By Stefan Bondy
New York Daily News
DARIEN, Conn. — Before his first practice with the Knicks over 15 years ago, Vin Baker, fresh off having his contract terminated by the Celtics because he couldn’t stop drinking, downed three bottles of Listerine to ease the suffocating anxiety.
“It covers the smell,” Baker, 47, told the Daily News. “But it’s alcohol. If you drink enough, the alcohol overrides the Listerine.
“It was just bad. A low point in life.”
Baker’s remarkable comeback story — from All-Star to addict to rehab to Starbucks to NBA coach — included this brief and forgettable stop in New York, a footnote in his reclamation. Baker was embraced by owner James Dolan, a recovered alcoholic, and team president Isiah Thomas, whose brother succumbed to the disease. But Baker wasn’t ready.
It’d require another seven years of self-destruction, and an epiphanic moment in front of the mirror when Baker realized his emaciated body was on the brink of death.
“I was 225 pounds,” said the 7-footer. “I could see my body just deteriorating. And I knew it.”
Baker is now eight years sober, shaping his third and fourth careers as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks and an advocate for addicts.
In between, he worked for a year as the manager of a Starbucks, a position offered to him by the billionaire owner of the coffee company, Howard Schultz. Baker had once played for Schultz’s NBA team — the SuperSonics — so managing baristas in Connecticut felt like a harsh downgrade.
It was embarrassing, Baker acknowledged, but also weirdly helpful toward his recovery. On one hand, Baker became the punchline, the four-time All-Star who drank away $100 million in NBA contracts and was relegated to serving coffee. On the other hand, it demonstrated a drive and work ethic, which Baker said was important to prospective employers in the NBA.
“It’s one thing to lose $100 million dollars and to have the stigma of that, but to also have the stigma of being an alcoholic, teams are like, ‘Nah,’” Baker said. “Even if you get sober, they’re like, ‘We don’t want that story around the kids.’ That’s where my journey helps.
“One of the stigmas of former players in the league who are trying to get back into the league as coaches or whatever, is they don’t work hard or they’re not humble enough or have humility. Bro, serving caramel macchiatos and grandes and talls and ventis, that’s humbling.”
The Starbucks gig transitioned into a TV analyst position in Milwaukee, and then an assistant coaching position with the Bucks. His team won an NBA-high 60 games last season and advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Baker published a book about the descent into addiction and recovery, “God and Starbucks,” with the former being a reference to his faith as the son of a pastor. More recently, he laid the groundwork for The Vin Baker Foundation, a nonprofit focused on helping people affected by alcohol and drug addiction.
Although other current and former NBA players have lobbied for the legalization of marijuana — including Al Harrington and Oscar Robertson — Baker believes the drug served as a gateway to his alcohol addiction. In Milwaukee, he smoked before and after games to chase the mind-altering state, quitting only because the drug induced panic attacks.
When he was traded to Seattle, alcohol became the drug of choice and he lost control during the lockout offseason of 1998. Baker had gone from drinking socially to being drunk at games, believing it might help with his free-throw percentage.
“Anything that’s mind-altering, any substance, can lead to anything. When I smoked weed a lot, it led to my alcoholism,” Baker said. “Both of them started as recreation. I have (addiction) in my family. It just turned into — the whole drinking in Seattle, it went from recreation to overnight being an alcoholic.”
Still, Baker held the secret long enough to secure an $86 million deal with the Sonics in 1999. Within four years, he’d been traded to the Celtics and suspended for alcohol. The league began screening him randomly, and Baker revealed that two test takers offered an illegal deal: $50,000 apiece to give him advance notice of a test.
Baker was advised to refuse.
“It was crazy. Because in some ways — and I didn’t take it, obviously — it gave me this real out,” Baker said. “I didn’t know that existed. But it happened. That happened. It was really, really unfortunate that happened.”
Baker failed a urine test and his contract was terminated with the Celtics. The Knicks then signed the power forward with Dolan’s backing and he managed just 41 games over two seasons before being traded.
“Mr. Dolan, the conversations I had with him were more than basketball,” Baker said. “We had multiple conversations that just dealt with my personal life — he’s one of my guys, we’ve spoken, that was the first conversation we had was about recovery. When I first got there from the Celtics. He was like, ‘I’m invested in your recovery.’ And he showed that every step of the way. But I wasn’t invested in it.”
Today, Baker is recovered and fully invested, an advocate back in the NBA and a walking symbol of hope even in the deepest darkness. Baker acknowledges that the NBA culture — which lends itself to partying and drinking — is often separate from addiction, meaning different personalities can turn it off appropriately. But there are certainly players — both current and former — who can learn from Baker.
Just two months ago, Tyreke Evans was banned by the NBA for at least two years for violating the anti-drug policy. It’s unclear what substance Evans allegedly used.
“I have to be aware and cognizant. The NBA culture and addiction are two separate things. Certain people can hang out, party, and it’s not necessarily an addiction,” Baker said. “But part of it too that’s important, you have to be aware also and cognizant — and I think my presence sometimes too — not just with the Bucks but in Summer League in Las Vegas, it just reminds people in a positive way I believe that the issue does exist, and more importantly, you can overcome it.”
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