• 8 months ago
Former NBA player Royce White has been taking up MMA.
Transcript
00:00Royce White is going from the court to the octagon, and for more in today's Daily Cover,
00:06I'm joined by Jon Wertheim.
00:08Jon, you know, Royce says that he was blackballed from the NBA for speaking out in his mental
00:13health advocacy.
00:14It's a league that gets a lot of credit for mental health awareness.
00:18Where's the disconnect from his end?
00:19Yeah, I mean, I think part of the disconnect is he just turned 30 years old this week and
00:24hasn't played in years, and his NBA career lasted a sum total of about six games.
00:29This is a guy who was picked number 16 in the draft.
00:33But I think you're right.
00:34I mean, I think history will remember Royce White very fondly, and I think we've come
00:38a long way in a very short amount of time about understanding not only mental health,
00:43but also the intersection between sports and mental health.
00:46So he clearly is still, to some extent, embittered about his experience with the NBA.
00:51I would say, to some extent, not justified.
00:54But I do think that in a very short amount of time, perception of Royce White has become
00:58something very different.
00:59And I think in terms of mental health, someone mentioned the piece in the story, and I don't
01:03think it's hyperbole.
01:04I don't think it's an exaggeration at all.
01:06I think he is a Kurt Flood-type figure who really will go down as a transformative figure.
01:12Now, when it comes to his next chapter, it takes a lot of mental toughness, as well as
01:16physical toughness, to get into the Octagon.
01:19What's his game plan there?
01:22It's a good question.
01:23And I think sort of the casual fan will say, well, wait a second, this guy had some anxiety
01:27issues.
01:29He had more anxiety-creating than cage fighting, than going in and fighting in MMA, where you
01:33have the potential for so much serious physical damage.
01:37He's quick to dispel that and say that's really not what anxiety is about.
01:41I mean, this is a world-class athlete.
01:44Nobody would dispute that.
01:45And he's 30 years old, but does not have a lot of mileage on the tires.
01:49This is not someone who has played a lot, competed a lot in the last five, six, seven
01:53years.
01:54And he is learning MMA.
01:55And obviously, there is a lot of disciplines that you need to study.
01:59He is late to the party.
02:00But I think part of the game plan is this guy not only is just such a great natural
02:04athlete, not only at 6'8", 6'9", is going to create some size and reach matchups, but
02:10also he knows what it means to train.
02:12He knows what it means to ration energy.
02:14I mean, the fact that he has this, not only this elite athlete body, but also having had
02:18this status as an elite athlete is something he thinks is going to really carry over well
02:21to a very, very different sport from basketball.
02:25You brought up the word anxiety.
02:27It's anxious times for a lot of us.
02:28How did he explain that anxiety to you?
02:32He is extraordinarily well-spoken, well-read.
02:35I mean, this is really a fascinating character.
02:39He's been very outspoken recently on social media about how anxiety issues are compounded,
02:44obviously, with this crisis.
02:46I mean, I guess the best thing I can do is point you to, there was a Grantland short
02:49video right before he was about to come out to the draft.
02:52He let the cameras roll while he basically had a panic attack.
02:56You go back and watch that, and it's hard not to come away with a heightened sense of
02:59what this must be like, but I mean, again, he is a fascinating, fascinating character.
03:05It's not just a question of sort of an agile mind, but he likes to confront and challenge
03:10and discussions become debates, and he's very logical and very sharp, and I think he's been
03:15very good at articulating what he goes through and what sort of the common misconceptions
03:20are.
03:21It'll be interesting to see his next chapter, but you can read about what he's doing now
03:24in the Daily Cover.
03:26Thanks to John Wertheim.
03:27John, appreciate your time as always.
03:28Anytime.
03:29Thanks, Robin.