The Rockets select Khaman Maluach with the 10th overall pick, will play for Suns | 2025 NBA Draft

The Rockets select Khaman Maluach with the 10th overall pick, will play for Suns | 2025 NBA Draft

then they have an opportunity right here what are you looking at here Andrea yeah I I think I’m looking at all the time i’m just looking at the bigs like we’ve come on Malawatch i think it’s time for him aa Newell out of Georgia extremely athletic defends at a high level i think going with someone in the center could be important with 10 seconds left adam Silver at the podium with the 10th pick in the 2025 NBA draft the Houston Rockets select Kaman Malawatch from Rumbbeck South Sudan the NBA Academy Africa and Sagal and Duke University the clear emotion here for Kaman Malawatch and his family [Applause] you’ll remember Kaman not only for his excellent rim protection at Duke but also playing for the South Sudan team that lost to the United States by just a single point and caught the world’s attention kaman is is one of the remarkable stories of this draft he grew up in Uganda after his family fled conflictridden South Sudan and he picked up a basketball at 14 years old after a motorcycle cab driver stopped him walking down the street and said “You’re so tall you should start playing basketball you can see how much this dream realized means to him in this moment he was discovered by the NBA Academy Africa in 2021 and talk to anyone around Malawatch Bobby he’s an even more remarkable person than he is a player and that is saying something i mean it’s it’s we’re talking about him on the court but certainly as a human being here and when you look at what he’s been able to do certainly at last year at Duke but the one story that keeps on sticking out he’s playing against Team USA Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid and seeing his mom who he hasn’t seen in years walk down that aisle and it wasn’t those two players that intimidated him it was that seeing his mom in that in the stands there and truly one of the great stories of this year’s draft he told Armonica Mcnite yesterday Bobby that his parents are at home and he thinks that they’ll stay up a little bit past their bedtime to watch their son have this moment with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver jay you can see how much this means to him i think when you consider the journey that it took for him to get here to the NBA to be selected here he was born as we mentioned in South Sudan he was a little bit of a late bloomer started playing basketball a little bit later in life before going to NBA Academy Africa and he became just a tremendous presence at the rim yeah warn number nine at Duke in honor of Lu All Deng but you’re talking about a big- time rim protector with a 76 wingspan blocked a ton of shots last season for Duke and was a real presence in the lane also an excellent offensive rebounder his offensive rebound percentage was close to 17% that was top 15 in division one and he shot 71% from the field that was fourth in division one he shot that percentage in large measure because he’s a great offensive rebounder he’s excellent as a a pick and roll roller you can just lob it up as high as you want he had 81 dunks on the season that was second in division one 38 of those dunks were off of lob he’s not a switch big he played mostly in drop coverage but he’s a better perimeter shooter than his statistics indicated it’s something he has worked on he looked very good on that of the combine and shooting drills i think he’s going to be able to stretch that out and and perhaps maybe you don’t trust it yet but maybe reliable in time

Watch as Adam Silver announces that the Houston Rockets have selected Duke’s Khaman Maluach with the tenth overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. Houston previously committed this pick to the Phoenix Suns in the Kevin Durant trade.

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