Bismack Biyombo (@bismackbiyombo) / Instagram
CV NEWS FEED // After NBA player Bismack Biyombo fainted during a game and recovered, he revealed that he has been fasting regularly as a personal devotion to his Catholic Faith, so the fall was a result of dehydration.
Biyombo kept the fasting almost a complete secret for 13 seasons of professional basketball playing, until March 6, when his collapse during a game in Oregon sparked national attention and concern for his health. Biyombo currently plays for Oklahoma City Thunder.
Biyombo did not return for the rest of the game, but in a social media post the next day, he assured fans that he was doing well.
“My heart is overwhelmed with the amount of people and the amount of care that you guys have shown,” Biyombo said in the video, according to news outlet The Oklahoman. “I’m so grateful for those who took the time to just reach out, and we’ll see you tomorrow on the court.”
In a separate article for The Oklahoman, reporter Joel Lorenzi wrote that the cause for the collapse was dehydration from fasting.
“Leading up to that night in Portland, while the sun remained visible, he hadn’t consumed any food or water,” Lorenzi wrote. “A devout Catholic, Biyombo was fasting. And until that night, he’d been able to keep his lifestyle a secret from almost every team he’d ever played for.”
In an interview with The Oklahoman, Biyombo said part of the reason he rarely mentions fasting is because it should be about growing in one’s relationship with God, not about getting attention from others.
“I think people choose sometimes not to talk about it,” Biyombo said. “Like me, I never want to talk about it because I think it’s a personal relationship with God. You shouldn’t be fasting and telling people so they feel sorry for you. … You put your chin up and nobody should know that you’re doing it.”
Biyombo, who is 31, has been fasting regularly since he was about 15.
“I think when [you] fast for a certain amount of time, when you do come out of it, you come out of it a different person,” Biyombo said.
Lorenzi reported that even Biyombo’s friends and family rarely know if he is fasting, and that part of the secrecy was to “[keep] anyone from altering his decisions,” particularly in his professional life.
“Of the six organizations he’s played with, only the [Toronto] Raptors were ever able to discover his religious commitment,” Lorenzi wrote.
The Raptors’ trainers became worried about Biyombo’s fasting, especially before and during a game.
Because Biyombo wasn’t following the usual calorie intake for NBA players, the trainers “[urged] him to break his fast, adamant about him getting the electrolytes he’d been missing, probably a minute away from sticking an IV in his arm,” Lorenzi wrote.
Biyombo told The Oklahoman, “Our trainer was panicking every time. And I’m like, ‘Relax. I’ve been doing this for a long time.’”
Concealing the fasting from his current team helps to take those worries off of their shoulders, Biyombo explained. He added that it took time to determine fasting in a way that works well for him and simultaneously doesn’t impose difficulties on others.
Referencing the fainting, he continued, “Whatever happens out there, it’s obviously out of my control, but (God) can remind you that he gives life and he takes life… He just happened to remind me that I’m human in front of the world.”
Now that the fasting has become public knowledge, Biyombo said he has received messages from many people who were encouraged by his example.
“Now that we have to talk about it, I received a lot of messages from people that started fasting, people that’s going into fasting, people that have been fasting. Everybody has their own way of relating to messages,” Biyombo explained, adding later that God “put me in this position for a reason. I’m here for a reason. Whichever reason, God will know.”
Biyombo is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and at 16 years old he made the decision to pursue professional basketball in Yemen.
In a 2023 interview with NBC Sports, Biyombo said, “Fast forward to now, God has done some of the most unbelievable things in my life. When I went to Yemen, my hope was just to be a professional athlete and then I realized I could make it to the NBA.”
In 2011, Biyombo signed his first NBA contract with the Charlotte Bobcats.
In 2012, Biyombo started the Bismack Biyombo Foundation “to provide opportunities to Congolese children in the areas of health, education, and sport,” according to NBC Sports, which highlighted:
During the 2021-2022 season, NBA center Bismack Biyombo donated his entire salary to build a hospital back home in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Biyombo said in the interview with NBC Sports, “God has put so many people in my journey that have allowed me to reach those goals and he continues to do so. I’m always grateful for my journey.”
