UrbanUpdate

Grant Hill deserved better than his status as the go-to “What if?” player for basketball fans who wistfully recall the former Duke great slapping up triple-doubles for the Detroit Pistons and briefly ruining Alonzo Mourning's life. After signing as a free agent with Orlando in 2000, though, Hill was beset by injuries, playing in only 47 games in three seasons and sitting out the entire 2003-04 campaign. Although he enjoyed a successful late-career run on the Nash-era Phoenix Suns, it’s hard to watch grainy YouTube clips of Peak Grant Hill gleefully unleashing double-clutch two-handed reverse jams and not feel sad that we didn't get to see many more years of that.

It is Hill’s intimate knowledge of the pain and uncertainty and fear associated with surgery that has sparked his more recent interest in this country’s ongoing opioid epidemic, and in one of the simplest interventions in this policy crisis: working to limit the supply of pills that become available to the public in the first place. Independent research conducted by the QuintilesIMS Institute found that 9 of 10 surgery patients use opioids to manage post-surgical pain, and that of the 11.7 billion pills prescribed last year, more than 3.3 billion of them went unused for their intended purpose—and, thus, that became subject to misuse.

Hill used opioids following surgeries earlier in his career, but after experiencing a series of allergic reactions in the early 2000s, he opted for an opioid-free experience while recovering from more recent procedures. He currently acts as a spokesperson for Choices Matter, a pharmaceutical-company-funded campaign that encourages patients to craft pain-management strategies with their doctors before going under the knife: deciding on which approaches to use, narcotic or otherwise, and how often, and for how long. The idea, says Paul Sethi, MD, another campaign spokesperson, is not to eliminate the use of opioids altogether, but is instead to prescribe them more judiciously, thereby reducing the incidence of abuse and addiction.

We spoke to Grant about his experience managing pain—and playing through it—as an NBA player; how he wishes he had managed his health differently during his career; and his thoughts on the season ahead in protest and social activism, at a time when whatever line that previously may have separated politics and sports appears blurrier than ever.

GQ: What role did opioids play in your surgeries during your playing career, and how has that experience affected your perception of the opioid crisis today?

Grant Hill: I’ve had eleven surgeries in total. First, it was a toe surgery. From 2000 through 2004, I had five ankle surgeries. There was an abdominal surgery in 2006, and another one in 2008, and then a knee surgery towards the end of my career. It kind of went up the body, and back down. The defining moment for me and my career was the saga of my ankle—though the other surgeries, I believe, were partially related to some of the health issues that developed as a result of the ankle injury.

My first surgery was in '93. From that point forward—for my next nine procedures—I was prescribed opioids. Sometime in early 2000, around my second or third surgery, I started to experience an allergic reaction to that medication. I felt nauseous and my stomach hurt, and I developed an itching sensation and a rash. My body was…not a fan. [Laughs]

When I first had surgery, I didn't even know what an opioid was, let alone anything about the potential side effects. This experience really incentivized me to learn more about why that was the case, and after talking with doctors, I became aware of the problems associated with opioids—their side effects and their addictive nature. At that time, though, that's all they had for surgery. That was what you did.

In an interview in 2011, you talked about being prescribed pain medication so that you could play in the playoffs, and aggravating an existing ankle injury while using that medication. How do teams manage players' pain throughout the season?

Every team and doctor is different, and every player has a different pain threshold. There is always a pressure in sports to play. I put pressure on myself to play. That's what you do. That's who you are. That's what defines you.

No one likes to be hurt—you want to be in the battle and you want to play. Going through a season, it's about managing pain, discomfort, and soreness. "Are you hurt or are you injured?" Sometimes you can play through things and sometimes you can't! It’s not an exact science. But the only time you're truly pain-free is the first day of training camp. After that, it’s a continuous state of fatigue and a continuous state of soreness.

It’s a fine line, and sometimes you go a little too far. For the most part, everyone wants to be out there and no one wants to put themselves in a situation where they risk serious harm. But sometimes it happens. That's the gamble.

