Chicago Bulls center Andre Drummond advocates for vulnerability in mental health conversations: ‘That superhero cape has to come off’

For Chicago Bulls center Andre Drummond, returning to the court alongside his teammates this weekend came as a relief.

Drummond stepped away from the team for one game — Wednesday’s loss to the Los Angeles Lakers — after sharing on Twitter and Instagram that he was deleting all social media apps and changing his phone number.

“Time to focus on my mental health,” Drummond wrote. “If you too are struggling with your mental health, you are not alone. It’s okay to ask for help.”

Even without knowing the full details of what he was facing, Drummond’s teammates and coaches were quick to show support when he returned to the team for last week’s trip to Charlotte, N.C.

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“Everybody was there for me,” Drummond said after Sunday’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies at the United Center. “Nobody really knew what was going on. I was going through a lot mentally and I had to take some time to really clear my mind and address some things that I’ve been neglecting for a while.”

Drummond’s social media posts were met immediately with concern and support — more than 12,600 likes and 550 responses on Twitter and more than 41,000 likes and 1,000 comments on Instagram.

But as promised, Drummond already had deleted all social media and didn’t see the outpouring from the basketball community.

“I didn’t even know what was going on until people started telling me,” he said. “I wasn’t doing it to get that kind of reaction. It was more so just the closing of a chapter for my mentals just to really escape that and really tackle some things that I needed to take care of.”

After friends and teammates showed him the reactions of fans and fellow players, Drummond embraced the opportunity provided by his platform.

He acknowledged that many fans overlook the mental health challenges that athletes face, which can make it harder for athletes to seek help.

“We’re looked at as superheroes, like nothing really bothers us and that we don’t have a life outside of the game,” Drummond said. “People need to understand that we do have personal lives outside of the game of basketball and it becomes taxing at times. That superhero cape we have on has to come off at some point in time. It’s OK to ask for help. It’s OK to feel. It’s OK to be emotional. We’re all men, but we have to be OK with having feelings.”

Players throughout the NBA have been slowly opening larger conversations about the importance of mental health advocacy. Bulls star DeMar DeRozan was one of the first players to address the topic in a 2018 interview about his depression. Other NBA stars such as Kevin Love have since shared experiences, paving the way for improved awareness around the league.

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Drummond believes this shifting environment around mental health in men’s sports is integral to changing societal perceptions of how men experience depression, anxiety and other challenges.

“As a man, we’re known to be the masculine one,” Drummond said. “Nothing bothers us. We have to be the protector, the provider and the one that does everything. Over the past couple of years, guys have been coming out and expressing it’s OK to shed light on mental traumas and things that we go through. It’s OK to share with other people, that other people have the same type of journey that we’re going down too. It’s OK to bring them along, to let everybody know they’re not alone.”

Drummond made it clear that the process he began last week will continue through the season and beyond.

But for now, the center is back on the court — and plans to remain there for the rest of the season as the Bulls chase a spot in the play-in tournament.

“I feel OK,” Drummond said. “I’ve obviously still got a lot of work to do with my mentals, but I have a job to do and that’s to win basketball games and to get to the playoffs. So if I’m back, I’m ready to play. All this stuff personally, I can take care of when the time comes. I still have a job to do.”