Therapy helped Chicago Bulls’ Andre Drummond regain his peace — and purpose: ‘I felt myself crying for help. But I didn’t know how to ask for it.’
Eight minutes. It wasn’t enough time.
Andre Drummond knew it. The rest of the Chicago Bulls lineup already had assembled on the court against the Clippers on March 27 in Los Angeles. Only eight minutes remained before the starter would be introduced, eight minutes before Drummond needed to take his place on the bench beside his teammates.
But Drummond was headed in the opposite direction, deeper into the arena, searching for the only name that made sense in that moment: Dr. Wendy Borlabi, the team’s director of performance and mental health.
He stood in front of her, searching for the words to describe all that had been clogging his mind for days, months, maybe years.
Eight minutes. It wasn’t even close to enough time to say everything he was thinking and feeling. But Drummond knew it was enough time to start.
“I don’t know what I’m going to say to you,” Drummond told Borlabi. “But I just need to say something.”
Two nights before, Drummond was sprawled on his back in a hotel bed in Los Angeles, trapped in a spiral, the same thought stuck on repeat: “I’ve got to get a f------ grip on my life. I’ve got to get help. I’ve got to talk to someone.”
Drummond wrote each thought down and made himself stare at his words. But it still wasn’t enough. He couldn’t force himself to talk to anyone — not friends, not teammates, not family.
Instead, he willed
