It’s easy to forget now, but Larry Sanders was awesome.
Here he is just dominating the paint, including a ridiculous early block sequence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CYsRvMI88M
There are a lot of guys in the league who are crazy long and super athletic, but true shot blocking requires some great instincts for it as well. Sanders had that and a lot more. Playing for the Bucks, he was never going to be a household name, but it’s still odd to realize that he last played an NBA game in December of 2014. Injuries and marijuana suspensions originally kept him out, but why is he still on the sidelines? Well, thanks to an excellent feature from VICE Sports, we have a much better idea.
The whole thing is well worth the read, as Sanders touches on his struggles with anxiety and depression, as well as his attempt to explore his many passions in life, which include basketball but extend beyond as well.
But it’s the section wherein Sanders touches on Milwaukee’s handling of possible concussions that resonated most:
Then, three months after the nightclub fight, he fractured his orbital bone in a February 2014 game against the Houston Rockets. He chose not to take his doctor-prescribed painkillers, worrying that the pills could be addictive. Sanders is hardly the only athlete to endorse that line of thought, but the impetus had as much to do with his surroundings as his own research. He knew, after the brawl and the resulting injury, that the Bucks were scrutinizing their investment more than ever. Sanders believed they were more concerned with his being on the floor to justify his new contract than his overall well-being. He still believes he may have been concussed, but the team never tested him.
“They kind of let me go to sleep on the training table and sent me home and didn’t really think anything was wrong,” he said. “And then, the next day, I find out I blew out the orbital in my face. That kind of went into the box of why I had to get out of here, just for your health. I didn’t really feel safe with them—the league or Milwaukee—after that point.”
It would be another year before Milwaukee would buy him out of his contract, but his Bucks career fundamentally ended that night, when James Harden’s elbow crashed into his right eye. Sanders lived for those contested rebounds but after the injury he grew tentative.
“I felt that, if something did happen again, I wouldn’t be properly taken care of,” he said. “I wouldn’t be properly tested. Maybe it would be ignored and I would be pressured to go back and all these things, when they haven’t even addressed the issue yet.”
That’s a troubling accusation, though not necessarily unfounded. It’s difficult to say whether or not the league will look into this based on his comments, and it’s also apparent that if he felt as though his health was endangered at the time he could have sought help in a few different areas, starting with the union. But that doesn’t invalidate his concern, nor render his opinion unworthy of consideration.
As noted, though, that entire piece is so fascinating. As fans, selfishly, the NBA is better with Larry Sanders. But if Larry Sanders is better without the NBA, that’s just how it goes, and good for him for prioritizing his own well-being.
