{"id":1607,"date":"2020-11-21T06:21:05","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T06:21:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/?p=1607"},"modified":"2020-11-21T06:21:08","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T06:21:08","slug":"meet-eight-nigerians-who-made-2020-united-states-nba-draft-source-icir-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/meet-eight-nigerians-who-made-2020-united-states-nba-draft-source-icir-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet eight Nigerians who made 2020 United States NBA draft – Source ICIR News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Vincent Ufuoma<\/strong><\/a> On Nov 20, 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eight American citizens of Nigerian descent have been drafted into the professional National Basketball Association of the United States on Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was made known by the NBA on its Twitter handle on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The annual draft sees NBA teams choose from the best young talents across the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nigerians are Precious Achiuwa, Udoka Azubuike, Isaac Okoro, Onyeka Okongwu, Daniel Oturu, Zeke Nnaji, Desmond Bane and Jordan Nwora.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precious Achiuwa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Precious Achiuwa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He was picked by the Miami Heat. The 21-year-old player was born in Nigeria and grew up in Port Harcourt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the BBC, he said he had dreamt that one day he would end up playing for a great organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy hope was to end up in a great organisation, and thank God my prayers got answered and I\u2019m part of a great organisation,\u201d Achiuwa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI watched the NBA Finals, and thankful that they\u2019re welcoming me to Miami. I think I can add a lot to the table, like add a lot of aggression and grittiness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Udoka Azubuike<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Udoka Azubuike<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Like Precious, he was born in Lagos before moving to the US. The 21-year-old centre will be playing for the Utah Jazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he was \u201cso excited to play alongside Rudy (Gobert)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA defensive specialist, that\u2019s mostly what I did at Kansas. I had a similar role to affect the game defensively. So I\u2019m excited to learn from him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaac Okoro<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Isaac Okoro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Isaac was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Nigerian parents. The 19-year-old small forward was part of the USA\u2019s winning team at the 2018 Under-17 Basketball World Cup in Argentina. He was chosen by Cleveland Cavaliers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels great to be the first Nigerian in this draft to be drafted,\u201d he said after being picked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s also just a blessing. My mom always tells me to keep that Nigerian pride. Even though I wasn\u2019t born in Nigeria, I still got Nigerian blood. So it\u2019s just having that on my shoulders.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onyeka Okongwu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Onyeka Okongwu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He was born in California to Nigerian parents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 19-year-old shooting guard, who has been selected by the Atlanta Hawks, was a high school teammate of third pick LaMelo Ball at Chino Hills in California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to win a championship. That should be everyone\u2019s goal, to win a championship that everyone wants to win,\u201d Okongwu insisted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMyself, I just want to be able to get better, be able to be the best that I can be, continue to work hard, have a great work ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Oturu<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Daniel Oturu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He was born to Nigerian parents who are pentecostal ministers in Minnesota, with his father Francis a former table tennis player for Nigeria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 21-year-old, set to end up at the LA Clippers after he was originally picked by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who immediately traded him for the New York Knicks before being moved on again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zeke Nnaji<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Zeke Nnaji<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 19-year-old Zeke was born to a Nigerian father and American mother. He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats and was picked by the Denver Nuggets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been working a lot during these quarantine times, and I feel like I\u2019ve made a lot of improvements,\u201d Nnaji explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve added 20 pounds of muscle. I\u2019ve really improved my jump shot and shooting the three-pointer well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel great. My body feels explosive. I feel quick. I\u2019m just excited to do whatever I can to help our team win.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Desmond Bane<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Desmond Bane<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 22-year-old, who will be playing for Boston Celtics, was raised in Indiana with a Nigerian father and American mother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou know, I feel like I bring a mature approach. I bring a mature, consistent approach, both on and off the floor, and I think that\u2019ll be beneficial early on,\u201d he said about the prospect of playing in the NBA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan Nwora<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"WhatsApp
Jordan Nwora<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jordan, who was born to a Nigerian father Alexander and American mother Amy, was part of the Nigerian team that played at the 2019 Men\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 22-year-old is a member of the US\u2019 senior men\u2019s basketball team, otherwise known as D\u2019Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His father was Nigeria\u2019s head coach at the World Cup (now the country\u2019s assistant coach) and the duo became the first Nigerian son and father to be part of a Nigerian national team side at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jordan is also Nigeria\u2019s highest scorer in a single match after registering 36 points in a 2019 World Cup qualifier in Lagos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be in the position I\u2019m in today. I\u2019ve come a long way since high school. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d be able to play at a level like Louisville,\u201d he said before the draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.icirnigeria.org\/meet-eight-nigerians-who-made-2020-united-states-nba-draft\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Source International Centre for investigative Reporting (ICIR) News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Vincent Ufuoma On Nov 20, 2020 Eight American citizens of Nigerian descent have been drafted into the professional National Basketball Association of the United States on Wednesday. This was made known by the NBA on its Twitter handle on Wednesday. The annual draft sees NBA teams choose from the best young talents across the United States. The Nigerians are Precious Achiuwa, Udoka Azubuike, Isaac Okoro, Onyeka Okongwu, Daniel Oturu, Zeke Nnaji, Desmond Bane and Jordan Nwora. Precious Achiuwa He &hellip read more<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[129,1],"tags":[85,130,133,132],"class_list":["post-1607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-basketball","tag-nba","tag-nba-draft","tag-nigeria-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1610,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1607\/revisions\/1610"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bb4p.org\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}