Where Andrew Bynum At?
The former 10th overall pick disappeared after 9 seasons in the NBA.
The tale of Andrew Bynum is one of mental toughness.
Bynum was one of the most skilled and talented young centers in the NBA from the mid-2000s to the early 2010s.
The former Los Angeles Lakers’ center had Shaquille O’Neal’s size and Hakeem Olajuwon’s footwork.
He was able to body you and deke you out all in the same play.
Bynum also played for Phil Jackson and alongside Kobe Bryant, so you know he was gaining a bunch of that basketball knowledge.
This incubation led him to become an NBA All-Star in his seventh season. Now, that may sound late but Bynum was only 18 years old when he was drafted.
However, after the 2011-12 season, he had to sit out an entire season due to injury and his career quickly dwindled into non-existence.
He played 26 games in 2013-14 with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Indiana Pacers, and then just disappeared.
So, what happened to this young superstar?
According to Trevor Ariza, his former Lakers’ teammate, Bynum had a lot of stress on and off the court and he couldn’t handle them.
“I think it was a number of things that probably happened with [Andrew Bynum],” Ariza said on the Forgotten Seasons podcast. “This league is taxing mentally. It’s a lot of things that you have to deal with that people don’t know. Plus having to deal with whatever he was going through in his personal life. Those things, they all take you off your course, knock you off your square. So, life happened I would say, and, again, we don’t know if he’s in a space or state where he’s cool with where he is.”
Ariza went on to say that though he doesn’t like to speculate, Bynum was very close with his family and when his mother passed away, it took a “real toll on him.”
This tale is also about how difficult it is to be a professional basketball player and why we shouldn’t judge players based on their performance.
They’re not just basketball players who play the game a few times a week. They deal with problems like everyone else, too, and as Jelani McCoy said in this episode, those problems will affect players on the hardwood.
“That’s s—t we know. Like in the locker room, when you’re having a bad stretch, a bad couple weeks, and you smoking layups and weird s—t going on, you falling. S—t’ll be happening. When you get busy mentally, s—t will just be slipping and sliding out that motherf—ker for no reason… Once that s—t happen off court, it’ll affect your ass on court.”
Bynum was a cold-hearted player. He was so competitive and often got the best of his opponents (remember when he and Shaq got into it?).
Unfortunately, difficult things happened off of the court and it affected his ability to play basketball professionally.
It sucks because I would’ve liked to see him play longer, but at least he ended his career as a two-time champion and a one-time All-NBA player.
Support the newsletter by doing your regular shopping on Amazon via this affiliate link here.