Star in college with Duke, then 6 years in the pros with Pistons and Thunder. Two disturbing videos on Instagram: “I was mistreated, abused, shown as an example of mental problems”
An outburst on social media, a heartfelt and dramatic request for help. The (double) video posted on Instagram by Kyle Singler, 36 years old, former collegiate star at Duke University and then NBA supporting player for six seasons with the Detroit Pistons and Oklahoma City Thunder, gives shivers. The bare-chested blond boy from Oregon, who has lost worryingly much weight – he seems half as much as when he played – speaks of intentions for a new life, a new career, but of nothing achieved despite his efforts and desires. Above all, he says he fears for his life. Everyday. One of the two videos stops suddenly.
fragile
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The words scare even more because they are spelled out in a lucid way, devastating in their fragility. And they touch the NBA world, the entire world of American basketball. Anxious for the one who throughout his career was considered the example of the good boy from a good family and great prospects off the field, remembered by all as reserved, well educated, with excellent vocabulary, depth of concepts and an indomitable character, from warrior, on the parquet. In his social outbursts he is unrecognizable, a middle-aged man wounded by life that has turned against him, suddenly fragile, collapsed after something broke. Videos that hurt to watch, especially because Singler seems aware, knocked out, clearly in need of immediate support.
the word
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There are two heart-breaking videos. They date back to a couple of days ago, over time social word of mouth has relaunched the cry for help launched by the high school phenomenon in Oregon, then the best player in the 2010 collegiate Final Four, won by his Blue Devils in the final over Gonzaga in Gordon Hayward. Singler is shirtless, speaking from where he resides. He utters words of alarm: “I have been living in this hole (of home) for 5 years, I turned to my community for the opportunity to start a new career, start a new life, but nothing has changed. I am held hostage by certain situations and positions, a false narrative has been created against me.” Then the video suddenly stops. The other distresses even more. Because from the height of his 203 centimeters, now thin and lanky, and on the parquet he certainly had muscles, Singler pronounces phrases that make one worry for his life. “I feel like my voice has been silenced again. Every day I’ve been bullied, I’ve been mistreated, I’ve been abused, I’ve been held up as an example of mental health issues. I fear for my life. Every day. People of my community treated me like someone who becomes a problem and makes life difficult for others when instead I only try to be helpful.
Words full of anger, but expressed without shouting, with significant and painful pauses between one and the other, with a clear awareness of what is being said, with the refined vocabulary of someone who graduated from Duke, a university of great academic prestige . The desperation of what he says syllable by syllable clashes with the way he says it, under control. And it’s shocking to see him half naked, emaciated.
the reactions
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Above all, that of Kevin Love, the same high school, stands out: he and Singler were the great prospects of Oregon at the time, top 10 talents in high schools in America. Singler was considered by many insiders even more promising than Love: Kyle chose Duke as his college, in Durham, North Carolina, Kevin chose UCLA, in Los Angeles. Love now plays for the Miami Heat, close to the finishing line of a superb NBA career, champion with LeBron and Kyrie Irving’s Cleveland in 2016, playing third fiddle to the Cavaliers. Love on X comments on the shocking videos of his childhood friend: “I wouldn’t be who I am today without him. I love him and am indebted to him. Anyone who has spent time with Kyle, had their life touched by him, shower him with the affection he needs and deserves.” Love has always been attentive to mental health problems, he declared that he had suffered from depression in the past, the topic affects him closely not only because of his personal, as well as professional, closeness to Singler. Other players, Andre Drummond, the center of the Philadelphia 76ers, and Chandler Parsons, former NBA winger from 2011 to 2020, sent messages of affection via social media to Singler. The NBA community immediately responded with cries of pain from the big boy chosen by the Detroit Pistons with number 33 in the 2011 draft who played in the Motor City for two and a half seasons and then for another three and a half, until 2018, with Oklahoma City Thunder. Singler scored 2326 points in 356 games, 172 as a starter, in the NBA.
to the real
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He also played in Spain, in Alicante and Real Madrid before starting his NBA career, then in Tenerife after his experience among American professionals. Soft-spoken, intelligent boy, head on shoulders, low profile, shy. Of those who you never imagine ending up in trouble, especially with reference to the NBA world in which there are frequent players with roots marked by a ferocious adolescence amidst poverty, dangerous companies and crime. Not Singler, quite the opposite. It shivers even more – because it is unexpected – to see him naked and defenseless. Hurt and betrayed, he says, by “his community”, by his people. The NBA, on the other hand, gives him a handhold, a lifesaver, it doesn’t forget about him. The hope, the prayer, is that he knows how to take it, before it becomes too late.
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