In this informal vlog, professional basketball player Elijah Bryant chronicles his first weeks living and playing in Turkey. He documents daily logistics such as medical examinations, practice, game preparation, and apartment hunting, while showcasing his new gear and unpacking routines. Bryant shares personal health strategies, including compression boots, sleep tracking with Whoop/Oura, melatonin alternatives, and recovery metrics. He reflects on the challenges of constant change—new environments, coaches, teammates, and cultural adjustments—and emphasizes the importance of maintaining family, faith, and personal routines (meditation, journaling, prayer) to stay grounded. Throughout, he offers advice to fellow athletes on embracing change, staying adaptable, and establishing consistent rituals for performance and well‑being.
Chapters
You want to set yourself up for long-term success in your athletic career? One thing is certain: prepare for constant change. Literally what I'm doing right now.
Like, timeout, look at my room.
Here he goes again, Elijah Bryant, dazzling dribble dancing.
All right, good morning.
So it's my first real day in Turkey, and today I have medicals, so I'm going to head to get medicals. I'm so tired.
I went to sleep at 4 in the morning.
All right, so I just got back from doing all my medical stuff. I am exhausted from the stress test, from MRI to all that stuff. We have practice later and we have game tomorrow. I'm gonna try to lay down and get some food, get some rest before practice. Turkey's nice though. There's traffic, there's traffic for sure, but yeah, salmon salad with the good old Lambie chops. Fire.
Wait, why did it not record me? God, I'm like changing his diaper.
Trying on my new gear. Wait, what size is this? Hold on a second. XL? This is an XL? This is for— wait, Joe, look.
Is it Nike?
No.
What brand are they sponsored by?
Billie. Nice quality, but just— I guess that— oh, they have a nice big jacket.
Oh God.
Okay, check me out. Prada me down now. Gucci me down.
Gucci.
My bags finally made it here. Thank you. It's literally impossible to move in here. There's just stuff everywhere. If you're wondering why I'm drinking so much water I played 32 minutes tonight. I got here 2 days ago. We got the win though, that's all that matters. So I'm about to order some food, go ride the bike for a little bit, talk to my family. But yeah, finally got the first win. Um, excited, excited to be here. Shout out to all the FS fans, shout out to the coaches, shout out to management, shout out to the teammates, shout out to everyone, shout out to everyone. All right, all right, so since the gym wasn't open, I'm just gonna do my compression boots. But this is what you need to plug into here in order to not blow up your machine. So when I pack it— I said I, my wife packs it— we always put it on something like that. So that's probably something that I need, put that in there. So then we wrap it up like that and it stays protected. Comes with a bag, but bags just— you just gotta limit your space. Not that you guys asked or anything, but the reason I put the pillows there is to elevate my legs. That way I can get some more lactic acid out of my legs. So, you know, the vibeskis Oh, what? Oh, they're hooking it up now. Rice, fries. Okay. All right, I didn't do too much filming, but today we went apartment hunting, and obviously I'm not going to show you guys where we're looking because I don't think that'd be safe for my family. But Turkey has some nice apartments, to say the least. Finally getting adjusted, not sleep-wise, but feeling more comfortable in a sense. I just wanted to read something for you guys because this really hit home with me for all my fellow basketball players, athletes who are trying to make that next step. So this is from my guy Justin Sua. You want to set yourself up for long-term success in your athletic career, one thing is certain, prepare for constant change. Literally what I'm doing right now. Like, timeout, look at my room. Like, I don't know where half this stuff is. I know it's here. Like, it's just a mess, right? Next thing: environments change, coaches change, teammates change, your role changes, your body changes, opponents change their approach. Which is like so true no matter if you're NBA, overseas, college. Like, understanding that stuff is gonna happen and being able to figure out a way to manage that. And for me, it's about family, gospel, and routine. That's what keeps me grounded. If I can get my routine wherever I am, watch my shows, do my meditation, read my scripts, then, I mean, basketball is basketball, right? Like, I think that's essentially what Justin Su is trying to say. I thought I would share that with you guys. I thought if I knew that earlier in my career at a younger age, it would definitely help me. Understanding that change is inevitable, it's gonna happen. Embrace it. Learn to adapt to different environments. That is it. For me. All right, so today is another game day. Today is October 23rd. I slept the best I've ever slept since I've been here last night. It's because I made the room super cold, but I'm starting to get into my routines, my journaling, my meditation, and starting to flow a little bit more. So starting to feel a little bit better. That's a refreshing sight. They cleaned up for me. Wow, you hunk up my— organize my— Jin, where are you at? I know you're in here somewhere, Jinny. Today I will be playing my first Turkish league game. Say hi, Blue. Say hi, Blue. Say hi. Say hi to the people.
