NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced during the highly anticipated draft night of the world’s most renowned basketball league, “The Houston Rockets select Khaman Maluach” with the 10th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft.
“From Rumbek, South Sudan, the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal and Duke]University]”, Silver added as the cameras cut to an emotional Maluach, who bowed his head and shook in disbelief during the ceremony on Wednesday at the Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn Nets NBA team.
After stepping up to the stage and picking up his draft hat, the 18-year-old eventually shed his tears and cried out loudly in his close circle.
One fan wrote, “Khaman Maluach’s reaction to being drafted is what sport is all about,” after seeing the moving footage.
The young player said it was a day he would “never forget” in his life as he capped off an incredible journey from the refugee camps in Africa to basketball’s highest stage.
What is the complete Maluach information:
Khaman Maluach, who is he?
Born on September 14, 2006 in Rumbek, a city in the centre of South Sudan, Maluach moved to neighbouring Uganda after a civil war erupted in his home country in 2013.
He was born and raised in Kawempe, a village on the outskirts of Kampala, a refugee camp in Uganda.
Khaman Maluach began playing basketball when and how?
Maluach picked up basketball quite late, at the age of 13, when the push towards the game came from an unexpected source: A motorcyclist, who stopped when he saw Maluach walking down a road in Uganda, and offered some unsolicited yet prophetic advice.
“You should start playing basketball, said he. You’ll be a tall person in three to four years, Maluach said in a statement to the website for the 2023 Olympic Games.
The soft-spoken player began playing seriously after attending a local championship organised by South Sudan’s basketball great Luol Deng in 2019.
He told the Ugandan basketball website Pro Insight in 2023, “I didn’t know basketball for a long time because of the lack of facilities there.”
“I had to walk at least 45 minutes to play basketball because it’s different out there.”
How tall is Khaman Maluach?
In Kawempe, Uganda, Maluach, who was 7-foot-2 (218cm), stood out among boys his age.
In his interview, Maluach said, “When I went to Deng’s tournament, I saw guys my height and felt like I belonged on a basketball court.”
Maluach will he join the NBA?
When Maluach was chosen for the NBA draft on Wednesday, a chance he had previously feared was a delusion, he realized his long-term dream.
“]It was] me being delusional about my dreams, believing that I’m going to make it to the NBA one day and now, I’m here – I just got drafted”, an emotional Maluach told reporters shortly afterwards.
Maluach, a proud African, says his story inspires others to follow him wherever they are and keeps him going.
I explain to them that playing in the NBA is not rocket science and not crazy.
” Sometimes it’s OK to be delusional about your dreams and they end up happening. “
He is the most recently selected former NBA Academy Africa player.
How did Maluach transition to the NBA from South Sudan?
Maluach was selected by the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal in 2021, where he honed his basketball skills and worked hard to add muscle to his skinny frame.
He attributes his success to the academy.
A day before the NBA draft, Maluach told ESPN, “They guided me, put me in the right place at the right time for me to succeed.”
In 2024, he made his way to the United States after signing with one of the top college basketball programs in the country at Duke University.
Maluach will play for which NBA team?
While Maluach’s pick was announced by Houston Rockets on draft night, he will play for the Phoenix Suns in his NBA rookie season, as his draft rights had already been traded to the Arizona club in a trade involving superstar Kevin Durant earlier in the week.
After finishing with a 36-46 regular season record, Phoenix was unable to make the NBA playoffs in the 2024-25 season.
After his draft, what did Maluach say?
” It’s such a special moment for me]to be picked], “he said while still in tears shortly after his draft.
I was just so happy because my family and I were able to have my head coach and my circle around me, who had the best day of my life and who had the opportunity to witness it with me.
Maluach was open and proud to discuss his African heritage without a blunder.
” I’m here representing the whole continent of Africa, “he said.
A smiling Maluach unveiled the inside of his jacket before the show, which had South Sudan’s and Uganda’s flags on one side.
I had the continent on my back when I lived in Africa, giving hope to young people and inspiring the next generation of African basketball players.
Maluach said he would send his draft hat back to Africa.
I’ll send it to my two Ugandan basketball players, who taught me the fundamentals.
Khaman Maluach:
☑️ Born in South Sudan 🇸🇸
grew up in Uganda
Standing tall throughout the entire continent twitter.com/UzmCwzdHYV
The family of Khaman Maluach is where?
Maluach said his parents were watching the NBA Draft back in Uganda, but some of his family members surrounded him when his name was announced.
He later thanked his parents for elevating him to the status of a “good young man.”
I want to thank them a lot for raising me the way they should and for teaching me good values about life.
In a previous interview, Maluach said he wants to change his mother’s life by bringing her to the US.
Has South Sudan’s Khaman Maluach represented them?
When Maluach represented his country, South Sudan, at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in the Philippines, he was the youngest player at the time.
He was also part of their squad at the Paris Olympics 2024.
Khaman Maluach: Will Trump’s “Africa visa ban” affect him?
When the US government revoked all existing visas issued to South Sudanese passport holders and barred further entries of the country’s nationals due to a failed deportation case in April, it signalled an escalation of the Trump administration’s sweeping crackdown on immigration.
While announcing the move, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that South Sudan had taken advantage of Washington by not cooperating fully with the African nation’s transitional government and that the country had not “taken advantage of” it. Since Donald Trump’s election as president, this was the first time a country has received a blanket ban.
At the time of the announcement, Maluach was still at Duke on a student visa and the university said it was” aware of the announcement”.
However, Maluach’s visa category is likely to change as his team, the Phoenix Suns, prepares to play there.
South Sudan’s basketball rank: what?
The African nation is ranked 23rd in FIBA’s rankings but are the top-ranked team on the continent.
Why does South Sudan play basketball so well?
South Sudan became the only African team to qualify for the Paris Olympics in 2024, joining the youngest nation at the FIBA World Cup in 2023.
According to the team’s head coach, Royal Ivey, the players ‘ resilience and hard work are to be credited for their success.
The coach of the Bright Stars said during the World Cup that “they know how to work, they push forward, they fought day in, day out, and we got here because of the hard work and the sweat we put in every day.”
Former two-time NBA All-Star Deng assumed the presidency of the South Sudanese Basketball Federation in 2019, recruited diaspora players, and briefly led the team on his own.
South Sudan’s leading scorer, Carlik Jones of the Chicago Bulls, credits Deng as one of the main reasons for the game’s development in the conflict-ridden country.
Source: Aljazeera
Leave a Reply