The Oklahoma City Thunder parted ways with Alex Abrines back in February after the guard has missed 20 of 22 games with the team. His absence had to do with personal matters, and Abrines expressed he would shed some light on the matter in the future.
Abrines took to Instagram on Wednesday to explain why he had to step away — and that he’s returning to the game of basketball.
Abrines’ post includes a video cut into two, in which he narrates his situation Spanish, accompanied by English subtitles for translation. The video features clips from his days playing as a kid, while the portions of him shooting around in present-day were shot at La Salle high school in Mallorca, Spain, “Where everything started.”
Dear friend, what a mess! So much time spent together and now you do this to me. We’ve known each other since I did not know how to walk. Years and years of indestructible friendship until a few months ago when everything broke into a thousand pieces just because you started to frighten me. I couldn’t even see you. I even got to hate you. To be with you was little less than an obligation. I avoided you in the slightest chance. I just wanted to run away from you and everything around you. I spent a lot of time telling myself that all this could not be truth, it didn’t make sense, it had to go back to what it was. That’s why I asked for help to my own people and used the best professionals to mend the happiness that I felt every time we were together.
Abrines continued:
I decided to say enough of this. I wanted to fight for our friendship and smile together again. It has not been easy. Many times I thought about throwing in the towel. I told myself that I would find other ways to be inspired and getting the best out of me. Nothing and nobody has gotten into me as deep as you have, so I armed myself with courage to put an end to this nightmare. I have achieved it. I have recovered the smile, the desire to see you and return to spend a thousand hours together. Dear ball, I’m back. It’s me, Alex. Thank you for always being there waiting.
Back in mid-June, Marc Mundet of Rac1 reported Abrines was in talks to return to the game with Barcelona.
