The only reason I'm bringing my condition to your attention now is because the swelling of a lymph node near my left ear has become noticeable to viewers of TNT, and there have been questions asked. My plan is to work the rest of the NBA season and playoffs, go to the beach with my wife, Cheryl, and our four kids, and start a treatment regimen in late June, which will likely include chemotherapy. And then I'll go back to work.

The only thing I could say to myself is 'wow. I don't think there's another NBA player who would have done that.

The perception problem was there, and therefore it was real, ... We were focusing on that issue even before the brawl, but it certainly was an exclamation point in terms of perceptions of NBA players. We've got to do a better job of both acknowledging it and working to correct it.

The peak of an NBA player is 29, 30? So we're still young. We can go as far as we want to go.

The pent-up demand for the return of the NBA to Charlotte wasn't as strong as many of us anticipated it could be,