Last week pictures of Delonte West looking not so great surfaced that showed the former first-round NBA pick strolling around Houston shoeless, and acting completely out of it. Today the Daily Mail unearthed a couple of videos of West dancing in front of a Maryland strip mall, and pacing during a kids basketball game. Despite his erratic behavior, his family claims he's getting the medical help he needs for his bipolar disorder and his brother Dmitri stated that he's not in any danger, dismissing the idea that Delonte is using drugs by saying:
"Delonte West is not crazy, he is not on drugs. I don't know what exactly is going on in his mind but I can tell you that he is safe and he's doing OK. My family are trying to get him the best professional help that's out there, the best that they can afford."
Both videos were accompanied by stories that detail the behavior of the 32-year-old ex-NBAer. Raekwon Young, who worked near the strip mall in the video up top, told the Daily Beast:
"He came around the corner and scared me. He kept going on and on about winning the lottery and running around. I didn't expect him to be in the condition he was in because growing up I was a fan of the Cavs and he was one of my favorite players."
As I said he was also filmed at a youth basketball game:
While the basketball footage that was captured isn't that bad (in my fairly worthless opinion) the story that accompanies it kind of is. The scorekeeper at the game claimed to have seen West drinking what looked like beer in the parking lot. She further elaborated on his un-filmed behavior:
"At first I thought that maybe his son or his nephew was playing. But then the coaches on both teams started complaining and asking why drunk people were being let in. Delonte was yelling at both teams and then he got up and walked around and tried to sit on the bench. He told one of the coaches he was his assistant. They told him to sit back down in the bleachers but he continued to holler at the kids. I don't know if he was on something or had taken too much of his medication but he looked bad. His jacket was torn, he was scruffy, he had on cowboy boots. He wasn't hurting anyone but it was shocking to see him like that. I hope he gets some help, I really do."
In addition to West's unfortunate recent public appearances, he's also facing big-time financial difficulties. He's currently being sued by Bank of America after racking up a massive unpaid credit card debt. One of his two houses is being foreclosed upon, while the mansion he purchased straight up for $1.05 million is looking rough with copious amounts of junk piling up in the yard. You can see several pictures of it if you follow the link below. While West isn't officially retired, for all intents and purposes he is. In his eight-year NBA career he made more than $16 million dollars.
[via Daily Mail]
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com
