Former Thunder 1st-round pick reveals how he almost died from brain virus
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Oklahoma City Thunder first-round pick Perry Jones had a life-threatening experience before the second year of his NBA career and revealed how his diagnosis was misreported. He was selected 28th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft before playing just three seasons in the league. Jones believes his career would have turned out differently if the Thunder had not drafted him. After experiencing unusual pain in his jaw ahead of summer league, he went to see his dentist before eventually going to the hospital. He was told there was a virus in his brain.
Perry told his story on the “Run Your Race” podcast.
“I had this virus spreading in my brain, and like then, like, he gave me, like, at least a week and a half, I probably have a fatal stroke or something,” Perry said. “They called it like it was spreading up from my airway to my throat like to my brain.”
After getting hit by an elbow while playing, Jones noticed his jaw was closing slowly by the day, which forced him to go to the dentist and eventually led to seeing a team of doctors.
“Over this period of time, my mouth, how wide I go, is getting smaller and smaller. I’m close to almost eating through a straw. A week before we leave, I get hit again. At this point, I can’t open my mouth at all. I go back to the dentist. This was like two days before summer league. Go back to the dentist. They’re like, “Hey, open your mouth,” I’m like, ‘I can’t.’ I go to the hospital. I get a CAT scan, and then I get another CAT scan. I go back to the waiting room.
“I’m sitting there for five minutes, a whole team come out the back with a bed, they’re like, “We gotta get him to surgery, right now.” Doctors and nurses, with a bed, came from the back of the hospital, came to the waiting room, with a bed, like, we gotta get him into emergency surgery with the IV stuff and everything. I’m just like, what?”
Jones watched news reports say he was unavailable for summer league play due to a toothache.
Perry Jones wished for more playing time during rookie season
On an Oklahoma City Thunder team with young rising stars in Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook, Perry Jones had to pay his dues during his rookie season, which didn’t sit well with the late first-round pick before doctors found a virus in his brain.
“It was what it was. My first year just wasn’t what I thought it was gonna be,” Jones said. “I thought I was gonna get more PT. Then, in my second year, I got sick. I got, like, I almost died got sick,”
Jones played overseas in Russia after his three seasons with the Thunder.
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