How might have modern advancements in pain management and medicine changed the trajectory of your career?

I think about that a lot! What could have been, what could have happened. I just think my situation was mismanaged. The ball was dropped—no pun intended—early on, which caused a whole new set of problems that lasted for another three years.

I do think sometimes we could have gone back and done things differently. I think I could have gone back and done things differently. A veteran once told me when I was young in the NBA that your body talks to you, and that you just have to learn to listen to it. Throughout some of those ordeals, my body was talking to me, but I didn't really trust what it was saying. I trusted other people. If there's any lesson for me, it's to listen to your body. It's okay to sit down and rest and not play. The bigger picture is your health and the ability to enjoy a long career—which, I guess, I ultimately did.

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But I do think about that—man, what if things were different? What if we had done this? What if I had sat? What if we had done X-rays? All these what-ifs can sometimes drive you crazy.

How has the league’s attitude toward players’ pain—and the associated injury risk—shifted since your playing days?

Going through a season is about preventative medicine and recovery, and you have an entire staff working with players on all these different things. Years ago, it was a badge of honor to play every game. You didn’t rest if you were healthy. The mindset was that if you could run, you played. Nowadays, guys will take nights off, and organizations will sit their stars for certain games because they're thinking big picture and want players to be fresh.

Right now the prevailing attitude in the league is that players are a precious resource, and we have to take care of them. Some of the older guys might criticize it, but I think it's a good thing. The league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, has changed the schedule so there are fewer back-to-back games. That's a move in the right direction, and it's not necessarily what you saw 30-40 years ago.

What message does Adam Silver's efforts to fine teams and discourage them from sitting healthy players send about the league’s interest in player safety?

It's a tough call. When you sit players on the road, the fans miss out. If I'm a fan of one of the league’s stars, and I bought tickets for the game, and he comes to town and doesn't play… You know? I get both sides of that argument. I think Adam is trying to look out for the fans and for the players: starting the season earlier and lengthening the All-Star break and shortening the pre-season and eliminating those four-games-in-five-nights stretches altogether. I think we’re in a good place.

What other changes would help to reduce the incidence of injury?

Fewer two-a-days during training camp. I do think we're in a good place, though. I like our leadership. Our fans are important to us and our fans drive our business, and there's a way to tweak some things to be sort of mutually beneficial. I think we've done that.

What has your reaction been to the recent spike in social activism across the league? As players like LeBron James speak out more frequently about politics and about President Trump—especially after his comments about Steph Curry—do you think fans will support players who do so, if that becomes a trend?

I don’t like to play the hypothetical here, because we don't know what's going to happen. I'll just say the trend of the current administration is sort of moving around between different topics, so I'm not sure this one will remain [relevant], at least from his standpoint.

NBA players are so visible because we don't wear helmets. If you watch a game, you see not only the superstar, but also the face and image of the role player, and the sixth man, and the eighth man. The league does a good job of promoting its product, which are the players. We don't promote teams as much as we promote, say, "Kobe vs. LeBron,” and so they become recognizable, and then they have a platform. The NBA is also very progressive when it comes to regulating social media, and it understands that social media is a currency for the millennial generation. I can't say that every other league does that.

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The season is starting now, and the timing of [Trump’s comments] means that everyone has an audience and a microphone in front of them. We’ll have to see how it plays out. I know that in Atlanta, we have guys who are doing all types of work, and not only in political activism. Whether it's social injustice issues or poverty or education or healthcare or whatever else the case may be, they understand their platform, and they want to make a difference.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Watch Now:The Cost of Mike Pence’s Cynical Anthem StuntJay Willis is a staff writer at GQ covering news, law, and politics. Previously, he was an associate at law firms in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, where his practice focused on consumer financial services and environmental cleanup litigation. He studied social welfare at Berkeley and graduated from Harvard Law School... Read moreRelated Stories for GQGQ SportsNBABasketball