Worldwide, NBA players are among the most celebrated athletes. They are also among the highest-earning sports athletes, with their influence cutting across fields, including entertainment and entrepreneurship.
As a result, fans see them as living ideal lives but things aren’t always that easy. Money can’t buy happiness and Gilbert Arenas is an example. According to him, despite retiring from the NBA with over $100 million in his account, he felt miserable often.
“Miserable,” he answered when he was asked about his post-retirement life. “Yeah, because, like any athlete, from ages 6, 7 years old, all we knew was one thing. Hoop. Hoop, school. (In) summer, hoop, play, hoop, hoop, hoop.”
According to him, he started playing basketball at the age of 10 and continued to age 32. He observed that all his life had been about basketball, which he said was quite regimented.
“Wake up, ball, sleep, wake up, ball. That was it. NBA players, that’s the weird thing about them,” he said, according to Fadeaway World. “They wanna work during the summer, and when the NBA season starts, they want to party more because they get to go to every city.”
According to him, the situation should have been the other way round, where players focus during the season and party in the summer.
“A week goes by, you know, the summer goes by… I can smell when the season is starting. That September smell is coming. So my body naturally gets into ‘get ready for the season mode. Well, unfortunately, there’s no f**king season. But for the last f**king years, my body has been programmed.
“5:30 Am wake up, boom train. Lunch, train. So now, training camp starts… And now there’s no season and you’re sitting there like, what the f**k do I do with this time? I woke up at 5:30 Am. So what I did when I first retired, I had to figure out how to be busy between 9 Am and 12 Pm… What do we know? We haven’t had a regular life.”
Despite being miserable, Arenas said he found a way to occupy himself in retirement. The former NBA All-Star is now a media personality who runs a podcast and hosts multiple shows.
