuff won't be discussed on boards like this. Most people just aren't educated/smart enough. This is such a stupid take. Money and fame often makes things worse, especially mental health wise. Believe it or not, being young, rich and black often comes with it's own set of issues and struggles. You don't have to be broke to have mental health issues. This is sad.

[Blacksheep25]

Mental health is getting worse for the public as a whole, so IMO it's just an extension of that rather than anything specific going on with the league. No doubt social media plays a part but again that is true for pretty much everybody on those platforms.

If anyone is considering it, I deleted social media about 6 months ago and have been noticeably happier/more productive as a result. Different strokes for different folks but that's been my experience.

It’s nice when someone nails the answer on the second post. With anything, there is a myriad of factors, but I’d guess social media is by far the biggest culprit. It is with people I know struggling with a circle of a few thousand people. I can’t imagine every idiotic thing I did in my early twenties being fodder for half the globe. I’d like to think I would have been smart enough to avoid it, I do now and find it toxic, but there is a huge financial incentive for them to grow huge followings. I’m sure I would have fell into it had I been some celebrity in my youth and it was around.

[MTJazzv3]

Mental health is getting worse for the public as a whole, so IMO it's just an extension of that rather than anything specific going on with the league. No doubt social media plays a part but again that is true for pretty much everybody on those platforms.

If anyone is considering it, I deleted social media about 6 months ago and have been noticeably happier/more productive as a result. Different strokes for different folks but that's been my experience.

Can confirm. Getting away from social media has made me much happier and clearer of mind. You don’t even need to delete them per say if you just take it off your phone you won’t have a constant flow of crap hitting you 24/7

Y’all really deleted y’all social media? People also use it to keep in touch with family and friends as well. I do agree that it can be toxic sometimes but if I delete it I would feel like I’m out of the loop, feel like I may miss something.

Yup. I miss some random 'being aware' of some long lost friends but sure as hell don't miss the toxic environment and echo-chamber conversations. I'm much happier being off social media.

[Lockdown504090]

Can confirm. Getting away from social media has made me much happier and clearer of mind. You don’t even need to delete them per say if you just take it off your phone you won’t have a constant flow of crap hitting you 24/7

Y’all really deleted y’all social media? People also use it to keep in touch with family and friends as well. I do agree that it can be toxic sometimes but if I delete it I would feel like I’m out of the loop, feel like I may miss something.

Yup. I miss some random 'being aware' of some long lost friends but sure as hell don't miss the toxic environment and echo-chamber conversations. I'm much happier being off social media.

my gf has persistent depression disorder and she got off and her symptoms improved within 2 weeks.

[CobraCommander]

If we are being honest, Mental health has always been an issue. If we want to know take it seriously, great.

But y’all think Dennis Rodman was mentally healthy? No social media, just drinking drugs women money and guns.


Jordan ain’t mentally healthy either....he just good enough at basketball to cover on his bad gambling addiction..

If y’all want to pretend like the stuff we seeing in the nba is new from a mental health perspective, I’ll play along.....but I know you know I know you know it’s always been like this.....not just nba but all over the world

[ItsDanger]

Time to unplug and enjoy the outdoors

[hardenASG13]

Dont feel any sympathy for nba players mental health. They live a life of luxury and their job is a dream come true to almost anyone who ever picked up a basketball. They dont have the stress of needing money for bills, having to work overtime to make ends meet, etc. They fly city to city where they are treated to luxury and a city and that pays a lot of money to come see them every night. They also can get any woman they want if they arent married in such cities.They can ignore social media if its bothering them (its true, you just dont have to open it up), or go the KD route and just say "you broke" to random idiots who trash them online. Its not a bad life.

Ugh. This is why I wish this kind of stuff won't be discussed on boards like this. Most people just aren't educated/smart enough. This is such a stupid take. Money and fame often makes things worse, especially mental health wise. Believe it or not, being young, rich and black often comes with it's own set of issues and struggles. You don't have to be broke to have mental health issues. This is sad.

