A junkie on the court: the ordeal of the heroin-addicted NBA player

Chris Herren's life was marked by his success in the NBA and his drug addiction.

The data on the bank accounts of former NBA players are, in many cases, surprising. Some of them knew how to invest their fortunes correctly and managed to increase their wealth if possible.

However, statistics show that 60% of the stars of the best league in the world went bankrupt in a span of just four years. within just 4 years of their retirement.

Chris Herren: NBA player and drug addict

A large part of these athletes live a life marked by praise, money and dubious company since their high school days, when they begin to emerge in the sport and the smell of future money is intensifying. They are treated like stars and their environment pushes them to become basketball and advertising machines to quickly monetize their talent. These two facets subordinate the need to take care of the education, both formal and informal, of young people, especially considering that many players come from families with serious economic problems. Many players come from families with serious economic problems..

The humble background of many African-American players, from troubled and dysfunctional families, results in excessive expectations for the growing success of their offspring. There are cases to give and take. One of the most famous was the sad story of Len Bias, an athletic forward of 2.03 meters in height. His passage through college (between the ages of 16 and 18) and university (between the ages of 18 and 22) was brilliant, and he was named an All-American in his freshman year.

The comparisons of Len Bias with Michael Jordan became a constant in the media, and he was finally selected in the Draft.He was finally selected in the 1986 draft, in the second position by the Boston Celtics. For those less educated in the noble sport of basketball, this choice means that Bias signed his first contract for an NBA team and was selected as the second best young player on the planet.

At the age of 22, Bias was the happiest man in the world, and with a guaranteed multi-million dollar contract, he went to celebrate with his friends. That same night, the promising young Len Bias died of a cardiac arrhythmia caused by an overdose of cocaine..

Len Bias was never able to play a game in the NBA, and his death came as a tremendous shock to his family, his loved ones and the entire sports world in general. It took years for the NBA to recover from that setback, and the Bias case inaugurated certain measures to protect and control college players.

The stormy life of Chris Herren

Chris Herren's life is worthy of a Hollywood movie. His long relationship with drugs, which brought him to the brink of death on several occasions, deserves to be explained.

A native of Fall River, a small town in the state of Massachusetts, Herren was a child prodigy with the orange ball. His explosive physique, his good height to perform at the point guard position (1.90m) and his magical and fast-paced style of play made him one of the great attractions of the college league, as well as one of the best future projects of the NBA. It was precisely e****n his college days in Boston, when Herren flirted with drugs for the first time..

Chris Herren had a bit of a reputation as a troublemaker and a brash kid. During his previous stage, in high school, he had been caught several times drinking alcohol, even in the hours before important games. Obviously, the leap from alcohol to cocaine was a big one.

A college league illegal substance test detected Herren's positive for cocaine in his blood.. The young player had been caught again, and in this case with a hard drug in his blood. Boston University officials decided to kick him off the team. Herren went to the mediocre University of Fresno, in California. His situation in those latitudes worsened in a fatal way: Herren had constant regrets and suffered a severe depression due to the shame caused by the public revelation of his dalliance with drugs. He considered himself a failure for having failed his small town, where he was an idol. His family and everyone in Fall River had high expectations of him, and he felt that the drug affair had definitely let them down and that his public image would never be the same.

The player began his career in Fresno by promising not to use any illegal substance again. A promise that, years later, proved to be unfulfilled.

In spite of everything, Herren progressed on the court until he became one of the best players in the college league, averaging scandalous statistics, which were only clouded by his great irregularity. Even so, the basketball world saw him with great options to be chosen in the Draft, which finally happened.

His time in the NBA

Herren got married and had a son before making his NBA debut. His wife was an unconditional support in the face of his serious psychological and addiction problems, and cushioned the frequent ups and downs of the point guard, who showed no signs of his problems in public. He was selected the 33rd pick in the draft by the Denver Nuggets. Herren was facing a trial by fire with his professional contract signed and the possibility of making a place for himself among the best. A chance not only to succeed athletically, but to take responsibility for his life and put his demons behind him.

In his first year as a pro, Herren was tied up short by veteran Nuggets players like Antonio McDyess and Nick Van Exel, both leaders and established stars of the league. Just seeing him coming down the hallway for his first practice, Van Exel intercepted him and, accompanied by the giant McDyess, told Herren, "Kid, we know your resume, so we'll keep an eye on you. They did, and Herren himself Herren himself acknowledged many years later that it was one of his healthiest seasons..

A 22-year-old playing in the NBA, making millions of dollars. And totally out of control. His life was deteriorating at a staggering rate. In his second season, Herren was traded to the Boston Celtics, one of the NBA's most successful franchises, and his hometown. The prodigal son was coming home. During that time, he began using a drug called oxycodone, a painkiller that was often used to relieve the aches and pains associated with joint and Muscle injuries. But Herren lost control and began taking oxycodone compulsively.

Herren's own account of the events is harrowing, and although he publicly portrayed himself as just another basketball player, psychologically he was devastated, psychologically he was a wreckHe was psychologically devastated, unable to let go and with an anxiety that overwhelmed him.

From Boston to Turkey: a temporary basketball player

His discreet season triggered his departure from Boston, and Herren left American soil.Herren left American soil to sign for Galatasaray of Turkey, a team that was preparing to play in the playoffs. There he achieved outstanding numbers. The following year, he moved to China, where he also established himself as an effective point guard. His good performance silenced doubts about his possible mental state or his extra-sporting problems. As often happens in the world of sports, the human side of the protagonists is reduced to nothing by the intensity of the spotlight on the court.

In this hermetic life, Chris Herren had gone from oxycodone to more and more types of stimulants. He had started using heroin, one of the most dangerous drugs. According to his own accounts, he had all kinds of drugs at his disposal in any of the countries he visited.

The umpteenth relapse

The player fell into a maelstrom of drugs, despair, depression and madness.. In his particular hell, not even his two children could be reason enough to overcome his addictions. He was on the verge of suicide at various times, aware that he was a burden to his family. His constant relapses were costing his wife her health. Herren recounts that, in one of his constant delusions, he abandoned his family and lived for a few days as a vagrant, after drinking alcohol with a homeless man on the street.

His story seemed to be doomed. He was admitted to a detoxification center thanks to an old friend of his mother, who had died years earlier. Little by little, Herren climbed out of the hole, but not without constant setbacks and relapses. The director of the center where Herren was hospitalized allowed him to leave the facility for a few hours in order to attend the birth of his third child. Right after this event, Herren went to a liquor store to get alcohol.

Upon learning of this episode, his wife told him that if he did not return to the facility to finish his detoxification she would never want to see him again. He returned, and there he coincided with one of the assistants, who, after witnessing several breaches of internal rules and aware of the pain he was causing his wife and children, shouted at Herren:

"Why don't you call your wife and leave her alone for once, don't you realize that you are bringing your family down?"

Overcoming

Chris Herren managed to beat the devil. Today, he is fully rehabilitated and is dedicated to giving lectures and talks throughout the United States to tell his story and raise awareness among the public, especially young people, about the effect of substances.

Drugs marked his career, which could have been amazing, and his personal life. Herren no longer plays in the NBA, but he can take pride in the fact that he has moved on, that he has managed to set an example. He now lives with his wife and children, and says that, after many years, he is still living with his wife and children, can shave by looking at himself in the mirror every morning..

A documentary that narrates his whole life

Don't miss the documentary about Chris Herren's life: