Bahamian professional basketball player Kai Jones, who made a comeback to the NBA by signing a 10-day contract with the Philadelphia 76ers in March 2024, has recently opened up on his struggles with mental health that led him to draw himself out from the Charlotte Hornets on an ugly note.
During an interview with Stadium NBA insider Shams Charania, Kai Jones reflected on his situation a year ago, resulting in his exit from Charlotte, which he somewhat regrets now.
In this regard, Texas Longhorns alum stated,
It was a great situation for me to showcase my talents and work on my game. You Know, things obviously didn’t end the way that I really wanted them to, but I think it was just a lot of miscommunication and misunderstanding on both ends and that happened….
Via Youtube
While further explaining that stuff, Kai Jones also shed light on the mental struggles that he went through at the time. He said that he lost his great-grandparents within two months, affecting his mental health so badly.
That was one of the first people in my family I’ve seen die like that [from old age]…I’m like, ‘What? I don’t want to die. I want to live forever.’ I’m trying to pray super hard, and the voices in your head are like, ‘You know, you could die if you don’t lock in in life.’ I think it was just a lot of confusion for me.
Kia further revealed that the stress of being an NBA player at such a young age, compounded with such intense grief and a lot of confusing voices in his head, made him erratic, especially in his social media behavior.
In the meantime, he posted several posts on his social media denigrating his team and his fans while keeping himself isolated from people in real life. Kai Jones stated that he utterly believed nobody understood him at the time.
So, most of the time, rather than talking to people and taking their good suggestions, he started getting aggressive on social media, which garnered him a lot of criticism. On September 14, 2023, he tweeted stating,
I’ve had a higher fg% than those guys since I came out the womb and none of them can guard me so know your ball before you talk to the one in here MF
Via Twitter
Kai Jones also displayed arrogance, saying he could defeat LeBron one-on-one and has a better field percentage than Brandon Miller and LaMelo Ball.
Not only that, but he went one step ahead by bad-mouthing to one of his fans. While exchanging DMs with one of his fans, after he asked him, ‘When are you in Milwaukee next?,’ Kai unhesitatingly demeaned his fan with rude words that read, “N… Check the schedule, dumb…I’m fina whoop you.”
Following all these events, the Charlotte Hornets announced Kai Jones’s exit, and almost a year later, he made a comeback to the NBA, explaining what had happened to him.
With Shams Charania, he addressed his old tweets, which are no longer available on his Twitter account, and said,
I already looked back on my tweets.“I was just tweeting so much about. ‘I’m this and I’m that.’ I think I was trying to cancel out the negative voices in my head because, to be honest with you Shams, I didn’t want to die.
Well, now that his fans are learning about his mental health struggles, they are appreciating Kai Jones more than they ever have.
I asked Kai Jones about the steps he took off the court to get himself right to play basketball again:
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 14, 2024
“I want to thank the NBPA. They stepped in and played a major role in my off-the-court development program where i was doing therapy 2 times a week to get me ready to get back… pic.twitter.com/s0USrAhn93
Similarly, Kaii Jones is now really happy to get back on track after suffering quite a lot, and he has gotten help from professionals on this journey.
In a recent media interaction, he acknowledged NBPA’s significant role in his off-court development program. He also revealed that he goes to therapy two times a week, and that’s been helping him a lot in his personal and professional development.
In Case You Didn’t Know
- Kai Jones was born ‘Kai Martinez Jones on January 19, 2001, in Nassau, Bahamas. He is currently 23 years old.
- When he flew to the United States at age 11, he returned to his native country before attending high school to become a long jumper; however, he became a basketball player.
- His professional playing career began with the Charlotte Hornets in 2021, but his association with the team didn’t last long.
