‘Fear is the basis of human psychology’: how self-doubt haunts the NBA

Players such as Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz have been accused of suffering from the yips. But every player has to confront fear at some point

Philadelphia 76ers basketball fans know one sentence above all else: Trust the process. It was used often when the team was struggling in the 2010s as the team appeared to tank for the sake of high draft picks and long-term team building. But two of the franchise's ensuing No 1 selections - Ben Simmons and Markel Fultz, both of whom are no longer on the team, despite being dubbed saviors - seemed to lose sight of the maxim when it came to their own on-court games. Both players came into the NBA with sky-high potential. But they both came under unwelcome scrutiny: Fultz for a hitch in his shooting technique, and Simmons for a reluctance to shoot at all. The pair were inevitably accused of succumbing to the the dreaded yips."

Throughout the history of pro sports, there have been many high profile cases of players losing the ability to conduct the most basic of on-field tasks. In baseball, New York Yankees second baseman Chuck Knoblauch somehow could not throw to first base. Similarly, catcher Mackey Sasser found himself unable to send the ball from home plate to the pitcher, double clutching his throws, as if he was thinking too much about the task. Pitcher Rick Ankiel, who lost his ability to pitch and later became an outfielder, said of his issues, Throwing the baseball, it felt like my wrist wouldn't work. I couldn't feel the ball."