John Wall officially announced his retirement from the NBA on Tuesday, dropping the curtain on an impressive 11-year career. Deciding to retire is always a difficult decision for an athlete, and former NBA player Kendrick Perkins revealed on the Road Trippin’ podcast that he struggled with depression for over a year after walking away.
“I know how hard it is to retire when you retire not on your terms,” Perkins said. “When you retire because that damn phone stop ringing… It’s the hardest thing in the world. I went through a depression for about a year and a half, but when you finally walk away from the game and announce your retirement, it’s so difficult.”
We have heard a fair few players speak about how much they struggled after calling it quits. Jeff Teague got emotional when describing how depressing life after the NBA can be.
Perkins was among this group that was hit hard, and it was the fact that he couldn’t walk away on his own terms that bothered him most.
“My phone wasn’t ringing,” Perkins said. “Motherf***ing agent was like, ‘What you gonna do? I’m like, ‘S***, I want to try to be an assistant coach.’ I went to the combine, had a couple offers, and then all of a sudden I’m here. But it’s not easy, though. Like the mental because this is all you’ve been knowing your entire life.”
Perkins believes it will be very hard for someone like his former teammate LeBron James to walk away from basketball. He added that James will at least get to do it on his own terms, unlike him.
“That s*** sends you into a f***ing depression,” Perkins said. “I didn’t want to go outside. You know why? Because I didn’t want to go outside and go places where people would be like, ‘Oh, Perk, who are you with now?’ [I’d say], ‘Uh, nobody. I’m just working out, waiting on a call.’ I ain’t want to answer those questions.”
Perkins last played in the NBA for the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2018. He kept waiting for another call for almost a year, only announcing his retirement on April 15, 2019. The big man finished his 14-year NBA career with averages of 5.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.3 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game.
Perkins considered getting into coaching, but eventually got a role in sports media. The 40-year-old is one of the most prominent talking heads around today, but is quite a controversial one as well.
Recently, Perkins equated the criticism players face on social media today to the death threats and racism in Bill Russell’s era. That unsurprisingly didn’t go down too well.
Whatever one may think of Perkins, it’s great that he has managed to come out of depression. He also had a gambling addiction at one point, but has managed to overcome it as well.
Perkins is having to fight another battle now, though, as he revealed he had been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. The 2008 NBA champion changed his diet as a result and is aiming to lose over 100 pounds as he looks to get healthier.
