Working through mental health is relatively new for a lot of people. Getting comfortable sharing when something isn’t feeling right takes some time, and hopefully, we get to a point where everyone can do it freely without any judgment or reservations. That is something that the NBA and Players Association is hoping to change.
With a mutual opt-out date of December 15th quickly approaching for the CBA, mental health is one of the things that will be discussed for the next one.
While fans see professional athletes and their lifestyles and can’t imagine them struggling with things mentally, the fact of it is that they are human beings at the end of the day. They play a sport as their profession but the obstacles that an everyday person has to overcome they also deal with to a certain extent.
That is why the NBA and NBPA want to help their employees as much as possible. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, they are going to seek a mental health designation when it comes to NBA injury reports.
“In what would be an unprecedented and progressive change for American pro sports, the NBA and NBPA are discussing measures to allow players to cite mental health issues as an ailment similar to physical injury, per sources with knowledge of the talks. Similar to when players treat external injuries, this new addition would give players the ability to treat their mental health concerns with the same gravity, allowing for things such as the seeking of second opinions and psychiatrist visits.”
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That would be an incredible step in the right direction for the league to take. Players are given as much time as they need to heal from a physical injury, such as a sprained ankle or torn ACL, but someone suffering from a mental injury isn’t provided the same luxury.
There have been a few examples recently of players speaking out about their mental health battles. DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls and Kevin Love of the Cleveland Cavaliers were at the forefront and hope that their speaking out will lead to more players becoming comfortable enough to do the same.
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Last season Ben Simmons went through some mental battles as well. He revealed to the Philadelphia 76ers, his team at the time, that he was not mentally fit to play. Since he shared that after he requested a trade from the team some people didn’t believe it to be true and it was his way of holding out, which is the stigma that the league and NBPA want to reduce.
Seemingly always at the forefront of progressive changes, the NBA could once again set a path for other leagues around the world to follow suit should their plan go smoothly.
