Team USA, again, looked creaky in a thrilling 101-100 win over South Sudan at the O2 Arena in London, England. This was the 4th game of a 5-game tune-up showcase for the Olympics, which begin on Friday, July 26th. It was weird because Team USA was extremely sluggish in the first half and went into halftime down 44-58. They couldn’t make an outside shot and didn’t protect the ball. All credit to the Sudanese, who shot the lights out, were first to every loose ball and flew around on defense. LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday led a furious 2nd half comeback resulting in a last-second James lay-up that proved to be the game-winning shot. A game that electrifying deserves to be on an Olympic stage, oh wait, these teams will matchup again on July 31st, as they’re both in Group C. Hurray!

One player who caught my eye was Khaman Maluach. At 7ft-2in he’s hard to miss. He played 12 minutes against Team USA and showed the bones of being an effective strech-5. He protected the rim, made a three, stayed in-front of the perimeter players when switching on defense and even showed some ball-handling skills. Remember, this kid is only 17 years old and picked up a basketball for the first time in 2019. It’s quite amazing to think about how far Maluach’s come in 5 years.

The Athletic’s Joe Vardon wrote a great piece detailing Khaman Maluach’s journey to this point. To escape the instability and war in South Sudan, his mother took a young Maluach and his brothers to Uganda, where they lived until NBA Africa scouts spotted the lanky 14 year old and recommended him for the NBA Africa academy located in Saly, Senegal.

While living in Senegal and working on his game, education and body, he was invited to practice with the South Sudan national team. He impressed South Sudan’s assistant coach and former NBA’er, Luol Deng, and was eventually added to the active roster. He played sparingly, but just being on the team and getting to practice and experience the Olympics should do wonders for his development.

It’ll be interesting to see if the involvement with the Olympic team translates to production during his freshman year at Duke, where he’ll be teaming with Cooper Flagg to form the number 1 rated recruiting class in America. A lot will be expected of the Blue Devils once the season starts. How will Maluach handle those expectations, as well as playing for one of the most hated programs in all of college sports.

Luol Deng, a former Dookie himself (2003-2004) is the highest drafted Sudanese player going 7th overall in the 2004 NBA Draft. If everything goes right for Khaman Maluach at Duke next season and he consistently shows strech-5 skills NBA teams now desire, then this kid could easily be a top-3 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The sky is literally the limit.