During the lockout, Delonte West found himself a job at a furniture store and kept us all updated via his twitter account. Now we are finding out that he had to sleep in his car at the beginning of the season. Sounds like another case of a player who has squandered millions.
West suffers from bipolar disorder, which causes extreme mood swings. In 2009, he was pulled over near his Maryland home on a three-wheeled Cam-Am Spyder motorcycle, and police found a 9mm Beretta pistol, .357 Magnum and a Remington 870 in a guitar case. West pleaded guilty to weapons and traffic charges, but was able to avoid jail; instead he got electronic monitoring and supervised probation and counseling.
Additionally, West was dealing with the end of his four-month marriage. He feels his mental disorder is at least partially responsible for both his personal and legal problems. “I’ve watched contracts go out the window, endorsements disappear, court fees, lawyer fees, divorce fees,” he told the Morning News. “You watch the saving account just shoop … shoop … shoop … shoop — slowly disappear.”
Despite making more than $14 million in a career that began in 2004, West has lost just about everything. During the NBA’s labor dispute, he took a job at a Maryland furniture store.
West had to sell vehicles, jewelry and “just about everything I own, except for my house and the clothes on my back,” he told the Dallas Morning News.
After joining the Mavericks, the team gave him a hotel room during a very brief training camp. However, once the regular season got started, NBA salary cap rules blocked the team from providing housing for West. He said he tried to rent apartments around North Texas but failed, because they were either too expensive or he wasn’t allowed because of his legal troubles.
So West would get a hotel room when the Mavericks were on the road, but when they came back to Dallas late after road trips, he had no place to stay. So rather than getting a hotel room for just a few hours, he would sleep in the American Airlines Center locker room area or park his truck in the arena players garage and rest.
West told the Morning News his outrageous living situation didn’t last long after his boss found out about it. “Soon as Mr. Cuban heard about that, he made one phone call and everybody was lining up to rent me an apartment,” West laughed. “They were calling back saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got the penthouse suite for you.'”
Source: The Postgame
