RICHMOND, Va. — Former VCU basketball star Larry Sanders said he left the NBA because he had to seek treatment for anxiety and depression. Sanders told his story in a five-minute video and journal entry entitled “Why I Walked Away from the NBA” posted on the athlete-run PlayersTribune.com.
“I know I disappeared for a while. People were wondering where I was. Actually I entered into a Rogers Memorial Hospital. It was a program for anxiety and depression, mood disorders,” he said. “It taught me a lot about myself, it taught me a lot about what’s important and where I want to devote my time and energy.”
“I love basketball. I’ll always be playing basketball, but for it to consume so much of my life and time right now, that’s not there for me. It’s not that worth it,” he admitted. “If I get to a point where I feel I am capable of playing basketball again, I will.”
In the video, Saunders addressed his marijuana use. He was suspended for five games last basketball season after he tested positive for the drug.
“Cannabis came later on in my life. It was, for me, used medically for some of the symptoms that I was having due to a lot of stress and pressure I was under,” he said. “I think this is seen to be a desirable lucrative job and position. People say ‘How can you not be at happy there? How can that be a place where you don’t want to be?’ Value is in relationships with the people I love around me. That’s my real riches. That’s the lasting wealth.”
Sanders signed a four-year contract extension with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2013. ESPN reported that contract was worth $44 million.
“Coming into the league you get dropped this large amount of money. People automatically change around you. That just happens. You become an ATM to some people. You have to be corrected in your statements, you have to state things a certain way. You give up your freedom of speech, for real, you can’t really say how you feel,” he said.
Saunders wanted to make sure the Bucks and the team’s fan understood his decision to step away from the game was not about them.
“I’m at a point where I’m excited about devoting my energy to these positive, positive things in people and making a difference in this unseen world,” he said.
