Former NBA guard Delonte West was arrested Nov. 3 in Fairfax County after police found him breathing but highly intoxicated, responding to a call for an unconscious man via TMZ Sports.
Fairfax County Police Department officers and emergency medical services personnel arrived at the scene near Fair Haven Avenue and Richmond Highway after receiving a call that a man was unconscious and not breathing. Upon arrival, officers found West, 42, breathing.
Police reported that West was so intoxicated that he was taken into custody for his own safety after he refused an officer’s offer to transport him to a hospital. West has since been bonded out, and it is currently unclear if he will face any formal charges.
The arrest is the latest in a series of legal issues for the former basketball player. It comes almost exactly one year after the same department arrested him in November 2024 for trespassing, and just months after he was arrested in June 2024 for allegedly violating conditions of release and resisting arrest.
West, who has openly discussed his struggle with bipolar disorder, has been the subject of numerous intervention attempts by the NBA community and former associates. In one high-profile effort in 2020, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban personally picked West up at a gas station and paid for his treatment at a Florida drug rehabilitation facility.
Despite checking into the facility and briefly getting a job there, West has continued to relapse. Cuban and others close to the former player have expressed frustration over the limited success of these efforts, stressing the difficulty of treating severe addiction coupled with mental illness. West’s former college teammates and the National Basketball Players Association have also made repeated attempts to provide financial and support assistance, but his struggle with long-term stability continues.
West played eight seasons in the NBA for teams including the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dallas Mavericks.
