Chris Herren: the ordeal of the heroin-addicted NBA player

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

However, statistics reveal that 60% of the stars of the best league in the world went bankrupt in a span of only 4 years since his retirement.

Chris Herren: NBA player and drug addict

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

The humble origin of many African-American players, from troubled and dysfunctional families, results in excessive expectations in the face of the growing success of the offspring. There are cases to give and take. One of the most famous was the sad story of

Len Bias, athletic forward of 2.03 meters in height. His time at college (between the ages of 16 and 18) and university (between the ages of 18 and 22) was brilliant, being appointed All-American in his freshman course.

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

At 22, Bias was the happiest man in the world, and before that guaranteed contract of several million dollars, he went to celebrate with his friends. That same night, the young promise Len Bias died of a heart arrhythmia caused by a cocaine overdose.

Len Bias was never able to play in a game in the NBA, and his death came as a tremendous shock to his family, those close to him and the entire sports world in general. The NBA took years to recover from that setback, and the Bias case inaugurated certain protection and control measures for university players.

The stormy life of Chris Herren

The life of Chris Herren It 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 function in the point guard position (1.90m) and his magical style of play and fast-paced made him one of the great attractions of the university league, as well as one of the best projects for the future of the NBA. It was precisely e **** in his college days in Boston, when Herren first flirted with drugs.

Chris Herren had a certain reputation as a troublesome and cheeky boy. During his previous stage, in high school, he had been caught several times drinking alcohol, even in the hours before important games. Obviously, the jump from alcohol to cocaine was a big one.

A control of illegal substances from the university league detected the positive for cocaine use in Herren's blood. The young player had been caught again, and in this case with a hard drug in his blood. The leaders of Boston University decided to kick him off the team. Herren ended up at the mediocre University of Fresno, in California. His situation in those latitudes worsened fatally: Herren had constant remorse and suffered a severe depression due to the embarrassment caused by the public revelation of his dalliance with the 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 for him, and he felt that the drug issue had definitely disappointed them and that his public image would never be the same again. same.

The player started his journey in Fresno promising not to use any type of illegal substance again. A promise that, years later, was revealed unfulfilled.

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

His stage in the NBA

Herren 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 did not show any signs of his problems in public. was chosen the number 33 of the Draft by the Denver Nuggets. Herren was in front of a litmus test with his signed professional contract and the possibility of gaining a place among the best. An opportunity not only to succeed in sports, but to take responsibility for his life and leave his demons behind.

In his first year as a professional, Herren was short-tied by veteran Nuggets players such as Antonio McDyess and Nick Van Exel, both leaders and established stars of the league. Just seeing him arrive through the corridors to attend his first training session, Van Exel intercepted him and, accompanied of the giant McDyess, he blurted out to Herren, “Boy, we know your resume, so we'll keep an eye on you. near". They did so, and Herren himself recognized many years later that it was one of his healthiest seasons.

A 22-year-old boy playing in the NBA, making millions of dollars. And totally out of control. His life was deteriorating at an astonishing speed. 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. At that stage he began using a drug called oxycodone, a pain reliever that was frequently used to relieve pain associated with joint and muscle injuries. But Herren lost control and started taking oxycodone compulsively.

Herren's own narrative of the events is creepy, and despite the fact that he publicly showed an image of one more basketball player, psychologically I was destroyed, unable to disengage and with an anxiety that overflowed him.

From Boston to Türkiye: a basketball temp

His low-key season triggered his departure from Boston, and Herren left America to sign for Galatasaray of Turkey, a team that was preparing to play in the playoffs. There he achieved very outstanding numbers. The following year, he landed in China, where he, too, established himself as an effective point guard. His good performance silenced doubts about his possible mental state or his extra-sports problems. As often happens in the world of sports, the human facet of the protagonists is reduced to nothing by the intensity of the spotlights on the playing field.

In this hermetic life, Chris Herren had switched 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, she had at her disposal all kinds of drugs in any of the countries he visited.

The umpteenth relapse

The player fell into a maelstrom of drugs, despair, depression and madness. In his private 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 his health. Herren recounts that, in one of his constant delusions, he abandoned his family and lived for a few days as a homeless man, after drinking alcohol alongside 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 died years before. Little by little, Herren was getting out of the hole, not without constant bumps and relapses. The director of the center where Herren was hospitalized allowed him to leave the facilities for a few hours to attend the birth of his third child. Right after such an event, Herren went to get alcohol at a liquor store.

Upon learning of this episode, his wife told him that if he did not return to the center to finish his detoxification, she would never want to see him again. He returned, and there he met one of his assistants, who, after witnessing several breaches of internal regulations and aware of the pain he caused his wife and children, snapped at Herren:

“Why don't you call your wife and leave her alone for once? Don't you realize that you are sinking your family?"

Overcoming

Chris Herren managed to beat the devil. Currently, he is fully rehabilitated and is dedicated to giving conferences and talks throughout the States. United 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 be proud of having moved on, of having managed to be an example. He currently lives with his wife and children, and comments that, after many years, he can shave looking in the mirror every morning.

A documentary that narrates his entire life

Don't miss the documentary on the life of Chris Herren: