Delonte West has not played in the NBA the last two seasons, and the longtime Cleveland Cavaliers guard thinks he knows why.
According to the Orange County Register, West attributes a January 2012 Twitter rant in which he took shots at ESPN writer Brian Windhorst as a “major reason” why he was out of the league.
West was in the middle of his first season with the Dallas Mavericks when he went on the rant. He complained about media bias against him, vented, and called out Windhorst by name for following LeBron James from Cleveland to Miami. West was suspended by the Mavs following a locker room outburst during the preseason and did not play a game for the team the next year.
West, 30, played last season in China. He’s now in the NBA summer league with the Clippers, but that does not mean he’ll be on their roster next season.
While he thinks the Twitter rant is a major reason why he is not in the league, I think it’s a confluence of multiple events. West is kind of out there similar to a Metta World Peace. He was pulled over on his motorcycle and was found carrying multiple weapons in a guitar case while riding the bike. He had the supposed outburst with the Mavericks. He said the White House wouldn’t let him visit. He gave teams many reasons to be leery of him, and his talent is not enough to outweigh the risk of signing him.
