Former Detroit Pistons star Ben Wallace may have had an incredible 16-year career in the NBA, but it was his time after the NBA that proved especially trying.
The 44-year-old former power forward opened up about his struggle with depression after retiring from the NBA in 2012, in an interview with The Undefeated published Thursday.
“Basketball is sort of mind-controlling,” he said. “It takes you on a journey of extreme highs and extreme lows. It almost makes you need it. One day I can go out and get 20 rebounds and tomorrow I can come out and get seven or eight. Now, you’re sort of waiting for the next time to prove yourself.”
Wallace added the he struggled with meaninglessness after leaving the league.
“When you retire, you start feeling left out, no one’s really checking on you, you ain’t getting no phone calls that you used to get. Then you start to get low, but there’s no game tomorrow to lift you up, so you just keep sinking and sinking,” he explained.
But now that six years have passed since retiring, Wallace says he’s doing better now.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that he made over $90 million while playing. Or the fact that he’s now a partial owner and chairman of the G-League basketball team the Grand Rapids Drive in Michigan.
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Not too shabby.