Larry Sanders Suffered Anxiety in NBA: Is It Why He Quit Basketball?
Larry Sanders, a former NBA player, talked about the anxiety he suffered from while playing for the league.
Sanders shocked the NBA and his fans when he decided to end his career as a basketball player. While he has been open about the anxiety he felt while being part of the league, he revealed more details about the experience in a new interview.
During the recent episode of "No Chill with Gilbert Arenas," Sanders admitted feeling like a "product" during his stay in the basketball industry. He also touched on the fact that he found it challenging to adopt the standards and requirements while playing as a pro.
"I started playing ball when I was 15. I fell in love with the basketball culture, I was adopted by it. I was tall, I was fast, you know, I had these attributes that were attractive and fit into the game. But a lot of it, it didn't resonate with my soul, honestly," he said.
Sanders revealed that it all started when Milwaukee Bucks drafted him in 2010. At that time, things reportedly became an issue as he tried to fit himself to someone else's standards.
He then faced struggles with the unpredictable nature of his career, which affected his family.
Larry Sanders Started Self-Treatment After Developing Anxiety
After feeling anxious as he became more like a product and "very disposable" in NBA, he focused on his mental health and discovered the negative effects the sports had been causing him.
With that, he began his self-treatment with marijuana. While it helped him somehow, he eventually got suspended for 10 games after failing multiple drug tests.
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"It was like, 'I know what's good for me. I know these alternatives that you all are offering me are going to put me in a weaker position in the long term.' I knew what helped and what worked. It always came down to legalities," he went on.
Although he is happy that NBA relaxed its policy on marijuana use, it was not enough for him to finally mark his return after playing for the last time in 2017.
The same anxiety, however, reportedly caused him to leave basketball.
In 2015, CBS Sports quoted Sanders' reason, saying that he could not let basketball consume his life since it would never be worth it.
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