NBA Players are often seen with lavish supercars, loud music, and a persona that depicts confidence to an outsider. But Houston Rockets’ shooting guard Cuttino Mobley recently sat down with his former teammate, Yao Ming, and provided insight on why NBA players take up this persona.
On a trip to China for Yao Ming’s foundation, the former teammates discussed first impressions, Ming’s cultural explosion, and how they’ve navigated their careers after retirement.
“We met together at the garage, [I remember] a very fancy car, Mercedes, if I remember correctly. It was a Maybach? Yes. [You] jumped out of the car, with very loud music, that’s how you entered. Okay, this is not just my first impression of you, but it was also the first impression of what an NBA player looks like,” Ming said, setting the scene for their first meeting.
“It’s like a mask, right? The loud music was a distraction because I overthought a lot of things, and I would get anxious and scared. So that would keep me from being scared.” Mobely revealed.
Just like fans, even Ming, who was completely new to the NBA world in 2002, thought that Mobley’s persona showcased confidence, which was not actually the case for the former shooting guard.
“Honestly, from my understanding, that loud music gave me an impression of a very confident person, [using the music] to show people who you are. From our culture, it is like, we’re not that outgoing, we’re not that open until we know each other well enough.” Ming provided his perspective.
Mobley, on the other hand, saw Ming’s quiet persona as a virtue, remembering how it projected patience and stoicism.
“I always say this, when I first met him [Ming], ‘He’s so put together and stoic. You didn’t have to just talk. Some people, when we were younger, just talked…For me, what I saw was patience and stoic, that’s what I saw,” Mobley recalled.
Mental Health was not a widely or openly talked about issue, even for superstar athletes in the NBA. They were given a lot of luxury and the resources required to live a fulfilling life, but with that came a lot of pressure to perform, which did not help their individual mental health.
The lack of awareness around the issue led to players coping with their own methods, such as drowning themselves in loud music or projecting an image that hardly ever traveled into their homes with them.
Today, the NBA has started multiple initiatives that help not just players, but coaches, referees, team staff, and even front office members. Their 2018 initiative, called NBA Mind Health, works towards providing a network of mental health performance consultants and psychiatrists.
They took this a step further when they introduced NBA Total Health, which goes beyond just mental health issues and looks at the overarching impact it has on the players and NBA staff members.
From 2019 onwards, every NBA team is required to have at least one licensed mental health professional on staff.
Outside these, the NBA also started collaborating with other mental health organisations, and recognised mental health awareness month, where they propagate important information around this issue.
Slowly and steadily, the league as well as the players understood the importance of keeping their minds healthy, along with being in pristine physical condition for the rigors of an NBA career.
