Royce White needs someone to represent him, handle all of his public relations responses, and keep him from saying things. It’s a sad situation because he is a talented player.

He released a statement taking issue with the Rockets and acknowledging that he is refusing a team assignment to the D-League. In it, he references mental health issues in “recent tragedies” (read: Newtown, Connecticut) and that “you would think it would encourage people to act more proactively in [the mental health] arena” in regard to his relationship with the Rockets. He closes with:

The information that the Houston Rockets have publicly presented about this situation has been extremely misleading and a lot of times totally inaccurate. An image of support has been presented by the Rockets, but the only logical support here would be listening to the recommendation of the medical professionals involved. That has not totally happened here. I have chosen to not play, because the doctors and I believe it to be unsafe for unqualified Rockets front office personnel to make medical decisions, as they are not mental health professionals.

[photo via USA Today Sports Images]