Former [Miami Heat](https://heatnation.com/) forward Shane Battier revealed that he struggled adjusting to retirement in a recent podcast with Pablo Torre.
Battier, who worked one year as an ESPN analyst before joining the Heat’s front office in 2017, shared that he battled depression after ending his NBA career.
> “I shut people out,” Battier said about the challenges he faced getting used to retirement. “I was probably battling some depression. I didn’t know what depression was. I never had this feeling before. But feeling very isolated. I didn’t feel anyone understood what I was going through, I felt very alone and I pushed people away. I pushed my wife away, I pushed my kids away and I just was a jerk.
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> “I wasn’t doing destructive things. It wasn’t like I was drinking every night, but I was emotionally unavailable and I was hurt and I was pissed off and I had all these emotions that I had never associated with basketball. And it was a big mistake to go work for ESPN. I was really bad on TV. I had zero passion for it, zero.”
Hopefully, Battier is past this tough time in his life, and it seems like he recognized that he was pushing away those that cared about him early in his post-playing career.
> “When you retire, you don’t know,” Battier said. “This is all I knew, this is all I knew for 30 years. I had purpose every day, the scoreboard above me told me where I was. I loved my teammates, I loved being part of a team. The money was great. I had status, I had all these things that people are chasing these things in their professional life. It checked every box. So to not have that when you wake up one day because you don’t have the jersey, you don’t have the locker room, you don’t have the purpose, it’s scary as \[expletive\]. I was terrified.”
A two-time NBA champion with Miami, Battier spent three seasons with the Heat from the 2011-12 season through the 2013-14 campaign. Even though Battier wasn’t a star during his time in Miami, he was a perfect role player alongside LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade.
In his Heat career, Battier averaged 5.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 0.7 steals per game while shooting 39.8 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from beyond the arc.
In the 2013 NBA Finals, Battier was a hero for the Heat in Game 7, knocking down six shots from beyond the arc to help Miami capture its second title in the Big 3 era.
Battier’s story is a notable one, as many players likely struggle with some sort of identity crisis after their time in professional sports is done, especially since the game has been such a big part of their lives.
For Heat fans, Battier will always be remembered as an important piece of one of the most successful runs in franchise history.