NBA player Joel Embiid got candid about a severe health issue that he is facing off the basketball court.
Following the Philadelphia 76ers’ win against the New York Knicks on Thursday, April 25, Embiid, 30, shared that he was diagnosed recently with Bell’s palsy, a condition that causes weakness in the muscles on one side of the face, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“I think it started a day or two before the Miami game [in the play-in tournament], and I had migraines and thought it was nothing,” Embiid explained to reporters, per ESPN. “It’s pretty annoying, you know, with the left side of my face, my mouth and my eye.”
Since his diagnosis, Embiid has noticed that he has developed blurry vision at times and has to constantly put drops in his eyes, which has become “tough” on him.
“But I’m not a quitter, so gotta keep fighting,” he shared. “But yeah, it’s unfortunate. That’s the way I look at it. But it’s not an excuse. Gotta keep pushing.”
Embiid said that it’s unclear how long his Bell’s palsy would last, but it could be several weeks or months.
“I just hope that [my face] could stay like this. I got a beautiful face. I don’t like when my mouth is looking the other way,” Embiid joked, before adding that it is an “unfortunate situation” but things “happen for a reason.”
“Like I said, I gotta take care of myself mentally,” he admitted.
Embiid is also recovering from his February knee surgery, which caused him to miss two months of basketball and continue to wear a knee brace.
“I’m just trying to keep pushing. Like I said, I’m not going to quit,” Embiid shared when asked if he was able to trust his knee. “Even if it’s on one leg, I’m still going to go out there and try. But no, that’s not an excuse. Gotta keep playing better and better and better.”
Although Embiid is dealing with a lot physically, he is still showing up on the court and giving it his all.
On Thursday, Embiid, who has played for the 76ers since he was drafted by the team in 2014, became the first player to score at least 50 points in the playoffs on fewer than 20 shots and tied for the second-fewest shots in a 50-point game in NBA history. (The 76ers ended up defeating the Knicks with a score of 125-114.)
“The best thing you can do is do the best job possible to prepare yourself every single day, which I’ve done. And sometimes you get the results, sometimes you don’t,” Embiid said in his press conference. “But if there’s one thing I say about myself, I’m not going to quit. And no matter what happens, if I win, if I don’t, I just know that at the end of when I’m done, I’m going to be proud of myself and my people are going to be proud of me.”
