Rex Chapman, the onetime “King” of Kentucky basketball who saw his life spiral into an embarrassing theft arrest as the result of his opioid addiction, on Monday published part of his story and an appeal for more state and federal efforts to combat America’s opioid crisis.
“I know all too well how powerful the pull of opioids can be,” Chapman wrote in an article titled “Our National Pain,” in Monday’s issue of Sports Illustrated. “I played basketball at Kentucky in 1986-87 and ’87-88 and enjoyed a 12-year NBA career. After multiple injuries and seven surgeries, I developed an addiction to prescription painkillers.