Ex-Warriors, Kings player Cauley-Stein reflects on past drug addiction

Ex-Warriors, Kings player Cauley-Stein reflects on past drug addiction originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Former Warriors and Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein has revealed the reason behind NBA “personal leave” in 2021 and his subsequent league exit in 2022.

Speaking to The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker, the 31-year-old reflected on his journey from a serious drug addiction to finding happiness during his road to recovery.

And despite the struggle, he’s lucky to share his story.

“I could easily be dead,” Cauley-Stein told Tucker.

Cauley-Stein admitted he began abusing substances in the summer of 2019 after three of his friends were shot – one of which was killed – in Sacramento.

At the time, he had just signed a near league-minimum deal with Golden State after not receiving a new deal from the Kings following a formidable end to his rookie contract.

He resorted to what he thought were bootleg Percocet pills to cope.

“That kind of started a spiral of mental health,” Cauley-Stein told Tucker. “Trying to deal with that and hoop at the same time — for a new team, on a bad deal, and then my wife got pregnant — it was just too many weird things and big changes, and I got on the pain pills trying to just run away from reality.”

Cauley-Stein’s issue worsened after learning about his grandmother’s bone cancer diagnosis.

And on Dec. 1, 2021, less than a week after his grandmother’s passing, the center checked into rehab.

By then, Cauley-Stein was in Dallas, where he appeared in a mere 18 games, averaging career lows in points (1.9), rebounds (2.1) and minutes played (9.8) while shooting a career-low 46% from the floor.

The No. 6 overall pick of the 2015 NBA Draft was taking pills during practice to avoid a withdrawal. But little did he know that the pills he was consuming were laced with fentanyl, a substance 50 times more potent than heroin and linked to countless overdose deaths in the country.

“I didn’t know until I turned myself in,” Cauley-Stein told Tucker. “I looked at my wife and said, ‘Oh, my God’ because I hear stories all the time about kids going to a party, never taking a…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ex-warriors-kings-player-cauley-023819462.html

Author : NBC Sports BayArea

Publish date : 2024-09-01 02:39:50

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