Oh yeah, you have alot of experience being young, rich, and famous(not sure where black came in? Plenty of rich white players as well)? If not what the hell are you talking about? What problems? If its the one i mentioned ( people asking for money, idiots trashing you online) again, id take those problems instead of those faced by people living in poverty. Nobody said you have to be broke to have mental health issues, just that tye issues faced by rich, famous young athletes dont deserve a sob story.

[Duke4life831]

It seems like mental health is becoming a blanket term that people just throw around now. Just because someone loses their cool doesnt mean they’re suffering from mental health issues.

You see this with depression or migraines. If you go and ask someone if they’ve dealt with depression or have had migraines, the vast majority will say yes. But I’m reality those numbers are tiny. But many people think if they had a really bad day or were really sad for a day or two, they were depressed. People who think they’ve had a really bad headache had a migraine.

As someone who has spent a ton of time volunteering for people dealing with depression. I think talking about depression and other mental health more publicly is a good thing. But with that it also has its negatives as well.

People begin to use these terms in a very broad and general way. Which leads to multiple issues.

1. People begin to think that anytime they aren’t 100%, they think there is something clinically wrong with them. When in reality they’re just going through the normal ups and downs of life. This leads to many people looking to get prescription medicines like antidepressants when they really don’t need them.

2. It can be damaging for people who are actually going through these issues. When people generalize these terms and make it seem like every day to day issue is a mental health issue, it can compound the negative effect on people who are dealing with legit mental health issues.

So long story short, I think it’s great people are more open about mental health. But with that there are negative side effects. The generalizing of the terms is a bad aspect of this. So ya when I see people say the issue with LeBron and Stewart is an example of mental health issues. It’s cringe and not useful.

[blitz41]

Mental health is not getting worse than before, people are just more aware of it today. It's like cancer 1000 years ago. People still got cancer back then, they just did not know they actually died from cancer.

Just think about it. Being able to survive during the 1500s. Getting enough food was a huge challenge, having 10 children, 7 of them died before the age of one. Just think of that mental hell. You guys don't think they had mental health problems compared to our society today.

Theres almost an aspect that they didnt have time to spare on even considering mental health (not that I'm saying it didn't exist, not at all, there are plenty of examples of medieval and ancient ppl dealing with grief etc.)

Theres a pretty interesting interview floating around with some of the last real hunter gatherers where they ask the chief what is the meaning of life, and his response was "to get meat". No deep philosophy, no like existential crisis, he just needs food.

In a similar idea its why militaries everywhere dont give people any downtime, even the dumbest make work job is a better alternative than letting them sit around and talk/think.

[G35]

If we are being honest, Mental health has always been an issue. If we want to know take it seriously, great.

But y’all think Dennis Rodman was mentally healthy? No social media, just drinking drugs women money and guns.


Jordan ain’t mentally healthy either....he just good enough at basketball to cover on his bad gambling addiction..

If y’all want to pretend like the stuff we seeing in the nba is new from a mental health perspective, I’ll play along.....but I know you know I know you know it’s always been like this.....not just nba but all over the world

Yes, we have been always had people with mental instability and we did not always handle it properly...however, imo, we do not raise our children to deal with life challenges like we did in the past.

We point out all the faults that happen in life but we have not built up enough fortitude to deal with setbacks. But that is how we are now. This is exactly the difference between Jordan and Lebron.

As you say, Jordan has a lot of mental issues as well...but how did he handle setbacks on the court? Did he go to social media? What was his reaction after losing over and over to the Pistons...he realized he had to get stronger and tougher, to withstand the challenges of his opponents. Then when Jordan finally overcomes his basketball demons, it showed that persistence, resilience lead to greater success.

Whereas Lebron, when he kept losing to the Celtics, he left and manipulated the system to get what he wanted. So then fans see that and say, "Yeah, why shouldn't he do that...why shouldn't Lebron use his position...his power to get what he wants. The end result was championships, so the end justifies the means."

