Ricky Rubio had a long, respectable career in the NBA, where he spent 13 seasons, across 4 teams as a playmaking point guard. He announced his retirement in the middle of the 2023-24 season, a few months after taking a break from the Cavaliers for his mental health and eventually agreeing to a contract buyout.
Rubio recently appeared in an interview for the Spanish show, Lo de Evolve, where he discussed his mental health during the 2023 World Cup.
[Quotes translated to English from Spanish]
“Just a very difficult thought, and I don’t want to magnify it, but one of the nights I was at the hotel, I said ‘I don’t want to go on’. Not just with basketball, but with life. I have a family, I have a son, but I felt that way for a second,”
“There were some moments when everything around me was just creating a burden, when I thought that my life had no sense.”
In a specific example of such moments, Rubio spoke about the 2019 World Cup as well, where he won the MVP award for Spain. He admitted showing symptoms of impostor syndrome, i.e., the psychological pattern where an individual seems to feel undeserving of their success.
“When I reflect on my career, I’m never satisfied, because it was never enough. I wasn’t ecstatic when I would receive an award, I would say to myself that I’m fake, that I don’t deserve this.”
Selected ahead of the likes of Stephen Curry and DeMar DeRozan, Rubio was pegged to have a long-successful NBA career as he started his professional journey at a young age of 14 in the Spanish League. After being drafted 5th in 2009, he eventually made his NBA debut with the Timberwolves in 2012.
Unfortunately, things did not go his way much after his rookie season, where he made the All-Rookie First Team but never saw any individual or team success beyond the first round of the NBA Playoffs. He finished his NBA career averaging 10.8 points, 7.4 assists, and 4.1 rebounds per game.
During his NBA career, he once opened up to the media about his troubles sleeping and got some noteworthy advice from a veteran opponent during an NBA game.
“I remember in my third or fourth year in the NBA that I was having a hard time. I was on a bad streak, and there’s a journalist who’s interviewing me, and I’m opening up a little bit. I find it hard to sleep, I’m feeling bad… And I’m in a game, in a free throw, and a veteran player from the rival team tells me, ‘I’m going to give you advice, don’t reveal any weak points of yours to the press because they’re going to come after you. We’re all sharks here, and when we smell blood, we’ll get you.”
Rubio had a lot of expectations riding on his shoulders early. But, unfortunately, his career was plagued with injuries that never let him maximize his true potential. He tore his left ACL twice, once in 2012 and then in 2021. He suffered multiple ankle and hip issues in his career that eventually forced him to be sidelined a lot. Rubio played more than 70 games in a regular season only four times in his career. Rubio’s experience tells us how ruthless life can be even for a top-tier professional athlete despite earning millions.
