According to Yahoo! Sports, Tyrell Terry, former Stanford basketball player and the Dallas Mavericks’ 2020 No. 31 pick, retired from basketball at age 22, citing a debilitating struggle with anxiety. Choosing to prioritize his mental and emotional health over his basketball career, he is helping end the stigma around mental health challenges and inspiring others to seek support.

“Today I decided to let go of the game that has formed a large part of my identity. Something that has guided my path since I took my first steps,” Terry shared vulnerably on Instagram.

“While I have achieved amazing accomplishments, created unforgettable memories, and made lifelong friends … I’ve also experienced the darkest times of my life. To the point where instead of building me up, it began to destroy me.”

His journey took him from his hometown of Minneapolis to De La Salle High School to Stanford University, where he played one year before declaring for the NBA draft, where he was chosen by the Dallas Mavericks.

He played 11 games with the Mavericks, missing some games for “personal reasons” before he was waived. “I began to despise and question the value of myself, much more than those surrounding me could ever see or know,” Terry shared.

Anxiety manifested itself in multiple physical symptoms, including “intrusive thoughts, waking up nauseous, and finding myself struggling to take normal breaths because of the rock that would sit on my chest that seemed to weigh more than I could carry.”

Terry’s Instagram post explained that while others may view him “as a bust, a failure, or a waste of talent,” he is charting a new path that will “hopefully lead to happiness and being able to love myself again.”

Terry’s mental health struggles mirror those happening all across America, and certainly within the NBA. The league began to take mental health more seriously in 2018, thanks to multiple players who have spoken out about their struggles. Demar DeRozan first tweeted, “This depression get the best of me….” His openness spurred Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love to write an essay for the Players Tribune, titled “Everyone Is Going Through Something.” A few months later, the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) launched a new mental health and wellness program. As program director Kensa Gunter told the Washington Post, “Being excellent and being elite doesn’t absolve you from being human.”

At CASSY, Counseling and Support Services for Youth, we couldn’t agree more. We’ve penned an open letter to Tyrell Terry and all young people going through similar struggles:

Tyrell, you are not a bust. You are not a failure. You are not a waste of talent.

You are so much more than what you do.

You are a human being. Allowed to have a full range of thoughts, emotions, experiences, challenges, and struggles.

Your mental well-being matters every bit as much as your physical body.

Kudos to you for taking care of yourself. Help is available. Anxiety is incredibly common. Thankfully, it is also treatable. Life can get much better from here.

Your courage and transparency will help countless others.

Whether or not you ever touch a basketball again, you matter. Not your stats. Not your resume. You.

Just as you are.

Love and respect to you,
All of us at CASSY

Read the full Yahoo! Sports article here.

Lawson-Freeman, Callie. “Tyrell Terry, Mavericks’ 2020 No. 31 pick, retires from basketball at 22: ‘It began to destroy me.’” Yahoo! Sports.com, 15 Dec 2022, https://sports.yahoo.com/tyrell-terry-mavericks-2020-no-31-pick-retires-from-basketball-at-22-it-began-to-destroy-me-223710183.html.

Photo by Ron Sellers from Alameda, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons