Darius Miles, once the highly-touted prospect of the 2000 draft class, went out of NBA radar after exiting the league in 2009. Years after his last NBA stint, Miles reveals that he almost died in a jet ski accident at Alonzo Mourning's place.
The 37-year old Miles wrote a heartfelt article about his career's ups and downs on The Players' Tribune, including a near-death encounter at Mourning's Summer Groove camp with teammate Quentin Richardson.
“Now, what you gotta know is ― there were all these boats docked in the marina. But one of them was real low in the water, like a speedboat or something. You could barely see it. So there was this little red flag sticking up out of the water. Before we went out, I remember Zo saying something about this little red flag. “Watch out for that little red flag,” and such and such.”
“Bro, the last thing I saw was that little red flag.
I hit the edge of that boat with the Jet Ski and I flipped ― I’m talking flipped that bitch. And now I’m upside down, flying through the air. And I can just see the newspapers flashing in my mind, like, NBA ROOKIE DIES IN DAMN JET SKI ACCIDENT IN SOUTH BEACH.
So I pop my head up out the water, and I’m treading, but I’m feeling this seaweed touching my foot. This creepy-ass seaweed. I’m not having that. I’m yelling at Q, like, ‘Bruh! Come get me! Yo, come get me!'”
Miles was the first prep-to-pro NBA player who earned a nod on the All-Rookie First Team. The 6-foot-9 small forward never lived up to the hype leading up to his NBA entrance, failing to eclipse double-digit scoring average in his first three years in the league.
His most productive season came during his stint with the Portland Trail Blazers, where he averaged 14.0 points and 4.6 rebounds. Then he did not step on the court for the next two years due to successive knee injuries. He finally ended his NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies at the age of 27 years old.
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