But what it showed to Lebron and to the general public, is that if something is difficult, you can manipulate the situation to get what you want....immediately. This is what people do on social media...they use it to get immediate gratification, boost self-esteem, and validation. It does not matter how you do it, just do it.

What do you think young people would rather do...develop resilience over time or manipulate their environment immediately.....

[GSWFan1994]

I deleted all my social media back in 2008 and I've been happy ever since.

If you want to reach me now, just call me via phone or send an e-mail. That's enough for me. I like my privacy.

I miss the old days pre-internet... a simpler life back then, and one that's never, ever coming back.

[bwgood77]

it seems to be getting worse and worse by the year. To me, i see a lot of players struggling in this regard whether its malik beasly and wound up in jail, to markelle fultz, to ben simmons, and hell, even lebron james just swung on a player whos name he didnt know because he was crumbling under the pressure of being down to the pistons after getting blown out by boston.

these players are probably under the most pressure you can put an athelte under on an everyday basis, just due to how important 1 or two guys can be on the floor, the money, the negativity on social media and forums, and the 247 sports news cycle. I understand dealing with this is how they make all the money, but can you think ofs anything the players or the league can do to have less guys fall off the rails so often? it seems like the NBA is basically set up to drive players nuts right now, and the money wouldnt be there without it.

There are probably countless players dealing with issues and they are just introverted about it so I can only imagine how widespread this is.

I think they should encourage guys to just avoid social media and media in general, outside of watching other games.

Ayton for example takes a ton of heat from fans, even a ton of Suns fans...can have a great game and people will complain endlessly about why he didn't dunk a ball he tried to lay in and missed...even though he is one of the more efficient bigs in the league, especially when you don't consider guys who can only dunk or score with 2-3 ft.

But he ignores ALL social media and focuses on what he can control.

[fanofthegreats]

If we are being honest, Mental health has always been an issue. If we want to know take it seriously, great.

But y’all think Dennis Rodman was mentally healthy? No social media, just drinking drugs women money and guns.


Jordan ain’t mentally healthy either....he just good enough at basketball to cover on his bad gambling addiction..

If y’all want to pretend like the stuff we seeing in the nba is new from a mental health perspective, I’ll play along.....but I know you know I know you know it’s always been like this.....not just nba but all over the world

Yes, we have been always had people with mental instability and we did not always handle it properly...however, imo, we do not raise our children to deal with life challenges like we did in the past.

We point out all the faults that happen in life but we have not built up enough fortitude to deal with setbacks. But that is how we are now. This is exactly the difference between Jordan and Lebron.

As you say, Jordan has a lot of mental issues as well...but how did he handle setbacks on the court? Did he go to social media? What was his reaction after losing over and over to the Pistons...he realized he had to get stronger and tougher, to withstand the challenges of his opponents. Then when Jordan finally overcomes his basketball demons, it showed that persistence, resilience lead to greater success.

Whereas Lebron, when he kept losing to the Celtics, he left and manipulated the system to get what he wanted. So then fans see that and say, "Yeah, why shouldn't he do that...why shouldn't Lebron use his position...his power to get what he wants. The end result was championships, so the end justifies the means."

But what it showed to Lebron and to the general public, is that if something is difficult, you can manipulate the situation to get what you want....immediately. This is what people do on social media...they use it to get immediate gratification, boost self-esteem, and validation. It does not matter how you do it, just do it.

What do you think young people would rather do...develop resilience over time or manipulate their environment immediately.....

I think Jordan being afforded Horace Grand and Scottie Pippen instead of Mo Williams had more to do with that scenario as opposed to your analysis.

[CobraCommander]

If we are being honest, Mental health has always been an issue. If we want to know take it seriously, great.

But y’all think Dennis Rodman was mentally healthy? No social media, just drinking drugs women money and guns.


Jordan ain’t mentally healthy either....he just good enough at basketball to cover on his bad gambling addiction..