Like, like raincoat. Hold on, let me open it all.
Like, it's actually too much, honestly.
I kind of like that blue color.
Tesla. This guy behind me, you know, he's, he's auto driving. He ain't looked up 5 minutes. The guy with the Tesla, he is literally ain't looked up in 5 minutes.
Really?
Head straight down.
Like, it's like Christmas over here. It's Christmas. So this is all my gear. Well, this isn't even all of that. I have some in here and I have some in the suitcase over there as well. Sorry guys, it's been a few days. It's— we lost to a team called Galatasaray, whatever. I haven't really been stressed, just been like trying to catch up on sleep, trying to figure out what's going on, like adjust to the new culture. We went and played in Pana, got smacked. So tired of eating the freaking hotel food, so I ordered some Chinese food. Really not in my diet, but I couldn't eat hotel food again. Tomorrow we play Zagreus. One thing I could say is that if you're a professional athlete, no matter NBA, whatever you're doing, get used to being uncomfortable and having to adjust to new situations. We are headed to our first— or my first— away Turkish League game, so let's get to it. I think they gave me the wrong room. Kidding me? This the penthouse? OMG, what's that say? What is this? Why? Why more desserts? I don't need that. Wait, what? I got the penthouse joint. All right, so my teammate brought me this dessert. It's supposed to be local from here. Let's try it.
Good.
No frosting.
Is it like a pudding?
Like a pudding with nuts. Pause. Alright, so you guys know I've been here for 5 days and a lot's happened in 5 days. Played 2 games. Played 4 games now, but anyways. My throat's not feeling good, like starting to feel like getting kind of sick. Don't have my emergency here with me, at least I don't think I do. I'm going to check, actually let me check real quick. I honestly don't know if that's a thing to gargle salt water to get like the germs out, but I think I've seen on Instagram somewhere, somehow. Okay, well, now I'm about to get some sleep. We are actually in— what's the area called? I'll tell you what the area is called. I'll show you right here. So about to get some sleep, man. Game tomorrow. Bersa. Bersa is where I'm at. All right, so that's what I take to help me stay in deep sleep for a long time. I used to take melatonin a lot, but I would just feel drowsy. Does anyone else feel like after you take melatonin in the morning, you like get great sleep? And if you're wondering how I track my sleep, it's usually either an Oura Ring or a Whoop. Um, I don't— I'm sorry, I don't have a link for the Oura Ring, but I do have a link for the Whoop. That you can check out in the description. But with this, this new sleep stack that I got from my friend Adam at Ace Athletics, my sleep has been tremendous. Like, I used to be so anxious about sleeping. Now, like, I'm halfway across the world and I can sleep like a baby. So I love it, to say the least.
Good morning.
My throat is still hurting, and every time this happens, or at least Since COVID when I get a sore throat, I'm like, do I have COVID? But I don't think I have COVID. I hope I don't have COVID. I still got a great recovery on my Whoop, which is insane. I got like a 70% recovery, which before I would die to have a 70%. Now I'm about to go to the gym, shoot around, same old, same old. All right, well, it's officially nap time before the game. My naps, I'm going to tell you my pregame ritual. So usually now I come and I wake up in the morning, meditate, read some scripts, journal, and then I go to my shootaround, all that stuff. I come back and I always read a church talk before I watch my YouTube or whatever before I go to sleep. Then I call my family, tell them I love them, and then take my nap, then wake up. Say prayers as a family, head to the game. What rituals do you guys have as well? Like, what are your pregame, pre-work, pre-career rituals that you do to stay in a routine? Say hello, family. Louie, Mr. Shark Boy for Halloween.
Hi. Boo! Thank you.
Today is my own media day for my new team, so come and check it out. All of this is for me? What is this, Space Jam?
What the—
come on, what is this? Geez, this is OD. Treat me like Giannis out here. All right, so I'm at the bank in Turkey because I have to get a bank whatever, but I had to go upstairs and no lie, this is the whole upstairs. I swear I can't make this up. So I went to the seafood place. Down by the hotel. What are all these little containers? And guess how much this little bit of food cost? $45. It was a lot. All right, so I'm finally moving to my new apartment. Um, it's— I'm sick. It's time to get out of this place. It's just— need new vibes. New vibes I need.
