Man, shit.
The days of Delonte West and Jameer Nelson putting St Joe’s on the map by going 27-0 and taking them to the Elite Eight seems like a very far cry from the present, as the 32-year-old was seeing wandering around a Houston Jack In The Box, wearing no shoes and a hospital gown over his flannel shirt.
When the fan asked ‘Are you Delonte West?’ Delonte responded, ‘I used to be, but I’m not about that life anymore’, according to TMZ.
Delonte sparked his fair share of controversy during his NBA career, as rumors of him banging Lebron James’ mom during his stint in Cleveland spread like wildfire. Some of Delonte’s erratic behavior could be attributed to bipolar disorder, which he was diagnosed with back in 2008.
West, a former first-round draft pick, left the league in 2012 after making $16 million in his career with the Celtics, Supersonics, Cavaliers, and Mavericks. Since then, he notoriously applied for a job at Home Depot during the NBA lockout and helped his brother sell boxed knife sets at a furniture store.
When he married his second wife Caressa back in 2013, she moved into his $1 million home that was filled with space heaters because he couldn’t afford a new-hot water heater. To Delonte’s credit, although horrendous with his money, he is universally known to be generous to a fault–paying for his mother to get her Master’s degree, buying a home for his brother in Maryland, and putting his sister through college.
Just a sad state of affairs for Delonte. Discouraging to see a guy who was so generous when things were going well not have anyone to turn to when spiraling downward.