Cat Mobley Wants Back in the NBA

Mobley tells Yahoo!’s Marc Spears that he made a rushed decision to retire in 2008. But Cat, now 35, says he’s been playing four days a week and could come off the bench for an NBA team: “‘I just want to come in and kind of help out for 10, 15 minutes [per game] if I could,’ Mobley said. ‘And if they wanted to give me a test with three to four different doctors and have me go through some type of process, I’m all for it. I just want to let people know they shouldn’t be afraid of me and what could happen to me. A lot of people are saying, ‘Why do you want to play? We are afraid for you.’ No, you’re afraid for yourselves. You’re not afraid for me. Believe me, I’m fine.’ Mobley said he should have been more patient and sought additional medical opinions before announcing his retirement. The New York Knicks acquired Mobley in the trade that sent Zach Randolph to the Los Angeles Clippers, but he never played a game for them. Mobley previously knew he had an irregularity with his heart, but the Knicks’ physical showed the condition had worsened. ‘They tried to do the best that they thought they could do for me,’ Mobley said. ‘It kind of shocked me. Instead of months to really think about it, I had a day or two. [The Knicks] said, ‘No you can’t play,’ and they literally took me up to Boston and the Boston doctor said, ‘No, he can’t play.’ I’m like, ‘Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Listen man, it’s OK.’ He said, ‘No, I’ve seen this.’ He was so adamant about this. It was a quick decision to say, ‘Oh damn, I guess I got to stop playing.’ When I got home I said, ‘You’ve been doing this for 11 years. You could do this. It’s just a bump.’ It’s no disrespect to anyone else, but it was a quick decision and the decision wasn’t a good one because I’ve been playing since.'”