Former NBA player Delonte West arrested for minor offenses

Former NBA player Delonte West was arrested in Virginia on Thursday morning for violating the terms of his release and resisting arrest, Fairfax County police confirmed to The athlete.

West, 40, was booked into the Fairfax County Detention Center on Thursday and released later that day on $2,000 bail, Fairfax County police said. His arraignment was scheduled for 8:30 a.m. local time Friday.

Fairfax County police said they spotted West around 1 a.m. in Groveton, Virginia, and attempted to serve him with an arrest warrant, but a foot chase ensued. Officers lost sight of West and eventually found him unconscious.

Officers then administered West Narcan – a drug that the National Institute on Drug Abuse says quickly reverses an opioid overdose. The Narcan did not have the desired effect after the first administration and West was taken to a local hospital where he was given Narcan again and the desired effect occurred, police said.

West was released from the hospital and taken to the Fairfax County Detention Center.

West, a first-round draft pick of the Boston Celtics in 2004, struggles with mental health issues, going public with his bipolar diagnosis in 2008. Many in the basketball community — like Mark Cuban and former St. Joseph’s coach Phil Martelli — have tried to help West.

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In January 2020, Cuban paid for West to attend the Rebound Institute, an outdoor therapy clinic run by former NBA player Jayson Williams, who himself struggled with substance abuse issues. West eventually left the clinic, and nine months later, a video surfaced showing him panhandling in Dallas. Cuban drove to the recording location and picked him up to send him to rebound again.

Less than a year after leaving Rebound – in October 2021 – West was arrested in Florida.

“It’s just disappointing. Or frustrating, I guess,” Cuban said The athlete in 2023. “Delonte is sabotaging himself. … I don’t know what else to say. It is what it is. I tried.”

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West played eight seasons in the NBA with the Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Dallas Mavericks. During his NBA career, he averaged 9.7 points and 3.6 assists per game. He last played for the Mavericks in 2012, when West was suspended twice for conduct detrimental to the team. West tried to find playing time overseas and in the G League, but that search ended in 2015.

Before entering the NBA, West played alongside teammate Jameer Nelson at St. Joseph’s, where the two led the Hawks to an undefeated regular season (27-0) and a trip to the Elite Eight in the 2003-04 season.

(Photo: Harry How / Getty Images)