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In 2021, JD Palm, a 6-foot-9 lefty forward from Powder Springs, GA gained attention as a promising high school basketball player. The youngster turned heads with his physical stature and the uncommon skillset that went along with it.
Even before entering high school, Palm received D1 scholarship offers from Alabama and Alabama State, as reported by WTVY News 4 on June 17, 2021. Renowned grassroots hoops scout Max Feldman posted this highlight reel of Palm that year, and one could easily see why he was heralded as a top prospect:
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With his height and penchant for creating his own shot, one could say that overly early projections might compare him to someone like Kevin Durant--tall, nimble, and able to get a shot off against anybody both down low and from beyond. But recently, JD Palm has had a major health scare that has him both fighting for his life and his basketball dream.
What happened to JD Palm?
Just fairly recently, ESPN and Draft Express's Jonathan Givony posted an update on X about Palm's health situation:
As one can see, the 2025 hoops prospect has undergone a procedure to have his kidneys removed due to a rare genetic disease called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Talking about his condition to Andscape's Jerry Bembry in April of 2023, Palm revealed that he was keeping his health condition a secret,
I played the entire season with a secret that, other than my coaches and teammates, I’ve held back until now. It’s a secret that had me at the hospital the week after that state playoff game, when my doctor told me something I didn’t want to hear. My kidneys aren’t filtering the blood in my body the way they should. My kidneys were severely damaged.
The extent of the damage to the young hoops prospect's kidneys was serious enough to require their removal. Now, Palm is desperately seeking a donor match so he can recover and get his health and basketball career back on track.
What is FSGS?
As mentioned by Palm himself, the illness affects his kidneys. What exactly happens is that scar tissue starts developing in the areas of the kidney that are responsible for filtering waste from the blood (via Mayo Clinic). Numerous things could cause this kind of disease, so it's currently not possible to pinpoint what caused it to happen to JD Palm.
Furthermore, the condition is uncurable and cannot be reversed (via Cleveland Clinic). This is why Palm and his family are hoping against all odds that he can find the right donor in time.
JD Palm's basketball career and prospects
As of this writing, there's still no further update on Palm's condition. As part of the class of 2025, JD Palm's hoops skillset is good enough to land him in the 12th spot on the ESPN 25 for 2025. He is also ranked as the second-best center in his class, as well as the 10th-best player in the state of Georgia (via 247 Sports) and the 22nd-best player in the nation as of this writing.
It's clear to see that Palm has tremendous upside and an extremely bright future ahead of him.
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