If y’all want to pretend like the stuff we seeing in the nba is new from a mental health perspective, I’ll play along.....but I know you know I know you know it’s always been like this.....not just nba but all over the world

Yes, we have been always had people with mental instability and we did not always handle it properly...however, imo, we do not raise our children to deal with life challenges like we did in the past.

We point out all the faults that happen in life but we have not built up enough fortitude to deal with setbacks. But that is how we are now. This is exactly the difference between Jordan and Lebron.

As you say, Jordan has a lot of mental issues as well...but how did he handle setbacks on the court? Did he go to social media? What was his reaction after losing over and over to the Pistons...he realized he had to get stronger and tougher, to withstand the challenges of his opponents. Then when Jordan finally overcomes his basketball demons, it showed that persistence, resilience lead to greater success.

Whereas Lebron, when he kept losing to the Celtics, he left and manipulated the system to get what he wanted. So then fans see that and say, "Yeah, why shouldn't he do that...why shouldn't Lebron use his position...his power to get what he wants. The end result was championships, so the end justifies the means."

But what it showed to Lebron and to the general public, is that if something is difficult, you can manipulate the situation to get what you want....immediately. This is what people do on social media...they use it to get immediate gratification, boost self-esteem, and validation. It does not matter how you do it, just do it.

What do you think young people would rather do...develop resilience over time or manipulate their environment immediately.....

Yeah but none of that has to do with mental health. Lebron decided he wanted to work for a better company. He left Samsung and went to apple, helped develop the iPhone and then came back to Samsung and dropped the best smart phone for them. In other words it’s just work and because it’s Lebron, we behind the curtain on lebrons job choice. That’s not mental health...that’s what we all do.

Mental health isn’t a blanket for all things tough or stressful OR all bad decisions.

Jordan, Rodman, D.Rose, Marbury, metaworldpeace and even Ben Simmons appear to have legit mental health issues.

Lebron, Pippen, Stewart, KD and even Kyrie seem to be people living without serious mental health issues and act differently at work or In public than you would like. But there is nothing they have done that would scream they need mental health help. dukes post...that’s solid

[OutsidetheNBA]

We don't talk enough about owners' mental health.

Imagine the pressure of running a multi-billion dollar business with a whole city watching and criticizing every mistake.

Now imagine one of your players suddenly develops an extremely serious and legitimate mental health issue like Ben Simmons.

It would be enough to make me very anxious -- so anxious I wouldn't be able to pay Ben Simmons. Just a tragedy all around.

[Harry Garris]

Mental health is getting worse for the public as a whole, so IMO it's just an extension of that rather than anything specific going on with the league. No doubt social media plays a part but again that is true for pretty much everybody on those platforms.

If anyone is considering it, I deleted social media about 6 months ago and have been noticeably happier/more productive as a result. Different strokes for different folks but that's been my experience.

100% agree. Getting off of Reddit drastically improved my outlook on life.

[Michael Jackson]

I might be worried if it was something malicious that was being done to them, but all they have to do is play basketball and earn millions. I ain't feeling sorry for that. Retire early if it's killing you. So many people feel like **** and have no option but to go to work, there's no way I'm gonna start worrying for these guys' mental health.

The pressures of the job definetly weigh on it. If you have people criticizing your every move, it can absolutely wear on you. That being said, if you want to make the big money, that is part of the territory. You are getting paid to entertain people, not just to play basketball. It is public viewing. You want endorsements, you have to be a public figure. If you don't want or can't handle the stress, this life is not for you.

The other thing is if you are in a position to be so high profile, along with the perks there are negatives. One of the perks though is this... you have access to help, through the league, the team, agent and on your own. Most people are going to feel the pressure no doubt. Why do we think Ricky Williams retired?

SWide point to this is absolutely nothing new. Leon Smith was a prime example. To a great extent Len Bias wasn't able to deal with the pressure either. This job of being in the public eye is not an easy one. If you want to do it, you must do everything in your power to stay not only physically, but also mentally healthy.