AR: Oh, of course. I mean, I had three setbacks during my initial rehabilitation. And when I got back into the bubble, I was still about 85% healthy, but not necessarily 100% healthy. I was given permission to go, but at the same time you still have that mental aspect that second-guesses yourself and can overexert itself at will. So I still had some psychological stuff to get through. I can’t necessarily say I’m completely healthy or completely ready, but at the same time, somehow, some way, I have to get back out there and break that barrier.
Then, after three long years of enjoying life and my younger sisters growing up, watching them play basketball and helping them mold and shape their game before they go off to college, I had some time to myself. TCU and Duke. It was definitely fun to watch them. Because if I was still playing I would definitely miss them. So it was great to help them, and it was a big deal to have a good, healthy life for the first time.
It was nice to do that, but at the same time… Do you want to continue playing basketball, or do you want to go in a different direction to find a new career? So I definitely had to sit down myself. And after many conversations with my girlfriend, I finally got to a good place. Do I want to go back out there and potentially risk getting injured again? I can’t say it’s happened, but there’s always that possibility whenever you’re back on the floor. And just go out there and pursue it. So, I am 32 years old. You’re not necessarily ready to retire and move on. So, that’s why I’m back here now. So at the same time, I didn’t want to go out and have an injury necessarily take me out. I wanted to leave myself. So that’s like motivating me a lot. Go back out there and break that story.
Going back to my own roots, I’m just going out there and enjoying basketball the way I know how to play it. It’s not a story of, over the years, ‘Oh, he can’t do this, you can’. You can’t do that. And I’ve been doing this my whole life, and I’ve even gotten to the point where I made it to the NBA.
So that’s what I’m going to do… bring basketball full circle, watch it on the American side, watch it on the European side, travel around the world. There’s no better way to travel the world than doing what you love and getting paid to do it at the same time. So it’s pretty cool to do that. It’s a blessing.
