Following the completion of the 2023 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft, Charlotte Hornets have signed up Nigeria’s budding basketball talent James Nnaji.
Nnaji who played for Barcelona, was initially drafted by the Detroit Pistons but traded to the Boston Celtics and then to the Charlotte Hornets.
Out of all the players that made the draft, only the 18-year-old Nnaji, born in Benue State was the only Nigerian.
Nnaji was also the second-youngest player in the draft and was drafted first in the second round (31st overall).
“The Hornets selected Xavier guard Colby Jones and Washington State forward Mouhamed Gueye with the 34th and 39th picks, respectively, and agreed in principle to trade the draft rights to those players to the Boston Celtics as part of a trade with Boston to be finalized later in which the Hornets will acquire the draft rights to James Nnaji, the 31st pick,” Hornets stated on Friday, June 23.
A 6-10 center, Nnaji spent the past two seasons playing for FC Barcelona in the Spanish ACB league and EuroLeague.
In 2022-23, he saw action in 27 games, averaging 4.9 points and 3.0 rebounds in 12.2 minutes per game, while shooting 67.1% from the field.
The Hornets compete in the NBA as a member of the league’s Eastern Conference Southeast Division have Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan as majority shareholder.
According to NBA’s draft note, Nnaji is impressive with how he slides his feet and defends in space. He also shows great body control on his spin moves and is nimble for feet for a player his size (he’s listed at 225 lbs but I’m sure he weighs a lot more than that).
The note adds that on the offensive, Nnaji mostly scores in the most and is an impressive leaper and dunker who finishes with power.
Watch the video below
(@by.v.h)
The post ‘From Makurdi to the NBA’ – Michael Jordan’s Hornets sign Nigeria’s James Nnaji as part of the 2023 NBA Draft (Video) appeared first on .
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