Royce White

So, you know, I had to take a stand there and I ended up essentially getting blackballed for that to the point where I didn't even get invited to training camp.

And it wasn't because I can't be at training.

I mean, every year there are still guys who are like 37 who are invited to training camp just to

Be at training camp because they need extra bodies at training camp, let alone a 22 year old who was a top five talent and very versatile and had a game that was perfect for where the game was progressing.

You know, you talk about positionless basketball.

You know, my game was was that before it was really popular.

So I was I was essentially blackballed and I was told I was going to be blackballed.

Like I was sat in the back room with the powers that be and told, hey, listen, you know, you want you think mental health is important.

We agree.

And you could be the spokesperson for mental health.

You could be anything you want to be.

You could be as big as you want to be.

We could help you, but you got to play first.

And if you don't play, who's going to listen?

Well, you don't you don't tell you don't tell a young black man who comes from a working class blue collar community, you know.

If you don't sell out, then what good are you going to be to humanity?

Because I just took that as a challenge.

And it's like, OK, I told David Stern, the late David Stern, and he did a lot for the game.

But I told him, I'm going to outlive you.

And I did outlive him.