Retired from the courts since 2005, at the age of 33, Shawn Bradley left the NBA courts after twelve seasons with the pros, most of them under the Mavs jersey.
Drafted very high by the Sixers when he left Brigham Young University (BYU), as the 2nd choice in 1993, he had never really lived up to the immense expectations placed on him, but, all things considered, at 8 points, 6 rebounds and more than 2 blocks per game for more than a decade, the Mormon giant had still managed a nice little career.
Unfortunately, on January 20, 2021, at age 48, Shawn Bradley saw his life change forever.
A serious bicycle accident
As usual, the retired prosecutor was doing his little bike ride. And, as usual, he took the same exit on this roundabout near his home in St. George, Utah.
But this time he’d noticed a car, a Saturn, parked around a bend, mentally preparing to overrun into the right lane if the driver’s side door were to open. He also remembers signaling his intention to overtake, driving at around 20 km/h.
But behind him, a Dodge minivan driven by a mother in a hurry (and distracted), then collides with his bike, just as he was about to overtake the said Saturn (his GPS thus reports the trace of a sudden acceleration to 27 km/h). This shock then projects him onto the Saturn. And to another life.
Propelled into the air, the 2m29 and 136kg giant crashed into the car, then head first onto the macadam, causing his helmet to explode under his colossal weight. Still conscious but obviously in shock, Shawn Bradley tried to move his arms, then his legs. No answer. Unable to get up or sit down, he even completely lost control of his breathing.
Only his eyes still responded to his brain.
When help arrived, Shawn Bradley had managed to move his shoulders, a monumental move for him at this point.
Brought to the emergency room, in an ambulance with the doors ajar because of its gigantism, it was quickly taken in hand, with the means at hand to move it. But an MRI revealed that two vertebrae in her neck had been displaced, pinching her spinal cord.
For three weeks in St George’s Hospital, intubated to breathe and under high doses of sedatives, the gentle giant gradually regained his senses. But not his movements.
Paralyzed from the shoulders
After a cervical operation, Shawn Bradley was diagnosed quadriplegic C6, that is to say that it does not have any more feeling nor control for all its body under the shoulders and the biceps. Recently, he managed to move his arm to point at his wife (his second) Carrie, mumbling, « I love you ».
Or this other time, to ask him for fries. But Shawn Bradley does not want to force this new life with disability on his wife: “I didn’t ask him to do any of this. That’s not usually what “in health and sickness” means. [dans le contrat de mariage].
Having received a visit from Michael Finley, his former teammate and current member of the Mavs management office, Shawn Bradley was moved and inevitably marked by this meeting. And this visitor from another time in his life. A time now completely over.
“It’s hard for me to see them like that”, he admits with tremolos in his voice, in Sports Illustrated. “It’s the challenge of remembering what I once was… and knowing that it will never be the same again. (…) The people I’m close to, it’s really very hard the first time they see me. It is extremely trying. »
suicidal thoughts
Having earned more than 69 million dollars during his career, Shawn Bradley has, in this immense misfortune that has struck him, the chance to be able to afford the substantial sums represented by the treatment and the costs of fitting out his house in his condition.
His next goal? Being able to move from bed to chair on your own. A fundamental step to regain a minimum of independence. “It’s something we all think is possible. We’re not there yet, but we’ll get there. »
If it is often said that retirement from sport is a “small death”, Shawn Bradley experienced a second after this terrible accident which left him paralyzed, he who had made his body his main work tool.
To hold on morally, it takes a lot of courage. Because, without the body, the spirit can quickly take the trunk too… and he admits that he had suicidal desires.
“I don’t know how I can lessen the burden that I am… Maybe it would be better if all this stopped… These thoughts inevitably invade you. And they are very real. I can’t imagine putting them into action though. But I clearly got them. »
The news of his accident
An “NBA Action” report from 1997-98
