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Do you remember Royce White? It’s alright if you forgot about him. After all, it’s been three years since he played in the NBA, and that was for only three games with the Sacramento Kings.
After a stellar college career at Iowa State, White entered the NBA with a lot of potential and was drafted No. 16 overall by the Houston Rockets in 2012. Yet, White’s battles with generalized anxiety disorder prevented him from ever actually suiting up with the Rockets. White also blamed the Rockets for mishandling his treatment, which led to a vigorous back-and-forth between him and Houston in the media through various reports and allegations. In the end, after failing to reach an agreement on how to best handle his treatment, the Rockets cut ties with White, and his NBA career didn’t resume until his extremely short stint with the Kings in 2014.
But while White didn’t last that long in the NBA, after some time away from the game, he resumed his basketball career in Canada in 2016, where he has become a star in the National Basketball League. White even won MVP honors and says he is in a good place right now.
From Bleacher Report’s Ray Bala:
“Every time we lace up and do it, I have fun,” Royce says with a smile. “We’ve made history. We’re 35-5, the best team in this league’s history. Since high school I’ve played three seasons—my senior year in high school we went 31-0, my one season at Iowa State we went [23-11], and this year 35-5. I’m a f–kin’ winner. I’m a big ol’ hairy American winning machine, as Ricky Bobby would say it. How could you not have fun winning?”