Mental-health struggles and substance-abuse issues left former NBA guard Delonte West homeless two years ago. Now, the 38-year-old is working toward finding his next professional basketball home.
Over the past month, West has been training daily at the Pat The Roc Basketball Academy in Gaithersburg, Maryland with the intent of joining Ice Cube’s Big 3 league, per TMZ Sports. West has also reportedly shared advice with the academy’s children while training there.
In a clip from one of his training sessions, West flashed the silky-smooth left-handed jump shot that made him a first-round NBA Draft pick in 2004 and kept him in the league for eight seasons.
West’s post-career struggles rose to the public eye in January 2020, when a video of him being attacked on the road in his hometown of Washington, D.C. and another clip of him sitting on a curb shirtless and handcuffed surfaced. The former Dallas Mavericks guard was also seen panhandling in Texas that year.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban located West, reconnected him with his family and got him into a Florida rehab facility in October 2020. A month later, West was back on the court getting shots up.
A former Saint Joseph’s star, West played for the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Mavericks over his eight-year career. He last played in the 2011-12 season with Dallas.
