Sports have their fair share of tragic tales. From those that squander their fortunes and talent to those who end up losing their lives, the athletics world has claimed numerous victims. But every once in a while a story that could have ended in despair doesn’t. A tale headed down a dark path takes a hard left. Hopefully that is currently the case with former Bucks center Larry Sanders. As the versatile big man attempts a comeback to the league he walked away from, we take a look at what could have been and what may be ahead.
Larry Sanders got a late introduction to basketball. His massive high school growth spurt drew attention and he began playing in the tenth grade. The game became second nature to the eventually 6’11” Sanders. His athleticism was tremendous and his basketball IQ grew with each passing game. He would eventually end up at Virginia Commonwealth University. Both his profile, and that of his school’s, would rapidly rise.
He would win two consecutive CAA Defensive Player of the Year awards and made the All-Defensive team all three years at the school. His final season with the Rams saw him win CAA Player of the Year honors. Larry Sanders’ stock would never be higher, so after his junior season he declared for the NBA Draft.
Larry Sanders was the 15th overall selection in the 2011 NBA Draft. His impact wasn’t immediate in the big time, but any person worth their salt could see that his skill set would allow him to have NBA staying power. Sanders could run the floor. He was nimble around the basket on both offense and defense. He could disrupt the flow of the opposition’s offense in the post or jump out to the wing to make a stop. But as much as he was building a solid reputation on the court, Larry Sanders was developing a sub-par one off it.
Sanders broke out in 2012-13. He nearly averaged a double-double (9.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG) and was second in the league in blocks (2.8 BPG). He became an invaluable asset to a Bucks team looking to become a perennial playoff participant. However, Milwaukee could never get over that hump. Concurrently, Sanders could never get past his temper. Just four months after signing a 4 year, $44 million deal, Sanders tore his thumb in a nightclub brawl that doubled as the worst recreation of Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity video. It sent the Bucks into a tailspin and brought into question his role with the team, something that was without question just a third of a year prior.
Larry would just play 23 games that season and only 27 the next. Numerous preventable injuries and two marijuana suspensions later, the Bucks had seen enough. Larry Sanders saw his contract bought out and his desire to play basketball fade into the ether. But the decision to let Sanders go wasn’t made out of spite. The contract buyout allowed Sanders to make strides to take his life back from his own mind.
As someone who has dealt with mental health issues of my own, seeing a professional athlete walk away from a lucrative career because of it was eye-opening. A professional athlete’s earning timetable is very small. So for somebody to give that up, it has to be very important.
Larry Sanders has used his time away from the court productively. He’s not only focused on improving his mental health, but being an advocate for others in the professional sports arena. In a piece by ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz, one quote particularly stands out:
“I want to open that door for guys,” Sanders said. “It’s hard for people in my field to respect mental health. We say that the game is 90 percent mental, but yet mental health doesn’t get the respect of, like, an ACL. The game is 90 percent mental, but we’re going to ignore your mental health.”
Larry Sanders
But while Sanders has opened that door, it is the door back to the NBA that he is looking to enter. He has stated that he is in a good head space at the moment, working on music and art. But despite this calm, he feels he has unfinished business in the realm of basketball. Sanders’ agent has put out feelers regarding interest within the NBA for his client. Sanders himself has taken to Twitter to ask his nearly 31,000 followers where he should play next.
Which team do you believe will utilize my skills the best?????
— L8show (@l8show_thegoat) July 25, 2016
Which team do you believe will utilize my skills the best??????
— L8show (@l8show_thegoat) July 25, 2016
Larry Sanders knows he is going to have to re-earn the trust of NBA executives as well as his peers. But at least this version of Sanders is coming into things knowing that. He is no longer a deer in the headlights, but instead the person driving the car of his sanity for the first time in ages. Wherever Sanders lands, I hope he can keep that positivity flowing. To be frank, with a player of his skills in the way this league is trending, he will land somewhere.
The Larry Sanders story could have ended in tragedy. The annals of sports history have plenty of narratives that see the mentally ill end on the wrong end of the law or a sorrowful fate by their own hands. If Sanders comes back for the 2016-17 season, this isn’t just a second chance at an NBA career. It is a second chance to live.