Domantas Sabonis on deleting social media: ‘It’s been the best thing ever’
Even though he is not always recognized as such, Kings center Domantas Sabonis is one of the NBA’s most prolific offensive big men.
He leads the NBA in triple-doubles (26) and recently joined Moses Malone as the second player to record at least 74 double-doubles since 1978-79; he tied Malone’s 1980-81 mark of 74 double-doubles, but is three shy of tying Malone’s 77 double-double mark set from two seasons prior.
Sacramento’s big man told ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski on “The Woj Pod” that he credits deleting social media to his play this year.
“I deleted all my social media at the beginning of the season,” Sabonis said. “You know, it’s been the best thing ever. You don’t have to worry about any of ‘that.’ You just go out there and play your game. You have your coaches, your family and your teammates, and their opinion is the only one that matters. You just got to go out there, trust your game, and play.“
Wojnarowski if social media has affected his mental health and clarity of mind, with Sabonis admitting that it did.
“No matter what it is, good or bad, something’s creeping in your mind,” he said. “So better not to even see it, in my opinion … You have a lot more free time. Your mind is clear. You watch film and you try and learn by yourself, you don’t need to read or hear anything from anyone else because, at the end of the day, you’re the one on the court playing.”
Social media’s presence–whether it’s Twitter, Instagram, Tik Tok or even Facebook–only continues to grow. For public figures, if you read about yourself, it can eat you alive.
Conversely, it feeds you dopamine if you’re playing well or doing well with a lot of positive feedback, but the negative can be just as wrong; fans love to complain online just to complain and, hopefully, find those who agree with you. We’ve all been there, myself included. If you’re the head of the snake, you’ll likely catch plenty of praise if your does well, and flack if you’re not.
Through 78 games, he is averaging 19.5 points and 13.8 rebounds, which is a league-most, in addition to dishing out 8.3 assists per game. He is shooting 59.5 percent from the floor with a 61.1 effective field-goal percentage and a 63.8 true-shooting percentage.
The three-time All-Star finished seventh in MVP voting last year, and despite having a better statistical season this year, didn’t make an All-Star team nor is likely to crack that top-7 again based on the latest MVP straw poll.
The Kings are embroiled in the thick of the Western Conference play-in race. With five days left in the regular season, they are a 0.5 game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 8 seed and one game back of the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans, who are tied for the No. 6 seed (Phoenix owns tiebreaker).
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