As an NBA star, once receiving a dream salary from the league, the scandal surrounding the story with his teammate’s mother has somewhat ruined Delonte West’s career.
Delonte West, one of the most legendary players in the NBA. He played for 8 years in the NBA for the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics (currently Oklahoma City Thunder), Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks.
As a highly regarded defender in the most exciting basketball league on the planet, Delonte West is not remembered by fans for his top performances on the court, people often tell stories about him related to LeBron James’ mother.
Delonte West’s complicated relationship with LeBron James and Gloria James.
Delonte West, has had a complicated relationship with Gloria James, LeBron James’ mother. That is something that NBA fans all know or have at least heard about. The story is still one of the most noisy scandals related to LeBron James but there is no exact answer.
According to recorded information, LeBron James discovered the incident before the 4th game of the 2010 Playoff series between the Cavaliers and Celtics. The NBA’s number one superstar somehow knew that his mother was having an affair with Delonte West, who a year before was his teammate in the Cavaliers shirt.
Facing an opponent who was once a teammate and had a relationship with his mother, LeBron James was said to have lost all his fighting spirit, which somewhat affected the team’s playing style in the remaining matches.
After the game, the incident was discussed by many people and was a story that shook the entire league at that time. Although he denied it, LeBron James’s terrible performance in the game at that time made many people believe that his mother’s “young pilot flying an old plane” love story was real. And that greatly affected the star’s performance in the 2010 Playoffs.
In an interview in 2014, Delonte West rekindled this old story and almost confirmed his relationship with Gloria James.
“I didn’t name my son after me because I didn’t want him to be a laughing stock to his friends because of what his father did,” Delonte West shared with Vice Sports in 2014.
The years at the Cleveland Cavaliers were also the time when Delonte West reached the peak of his career.
With Delonte’s answer, fans all thought that the former player at that time did not want his son to go to school and receive questions like “Did your father sleep with LeBron James’s mother?” That was also the reason why West named his son Cash West.
Before getting into trouble with LeBron James’s mother, Delonte West was also involved in an accusation related to possessing weapons and driving at excessive speed. In 2009, while using drugs and participating in traffic, Delonte West was discovered by the police carrying 3 guns and a dagger.
In July 2010, the court required Delonte West to perform two years of house arrest. During that time, the then Boston Celtics guard was required to perform 40 hours of community service, attend counseling sessions with a psychologist, and be monitored by an electronic bracelet for about eight months.
The last images of Delonte West in the NBA in the Dallas Mavericks jersey. At the time of his contract termination by the Dallas team, the reason given was that Delonte West did not comply with the team’s discipline, the underlying cause was not disclosed.
Delonte West ended his years of playing at a high level in the Dallas Mavericks jersey in the 2011-2012 season. He then wandered to China to find the remaining glory in the CBA tournament, however, with a history of bipolar disorder, Delonte West could not stay there for long.
Recently, Delonte West also received a lot of attention from fans after a clip of him being beaten in the middle of the street and handcuffed with his skinny body on the sidewalk of Washington street was posted. Not long before, Delonte West also appeared outside a supermarket looking no different from a homeless person.
During his years playing in the NBA, Delonte West earned more than 16 million USD (equivalent to 460 billion VND). However, he himself was always in a state of poverty, partly due to his weakness in controlling spending.
However, unlike some other stars in the NBA who became broke because they only liked to enjoy life, Delonte West was not like that. He earned money and used it to bring a better life to his family.
Delonte West bought 3 houses for his parents and brother, and the former NBA star even paid for his mother, Delphina Addison, to help her get a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from Howard University. As for the youngest sister in the family, Delonte West also took good care of her, helping her have a fairly comfortable time while still in school before having her own career.
Although he looked haggard, Delonte West was not really homeless. According to Delonte West’s relatives, the most difficult thing for this former player is that terrible disease. Having a house to live in, a job to do, relatives and friends to care about, but Delonte West did not choose that way of life. That shows how terrible the neurological disease has been to Delonte West.
Previously, Delonte West also received offers of financial assistance from some NBA team owners as well as the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), but the former player chose to refuse.
At present, Delonte West’s illness has somewhat recovered, but he still needs regular check-ups. He is living with his mother in Maryland and working with his brother. As for his wife and 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren, it is reported that both are living in Dallas, Texas, USA.
From a recognized star in the tournament, the above images cannot help but make fans feel heartbroken and sad. The scandals behind the ring and the mental instability caused by the terrible neurological disease forced Delonte West to retire from his playing career at a young age. Now, even though he doesn’t want to, that is how fans remember Delonte West, who used to be a teammate of LeBron James.
Regardless of the truth behind the story, Delonte West is probably the one who regrets the most about the relationship he once had with LeBron James.
