Disturbing police update on troubled $16m NBA player

Concerned fans are all saying the same thing after a sad update surrounding a troubled former NBA star who lost his entire $16 million fortune.

Troubled former NBA star Delonte West has been arrested again.

The 40-year-old was placed in custody on Friday morning after a police chase in which cops had to administer Narcan for a suspected opioid overdose.

The basketballer, who accumulated earnings of $16 million throughout his NBA career, fled Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, as they were trying to serve him a warrant for violating terms of release, according to TMZ Sports, before police found him “unresponsive.”

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West, who was released from the hospital and charged with resisting arrest, appears haggard with his eyes only slightly open in his booking photo that had several NBA fans on X remarking how “sad” it was to see.

Delonte West's mugshot. Photo: Fairfax County Police Department.

The Athletic’s Alicia Jessop wrote: “My heart hurts for Delonte West. Addiction is such a tough, nasty disease. Those battling it often fall more than once. My hope and prayer is that he can receive the breakthrough necessary to finally reach sobriety.”

The New York Post reports the ex-Celtics, Sonics, Cavaliers and Mavericks guard is being held on $2,000 bond and is due in court on Saturday (AEST).

West, who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2008, has fallen on hard times since he last played in the NBA in 2012, having battled substance abuse issues.

In October 2022 he was arrested twice in two weeks, first for trespassing and fleeing police and then for public intoxication.

Delonte West was previously seen begging for money. Photo: Twitter.

Delonte West standing at the side of the road. Photo: Twitter.

Four months earlier, West was filmed in a viral video begging for money on the side of a highway and days later he was seen loitering in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven.

The confronting video showed West holding up a sign written on cardboard before he shakes hands with a man inside a vehicle.

West gave rare public comments in 2022, insisting he was OK.

“It is what it is,” West told The Image Direct at the time.

Delonte West tries to stop Sacramento’s Mike Bibby. Photo: AP PicRich/Pedroncelli.

“I got children. I’m in between jobs. People can help me as much as they can, but you know, as a man I gotta do what I gotta do for my babies,” added West, who has two sons.

Mark Cuban, then the majority Mavericks owner, helped West get into rehab in September 2020, but in October 2021 he was arrested after allegedly banging on the lobby doors at a Florida police headquarters and holding an open can of beer and an open bottle of vodka.

West played parts of three seasons with LeBron James in Cleveland from 2008-10.

He averaged 9.7 points and 3.6 assists in 432 career games.

— This story originally appeared in The New York Post and has been republished with permission