Channing Frye was one of the lucky ones.
He played with LeBron James, spent 13 years in the NBA, won a world championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and earned more than $68 million in his career.
GettyChanning Frye was a first-round pick and won the NBA Finals[/caption]
But despite being a first-round draft pick and entering NBA history as one of the Cavs who overcame a 3-1 deficit in the Finals to beat Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors, there was one problem that Frye consistently struggled with as a pro.
His obsessive love of video games.
“Devin Booker, (Kevin Durant), all those guys are playing Call of Duty,” Frye told CNN.
“I think Luka (Doncic) is like a diamond or a platinum in Overwatch. I know that Robin and Brook Lopez play Overwatch also.
“So I would say 75 percent of guys play video games.”
The 7ft and 255lb Frye was definitely among the guys who balanced the hardwood with a username and controller.
“I was just really into World of Warcraft when it first came out,” he said.
“I was on there with Malik Rose, Andrei Kirilenko, Quentin Richardson, Tim Duncan, myself.
“We were nerding out! Nerding out. I had an opportunity to play with David Robinson. So that game was pretty wild.”
Going back on forth on a screen with The Admiral is one thing.
Getty Images – GettyLeBron James was a teammate of Frye’s on the Cleveland Cavaliers[/caption]
GettyFrye balanced his love of basketball and video games during his NBA career[/caption]
GettyHe especially loved to play World of Warcraft[/caption]
Becoming so obsessed with a video game that it detracts from professional practice time is another, and Frye acknowledged that he was so into video games that it almost derailed his basketball career.
The ‘Buffet of Goodness’ turned a standout college run at Arizona into the No. 8 overall pick of the 2005 draft, then played for Phoenix, Cleveland, Portland, New York, Orlando and the Los Angeles Lakers,
But Frye, who is 41 now, became so addicted to World of Warcraft that even he knew it was a problem.
“That one got to the point where I was just like, ‘I have to delete my account,’ ” Frye said.
“That was too much. I literally in the summertime wouldn’t leave my room for 24 hours.”
Current NBA star Anthony Edwards showed the world how important video games are to him during a Netflix documentary, packing his equipment for road trips.
Frye said that many NBA players turn to video games for quiet down time away from home.
“What a video game does is just keep you up,” Frye said. “And so I’ve seen guys stay up all night just playing.
“I was spending more time on the video game than I was watching basketball. Obviously, I was doing my workouts. But it was like, ‘Would I stay an extra 30 minutes? Ah, no – let me go home earlier so I have 30 minutes to play.’ “
Frye averaged 8.7 points and 4.5 rebounds while playing in 890 games (445 starts).
He shot 44 percent from the field and 38.8 percent on 3-pointers, and also has one of the most important NBA Finals rings in league history.
But his first-round pick status never led to hardwood dominance, and it’s now clearer why the big man became more of a role player than a superstar in the pros.
Balancing basketball with controllers also gave Frye unique insight into the private lives of NBA superstars.
“LeBron really is that good at Madden,” Frye said.