Royce White Says He’s Not AWOL, Blames Houston Rockets For Not Understanding His Disorder

You may remember Royce White, the rookie drafted into the NBA over the Summer who almost didn’t make first round draft pick because teams worried that his anxiety to flying/heightsmay cause issues in terms of traveling. Well he was eventually drafted to the Houston Rockets and according to the Rockets he has been AWOL after missing Monday’s game against the Miami Heat and Tuesday’s practice. White took to his Twitter last night to vent his frustration with the Rockets for not understanding his condition and being inconsistent with accommodating him.

First it started with an official statement issued Tuesday night.

“In hindsight, perhaps it was not a good idea to be open and honest about my anxiety disorder — due to the current situations at hand that involve the nature of actions from the Houston Rockets. As a rookie, I want to settle into a team and make progress; but since preseason, the Rockets have been inconsistent with their agreement to proactively create a healthy and successful relationship.”

Then it turned into a Twitter rant Tuesday night.

“It’s getting real bad when being honest brings you BAD results. #Regress But…”Luke 12:3″ some ppl still have fight left. I’m most defiantly not AWOL… There are many things here ppl don’t know, #Honesty is what I’m sticking with. @HoustonRockets “Luke 12:3”. Problem goes back WAY before D-League assignment. This about #Consideration and #Health it isn’t about Rebounds & Money. My “anxiety” hasn’t caused inconsistency in my participation with the team from training camp until 72hrs ago, ✈ to DET, ✈s Isn’t the issue. It’s sad to think ppl ACTUALLY think money should be higher on my priority list then health..you can’t enjoy success OR money without health.”

That started off the Twitter rant but there is definitely more. Talk about a mouthful…

“I’d waste my “Talent”, to stand up for myself and what’s right, regarding my health 10x’s out 10. #Logical Player “Commodity” league. “your a COMMODITY” and “we’ll support your health needs even if its inconvenient…” just don’t go. My health can’t afford such an ideal. While #anxiety is the issue, the main piece of that isn’t AIRPLANES, it’s asking for support 4 my disorder thats consistent and fair. Again My “Anxiety” is not well but not BAD, my main WORRY is being treated as a digit instead of a HUMAN, in the case of my health. I informed the #Rockets of every practice I was going to miss. There were no unexplained misses. Its important to tweet to lend #Transparency and RT to reveal ignorance. I do understand being scared of being vocal tho, just not who I am. To be clear!, my only reason for publicly speaking is b/c YOU were lead to think I was AWOL, False. The communication has been loud n clear.”

Royce’s condition already kept him from being a first round pick in the NBA draft this summer. It’s a shame that it is taking a toll on his life yet again. The problem is, what do you do? As a team are the Rockets responsible for finding alternate transportation for him? Is he responsible for taking an additional effort to get to practices and games? It can really go either way. It’s a pre-existing condition situation and it’s the reason so many employers don’t hire women who are pregnant (for example). If you are a hiring manager and a woman who is 8 months pregnant comes to you for a job, the first thing you are thinking is about how she will not be able to work in about a month, leaving you stuck at square one again. You don’t bother putting her on insurance or giving her paid leave because she hasn’t worked long enough to establish that yet. Same case here with White. He’s a rookie with a pre-existing condition. He had to travel in college, of course games and practices were less frequent then, but the Rockets organization are assuming that he would know how to adapt. And up until a few days ago, he did. This is a very tough situation and I hate to be insensitive to say it but if his condition is detrimental enough he may need to step away from professional basketball. His job requires that he travel a lot. It’s not good for him and the Rockets as an organization probably won’t deal with it for much longer. The tweets though? That’s got to stop before he ends up fined.