Khaman Maluach was talking about the unprecedented route he took to the 2025 NBA Draft with a mixture of awe and inevitability last month, and no mention of the political headwinds that awaited him at the end of it. His explanation involved a Disney movie about Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Maluach, a 7-foot-2 NBA draft lottery prospect, started down this path six years ago by showing up at a camp in Uganda organized by former NBA player Luol Deng. He was a refugee from war-torn South Sudan who played soccer until he got too tall and suddenly appeared on a new sport’s radar. He was inspired most of all by Antetokounmpo, the son of Nigerian immigrants but born and raised in Greece.
“I watched his movie,” Maluach said, referencing the 2002 film, “Rise,” that chronicles Antetokounmpo and his brothers’ journey to the United States and the NBA. “But just his story, his background coming from Greece and then coming to America.”
Maluach didn’t linger long on that last part, as his advisors prefer given the geopolitics now swirling around the beginning of his career.
He is not just an intriguing player in this year’s NBA draft class because of his 9-foot-6 standing reach, readymade rim protection skills and rapid ascent into an elite prospect. This 18-year-old is also the only potential draftee hailing from a country currently facing a visa and travel ban by the United States.
