Delonte West is one of the most enigmatic personalities in the NBA. Often funny (who can forget his KFC drive-thru rap?) and sometimes sad (he was briefly homeless during the lockout), the guard has been fighting a public battle with bi-polar disorder for years.
Much has been written about how teams and the media have treaded carefully around this issue with West, but it has continuously caused problems for the 29-year old Maverick. After a brief suspension earlier this preseason, West was once again suspended by the Mavericks today, this time indefinitely. West claims that he's being blamed for a fight that broke out in the Mavs locker room after the team's preseason loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
"There was an argument between two teammates in the locker room last night that didn't involve me," said West, who had two points, one assist and three turnovers in 21 minutes against the Thunder. "Somehow I'm being blamed for it. I had nothing to do with it. I don't know what's going on."
Mavs President Donnie Nelson released an incredibly cold statement on the situation, saying, "We have suspended Delonte for conduct detrimental to the team. The suspension is effective immediately and no other statements will be issued." And true to his word, the team has had little more to say on the matter.
So West took to Twitter to vent about the situation.
I hope one of these days Delonte finally gets everything together. He's always seemed like a good guy dealing with a bad hand.