Video: Mark Cuban offers help to ex-NBA star Delonte West after viral homeless image
Video has emerged of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban picking up Delonte West after an image showing the ex-NBA star homeless went viral.
Mr Cuban and Mr West met at a gas station in Dallas on Monday, according to a video of the meeting reported by TMZ.
In the video, originally published on Snapchat, Mr West can be seen in the gas station before a second video shows Mr Cuban picking up Mr West in a Tesla Model S.
"Good job, man," the person recording the Snapchat video can be heard saying to Mr Cuban.
In an email to The Washington Post late on Monday, Mr Cuban said: “I can just confirm that I found him and helped him. The rest is up to Delonte and his family to tell.”
Mr West was taken to a local hotel before he checked into rehab, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania, who said Mr Cuban had been in contact with Mr West's mother, Delphina Addison, to help track down her son over the past week.
Mark Cuban reached out to Delonte West's mother, Delphina Addison, asking how he can help. Answer was simple: Find Delonte.
Cuban did on Monday, waited with West until his mother arrived to hotel, and West finally took step many close to him have awaited: Entered rehab. 🙏🏽 https://t.co/IiVKGH3a62— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 29, 2020
He said Mr Cuban had reached out after a viral Twitter image taken last week, which showed Mr West holding a small cardboard sign on the side of a Texas highway.
The 37-year-old former guard, who has reportedly suffered from bipolar disorder, substance abuse issues and homelessness, was in a drug treatment programme in Florida on Tuesday that Mr Cuban has offered to pay for, according to TMZ.
Delonte west really out here in north dallas smh pic.twitter.com/9SxZzIO5AP
— 🇯🇵 (@CallTcooks) September 22, 2020
Mr West played for Mr Cuban's Dallas Mavericks from 2011 to 2012 after stints at the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Seattle SuperSonics.
Following the end of his NBA career, Mr West fell on hard times, with photos and videos of the player over the past two years showing him walking around Houston without shoes on one occasion, and bruised, shirtless and in handcuffs after a fight on another. This is despite family and friends attempting to help, including Mr Cuban who connected his former player with a financial adviser around 2014, according to The Washington Post.
In 2015, Mr West described his battle with bipolar disorder in an interview with the Post.
“I am bipolar – just like the rest of us in the world,” he said. “So bipolar is defined as something sad happens, you're sad. Something happy happens, you're happy. I think pretty much everyone in the world is like that. Now there's different levels. How long do you stay sad? How does it affect your behaviour? How do you handle these emotions?”