Getty Images Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks
Back in the fall, photos on the internet of retired Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dallas Mavericks guard Delonte West panhandling at an intersection in Dallas, Texas.
Delonte West will spend Christmas at home w/ family Mavs owner @mcuban tells me: t.co/3nT9wI1KDQ
“He’s back home with his mom.”
“I talked to him the day before yesterday he was working on getting his kids up to his mom’s house so they can all spend Christmas together.”
Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark Cuban picked up West from a gas station and offfered to pay for rehabilitation treatment and provided West a hotel room to stay in.
West ended up going to rehab in Florida on Cuban’s dime.
“You know, D is working on himself, figuring out,” Mark Cuban told me on the Heavy Live With Scoop B Show.
“He’s back home with his mom and I talk to him pretty much every day. And so we got him set up and right now, when I talked to him the day before yesterday he was working on getting his kids up to his mom’s house so they can all spend Christmas together.”
2020 started out rocky for the former 2004 first round pick out of Philadelphia’s St. Joseph’s University.
Back in January, a video from TMZ showed West being beaten on a Washington, DC highway.Prior to that, in 2016, West was photographed in a public place in Houston, Texas while barefoot and wearing a hospital gown. Later that year, a photo of West panhandling in Temple Hills, Maryland went viral. That particular photo sparked speculation that West was homeless. The account that tweeted the photo asked followers to pray for West and his psychologica given his psychological issues. While West denied those rumors, he shared that the photo was real, but that he has a home and was assisting someone who actually was homeless, since the homeless man was quadriplegic.
It’s been noted that in his past, West has purchased homes for his parents and even provided financial support for relatives.
While West had a successful NBA career, it’s also been noted that during the 2011 NBA lockout that West applied for a job at Home Depot and worked at a furniture store.
In spite of those hardships, West is seemingly now on the right path and his play on the court during his NBA career was undeniable.
With career averages of 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game during his professional career that lasted until 2015. West was a key defensive stopper on a Cleveland Cavaliers team led by LeBron James who was in his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Led by then-head coach Mike Brown, that Cavs team was looking to make a return to the NBA Finals after losing to a Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker-led San Antonio Spurs in the 2007 NBA Finals.
In 2008, West became a starter for the Cavaliers who won a league-best and franchise-record 66 games during the regular season and went 39–2 at home. In addition to his role as the starting shooting guard, he also served as the backup point guard, manning the position when Mo Williams was not in the game.
As a Cavalier, he played in and started in 26 regular season games and averaged 10.3 points, 4.5 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 steals. During that time, he had a season high 20 points against the Boston Celtics only six days after his trade from Boston to Cleveland.
Many remember West’s aggressiveness in a Cavs uniform during the NBA Playoffs.
One of his most memorable Cavs moments came in the 2008 NBA Playoffs against the Washington Wizards.
With 5.4 seconds left in a game againsts the Wizards in Washington, West hit a tie-breaking clutch 3-point shot that gave the Cleveland Cavaliers a 3–1 lead in their first round series.
Following his NBA career, West had an NBA G-League stints with the Texas Legends, later played overseas in China and tried to make an NBA comeback in the NBA Summer League in 2014 playing for the Los Angeles Clippers.