San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan is familiar with some of the mental health struggles that some of his peers might face, but the All-Star wing is genuinely concerned that the lack of support for it in the NBA has caused players to take matters into their own hands, erroneously.

DeRozan was the first of now many NBA athletes to speak about their battles with mental health issues, but unlike the Compton native, some have turned to more drastic measures to cope with the pain.

“I watched people suppress their pain with alcohol, which turned them into completely different people — aggressive, emotional, self-destructive,” DeRozan told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan. “I chose not to take that route, but certainly some players have.

“[My depression] forced me to a place where I was confined, quiet, isolated. And over time, that wasn't really healthy either. Those feelings build up.”

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While the NBA has been excellent at monitoring injuries and now even equipped with a stiff concussion protocol, it has yet to open up its doors to widely accept mental health issues as a huge reason of concern, still largely frowned upon for players to seek out psychiatric help.

Self-medicating on drugs or alcohol could be a potential career-derailing decision for some of the NBA's most talented players, something that could be avoided by providing league-wide acceptance of these mental health issues and the necessary help to keep those from morphing into disastrous situations.

For the Spurs talent, like others dealing with issues, here's hoping his story has a good ending.