Former Sacramento Kings star Willie Cauley-Stein played several seasons in the NBA and achieved recognition, including being named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2016. However, he was never a dominant scorer, with his best season being in 2017-18 for the Kings, where he averaged 12.8 points, 2.4 assists, and seven rebounds per game. Despite his success on the court, Cauley-Stein has also faced personal challenges, including a near-death experience due to drug addiction.
During a recent interview with The Athletic, Stein revealed that he could have quickly died due to his past drug addiction. He explained that his drug history started with some mental health issues, and he took drugs to cope with the difficult things happening in his life at that time. He mentioned that his wife got pregnant, his grandmother died, and the Kings star turned to drugs to escape from reality.
“That kind of started a spiral of mental health. Trying to deal with that and hoop at the same time — for a new team, on a bad deal, and then my wife got pregnant — it was just too many weird things and big changes, and I got on the pain pills trying to just run away from reality. I was doing so many pills, I was asleep all the time. Or when I was awake, I wasn’t really there.” Willie Cauley-Stein said to the Athletic.
The former Sacramento Kings star claimed that he was constantly drowsy from multiple drugs, admitting that he was under the influence of a drug even while awake.
Former Sacramento Kings Star Shares His Struggle with Drug Addiction
On July 8, 2019, Willie Cauley-Stein, who had spent a couple of seasons playing with the Kings, signed a contract with the Golden State Warriors. On October 10, in a game against the Phoenix Suns, Stein made his debut for the Warriors, scoring 12 points, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out one assist, blocking one shot, and committing three fouls.
The former Sacramento Kings star was traded to the Dallas Mavericks for a 2020 second-round pick after playing one season for the Warriors. His last NBA team was the Philadelphia 76ers. After that, he signed with Openjobmetis Varese of the Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) and FIBA Europe Cup.
The former Sacramento Kings star further explained his story of battling drug addiction. He mentioned that the drug devastated his energy and personality, leaving nothing for him.
“I looked at my wife and said, ‘Oh, my God’ because I hear stories all the time about kids going to a party, never taking a drug before, deciding to pop a Percocet, and it ends up being fentanyl, and they die. From one pill. The team could tell I had no energy, no love, no personality, no nothing. The drugs took everything from me. Dude, I was taking hundreds of them for months and years. It could’ve so easily been me.” Willie Cauley-Stein added.
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