“I Was Depressed”: Lakers’ Dwight Howard Opens up on Mental Health Struggles Inside NBA Bubble

Published 10/02/2020, 7:00 AM EDT

The Los Angeles Lakers soared to a comfortable victory in Game 1 of the 2020 NBA Finals. They’re one of the two teams that remain in the bubble. Following Game 1, Lakers’ Dwight Howard threw light on how he fell prey to depression while being inside the bubble.

As safe as the NBA bubble is, it is bound to get monotonous at times. The Lakers have been here since the beginning of July. Over the weeks, fans have got a glimpse of the players’ routine inside the bubble thanks to a few vlogs.

For several weeks, the players were confined to the bubble without their families to lend them support. From the restart till the conference semi-finals, the league did not allow friends and family to visit them inside the Disney World resort.

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This isolation clearly took its toll on some players, including Dwight Howard. He said, “For myself, there has been times where I was depressed about just having to be in the bubble, not being able to see my family, my kids. So, it could be very difficult.” Howard now has his son David inside the bubble to comfort him. However, before that, things were hard to endure.

Dwight added, “So I just tried to find a way to escape mentally by doing a lot of reading, getting out and walking, talking to a lot of the people who work from the NBA who are here and experiencing the bubble as well. So just trying to just share my experiences with them and to listen to their experiences and find hope within each other.”

Dwight Howard isn’t the only Los Angeles Lakers player to open up about depression

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The bubble life has been extremely challenging. There are several rules and restrictions in place. These can make the process of following them day in and day out rather tedious. Besides Dwight Howard, Lakers’ Danny Green also spoke about how the bubble environment tests a person’s mental health.

Green compared life in the bubble to “having a 48-hour Groundhog Day.” The 33-year-old explained how the routine is the same every day that they spend inside their hotel. “Every two days are the same,” Green mentioned. “It’s either game day or practice day. We stay on the same campus, eat at the same restaurant, go to the same gym, same home, same hotel access. So, yeah. But, yes, we are at the goal line. We still have some work to do, but we do see a light at the end of the tunnel. We know that it’s close to the end, it’s near.”

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Right now, the Lakers and the Heat are the two remaining teams from the 22 that entered the restart. These two sides have displayed tremendous grit to get to where they are now. With one game done, there are just a handful of victories that the Lakers require to be crowned champions and exit the bubble for good.

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Arjun Athreya is a senior writer at Essentially Sports and has been contributing since early 2020. Having developed an avid interest in sports at an early age, he pursued a Journalism degree and graduated from Madras Christian College. Arjun manages the Golf division and its content, and primarily covers news pertaining to the NBA as well.

“I Was Depressed”: Lakers’ Dwight Howard Opens up on Mental Health Struggles Inside NBA Bubble

Dwight Howard isn’t the only Los Angeles Lakers player to open up about depression

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