After receiving a two-year ban from the NBA as a result of violating the league’s substance abuse policy, O.J. Mayo has been looking forward to attempting a comeback.

Able to apply for reinstatement on July 1, 2018, Mayo already made it clear where he wants to play, if given another opportunity.

“I want to go back to what I left [in Milwaukee],” Mayo told Ben Golliver of The Crossover. “I was real close with Jason Kidd. That was the best relationship I had with a coach besides [Dwaine Barnes]. I had great relationships with Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Khris Middleton. I was comfortable there. I felt like I let them down, cheated them for two years. They paid me $8 million to be, in my eyes, a subpar player. They invested millions of dollars for me to be on top of my s---, and when you’re not on top of your s---, it shows. I’ll be 30 next summer. If they just give me the chance, I can make it up. I owe them.”

He last played for the Bucks in the 2015-2016 season when he averaged a career-low 7.8 points with 2.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists over 26.6 minutes in 41 games played. Mayo also shot a career-low 37.1 percent that year. He had just finished the final year of his three-year, $24 million with Milwaukee when the NBA banned him.

“Taking the game away is probably the closest thing to jail that I’ll get to,” Mayo said. “Since I was like 6 or 7, I’ve always had a basketball season. That was the lowest point in my entire life: The shellshock of not being in the NBA. All my peers are playing and I’m not because of boneheaded mistakes. Take the ball away, what is there to do?”

Speaking of those mistakes, there have been a few notable ones, which, along with his regression on the court, makes his NBA return seem improbable. Before the two-year ban, he was previously suspended 10-games for violating the league’s anti-steroid policy and was also famously allegedly involved in a fistfight with former teammate Tony Allen over a card game on a Memphis Grizzlies team plane.

“[Thinking I’m crazy] is an easy perspective for someone to have given the way I was living,” Mayo noted. “I’m not ignorant. Somebody could easily fix their mind to say something like that because of my résumé. I don’t have a media rep or PR company making sure that everything is good, and I don’t go to social media with my problems.”

He continued, “I’m far from crazy. I’ve made some crazy a-- decisions, but I’m not crazy. I’m good with myself. I’m comfortable with my body. I dug myself a hole, but it’s not a coffin. I can still get out.”

According to Golliver, Mayo is actively pursuing an opportunity in China, Spain or Israel this fall, but hasn’t yet received an offer. As seen before, former NBA players have gone to Europe or Asia to prove themselves before returning to the Association. It remains to be seen if Mayo will be added to that list.