Remembering Delonte West

Delonte West was living the dream of every young man’s life. He was a professional athlete. Traveling the world, beautiful women, being paid millions of dollars. Delonte became a millionaire doing what he loved. He was living out the fantasy of every little boy and girl who would take turnaround jumpers at the curb while a fake shot clock rang through their head. 

Delonte West was on top of the world. And so was his team. The Cavaliers had an NBA best 61 wins and a number one seed in the playoffs. Their shining star, LeBron James, was rising even higher on his way to another MVP. 

Then it happened. Delonte West fucked LeBron’s mom. 

Now I understand that they’re two consenting adults. They ran in the same circles. Delonte being on the Cavs, Gloria James being the mother of their best player. I guess these things happen. That’s love I suppose. 

But not without repercussions. 

If you remember, this was arguably the year of LeBron’s biggest playoff collapse. The Celtics/Cavs Eastern Conference Finals. The man who was averaging 29.7/7.3/8.6 was nowhere to be found. LeBron’s slackish body language was evident, he was missing open shots and layups, and his demeanor changed from a man on a mission to someone who looked like he had quit on his team. Bron averaged 18.5 points in that series loss and shot 30.2% from the field. He stormed off the court and took his jersey off before he even reached the locker room. 

You can understand how a man’s heart might not be in his craft when he has to share the court with a man who had sexual relations with someone he cares deeply about. It can affect your star’s performance when he can’t bare to look at the face of a role player. No orginaztion could possibly want that. Some men might rise above it, but you can understand how others might have the same reaction as LeBron.

But LeBron is LeBron and he turned out alright. He went on to win two more MVPs and four NBA titles. Delonte however, did not. 

That season was the last time West donned a Cavaliers uniform. LeBron was a powerful man in that organization and he had to know he did him wrong. Delonte still played in the NBA after the incident, sure. But the production wasn’t there. He only played 1.5 more seasons. It was clear that Delonte West just wasn’t that good when LeBron wasn’t on the court. 

Unfortunately, Delonte West crashed and burned from there. He sadly was rumored to have untreated mental issues. He developed a bad drug habit and allegedly even became addicted to embalming fluid. People began to spot West living homeless in the streets. Arrests became inevitable. 

Thank God for the big heart of Mark Cuban. The Mavs owner got Delonte the help he needed. Got him off the streets, put him in a program, and helped him turn his life around. Delonte West is now entering the draft pool for the Big 3. Good for him. Delonte had to work hard to get where he is. But it’s not the NBA. Where LeBron just averaged another 30 ppg season. 

Morale of the story: be careful where you put your pecker.