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“With the 10th choice of 2025 NBA DraftHouston’s Rockets select Khaman Maluach, “said NBA commissioner Adam Silver, in the most awaited draft evening in the world’s most popular basketball league in New York.
“From Rumbek, South Sudan, Africa of the NBA Academy in Senegal and Duke (University),” added Silver while the cameras were in an emotional maluach, who tilted their heads and shook the disbelief during the ceremony on Wednesday at Barclays Center, home of the Brooklyn NBA team.
The 18 -year -old finally wiped his tears and resisted the noisy cheers and the High Fives from his circle near, before heading to the stage to pick up his draft hat.
Clips of moving scenes were quickly shared on social networks, with a fan saying: “Khaman Maluach’s reaction to be written is what sport is.”
The young player said it was one day that he “would never forget” in his life when he capped an incredible trip to refugee camps in Africa at the highest stage of basketball.
Here is all about Maluach:
Who is Khaman Maluach?
Born on September 14, 2006 in Rumbek, a city in the center of South Sudan, Maluach moved to neighboring Uganda after a civil war broke out in his country of origin in 2013.
In Uganda, he grew up in a refugee camp in Kawempe, an area on the outskirts of the capital, Kampala.
How and when Khaman Maluach started playing basketball?
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 walk on a road in Uganda and offered prophetic advice not asked but not asked.
“He was like” Yo, you should start playing basketball. In three to four years, you will be such a large “” person, recalls Maluach by talking to the website of the Olympic Games in 2023.
The sweet voice player started playing seriously after attending a local championship organized by South Sudan basketball Luol Deng in 2019.
“I have not known basketball for a long time because of the lack of facilities (in Uganda),” he told the Basket-Balls Pro Insight website in 2023.
“It’s different there, I had to walk at least 45 minutes to go play basketball.”
What is the size of Khaman Maluach?
At a height of 7 feet 2 inches (218 cm), Maluach stood out among the boys of his age in his adopted hometown of Kawempe in Uganda.
“When I went to the Deng Tournament, I saw the guys my size and I felt like I belonged (on a basketball court),” said Maluach in his interview.
Does Maluach go to the NBA?
Maluach realized his long -term dream to play in the NBA when he was chosen in Wednesday’s draft, a perspective that he once thought was an illusion.
“(It was) that I am delusional about my dreams, believing that I will go to the NBA one day and now I am there – I have just been drafted,” journalists told journalists an emotional maluach shortly after.
An African proud, Maluach says that seeing children of his continent draw inspiration from his history makes him advance.
“I tell them that it is not the science of rockets, it is not something crazy (to play in the NBA).
“Sometimes it is normal to be delusional about your dreams and they eventually happen.”
He is the former NBA Academy Africa Africa player the best written.
How did Maluach go from South Sudan to NBA?
Maluach was selected by the NBA Academy Africa in Senegal in 2021, where he perfected his basketball skills and worked hard to add muscles to his lean frame.
He attributes the Academy to have put it on the path of success.
“They guided me, put me in the right place at the right time for me to succeed,” Maluach told ESPN one day before the NBA draft.
In 2024, he went to the United States after signing with one of the best university basketball programs in Duke’s country.
For which NBA team will she play Maluach?
While the choice of Maluach was announced by Houston Rockets during the draft evening, he will play for the Phoenix Suns during his recruit season of the NBA, because his recovery rights had already been exchanged at the Arizona club in a business involving the superstar Kevin during the week.
Phoenix failed to qualify for the NBA qualifiers during the 2024-25 season after finishing with a regular season record of 36-46.
What does Maluach say after his draft?
“It’s such a special moment for me (to be chosen),” he said when he was still in tears shortly after his draft.
“I was so happy, my family was there with me and I was able to have my head coach and my circle around me, see the best day of my life and being able to experience it with me was great.”
Maluach spoke of its shameless African history and great pride.
“I represent the whole continent of Africa here,” he said.
Before the show, a smiling maluach was inside his jacket – which wore the colors of Uganda on one side and Sudan from the south on the other.
“Living in Africa, I had the whole continent on my back, giving hope to young children and inspiring them and the next generation of African basketball players.”
Maluach said he would send his draft hat to Africa.
“I will send it to my two coaches who showed me the fundamental principles of basketball in Uganda.”
Khaman Maluach:
☑️ Born in South Sudan 🇸🇸
☑️ raised in Uganda 🇺🇬
☑️ Stand for the whole continent 🌍#Nbadraft pic.twitter.com/uzmcwzdhyv– NBA Africa (@nba_africa) June 26, 2025
Where is Khaman Maluach’s family?
Maluach said her parents were looking at the NBA’s draft in Uganda, but some of his family members surrounded him when his name was announced.
He then thanked his parents for making him a “good young man”.
“I want to thank them very much for having raised me as they raised me – in the right way – and showing me the good values of life.”
In a previous interview, Maluach said he wanted to change his mother’s life bringing him to the United States.
Has Khaman Maluach played for South Sudan?
Maluach was the youngest player in FIBA 2023 basketball world cup When he represented his South South Natal during the tournament in the Philippines.
He was also part of their team at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Will Trump’s “Trump visa ban” Khaman Maluach?
When the US government revoked All the existing visas issued to the South Sudanese passport holders and have prohibited other entries from the country’s nationals due to a case of deportation failure in April, he reported an escalation of the Radical repression of the Trump administration against immigration.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed the African nation’s transitional government for a lack of “complete cooperation” and accused South Sudan of “taking advantage” of Washington while announcing this decision. It was the first general sanction of this type against any country since President Donald Trump took office.
At the time of the announcement, Maluach was still at Duke on a student visa and the university said that it was “aware of the announcement”.
However, with its moved to the NBA, the Maluach Visa category is likely to change, which can cause a certain obstacle to its team, the Phoenix Suns.
What row is South Sudan in basketball?
The African nation is ranked 23rd in the FIBA ranking but are the best classified team on the continent.
Why is South Sudan so good in basketball?
In addition to being the youngest nation of the FIBA 2023 World Cup, South Sudan has become the only African team to qualify directly for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
According to the team coach of the team, Royal Ivey, players’ resilience and hard work must be credited for their success.
“They know how to work, they push forward, they fought day, and we arrived here because of the hard work and the sweat that we put every day,” said Bright Stars coach during the World Cup.
Deng, a former NBA all-star twice, took office as president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation in 2019 and recruited South Sudanese players from the Diaspora, briefly causing the team itself.
The top scorer in Sudan in Sudan, Carlik Jones of Chicago Bulls, attributes to Deng as one of the main reasons for the development of the game in the stimulating in conflict country.
“He gives back to the development of the game, he helps stuff on the field, to off -field stuff,” said Jones said to Al Jazeera in 2023.
