Former Laker Brian Grant battling Parkinson's disease

                               
                                                    Brian Grant

Former NBA forward Brian Grant revealed Monday that he has Parkinson's disease and is starting a Web site devoted to his fight with the neurological disorder.

 

The 37-year-old Grant told ESPN.com that he was diagnosed in January with "young onset Parkinson's" and began having tremors in his left hand last summer. He consulted two other well-known Parkinson's suffers, Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali, and quickly implemented several lifestyle changes.

Grant played parts of 12 seasons in the NBA with Sacramento, Portland, Miami, Phoenix and the Los Angeles Lakers. He last played in the 2005-06 season, when chronically bad knees forced his retirement. He averaged 10.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in his career.

"Brian Grant is one of the greatest team players and warriors that I have ever coached," Miami Heat president Pat Riley said Monday night. "I'm saddened by this news. Brian will find a way to fight this because that is the way he's always been, a fighter. He will overcome this."

Grant, who lives in Portland, told ESPN that a combination of traditional and non-traditional treatments -- such as several doses daily of vitamins, herbs, powders and cod-liver oil -- have already helped some symptoms subside.

"Just me believing in a positive spirit will take me farther in the long run," Grant said.

Grant, who played collegiately at Xavier, was on the NBA's All-Rookie team in 1995.

 

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