NBA
NBA, Ebid: “I thought about quitting basketball when I lost my entire rookie year to injury”
Joel Ebid was particularly telling in his testimony, saying that after his rookie season in the NBA ended – in which he did not play due to injury – and the simultaneous death of his brother, he was considering retiring from basketball.
Joel Ebid is one of the best players in the world right now. However, in the summer of 2015, he was just a 21-year-old who had lost his entire rookie year to injury, lost his brother and was preparing to lose his second season (2015-16) in the NBA. And that’s when he thought about quitting basketball.
He made the revelation shocking with what he mentioned as part of his post-All Star Game 2022 comments while discussing his course in the NBA.
Specifically, Ebid stated: “I look back on my first season of having surgery. Then I lost my brother too. I went back to Cameroon. I wanted to quit basketball, retire because I had just had surgery and everyone said I wouldn’t make it and I would never play in the NBA. And meanwhile I had just lost my brother. I wanted to give her up. I almost did. It was hard”.
Ebid then referred to his second straight losing season, saying: “After all that, I lost my second season and had surgery again. I practically lost two seasons in a row and there were stories about me every day. They said I was 300 pounds, the media wanted to kick me out. It was hard”.
In closing, however, Ebid couldn’t hide the joy he endured despite the pressure. “It was very difficult but I’m glad I kept fighting, with the help of everyone around me, I’m glad to be here.”
I am a sports writer and journalist who has written for various online publications including Sportish. I’m originally from the UK but currently live in Toronto, Canada. I’m also an author on Sportish and have written several articles on a variety of sports-related topics.