NBA mismatch: From slums to stars - It's possible if you believe

Imagine this: you are forced to escape from your homeland as a child and become a refugee, you live in extreme poverty without your father (most of the time), you don't have shoes, you don't have any balls, and you decide to become a basketball player.

Crazy, huh? Unbelievable, one would say. For some, for many, for almost everyone, it would be a doom. For rare, it would be a motivation.

Well, meet one of the rare - Khaman Maluach. The man who went through hardships before reaching the stars and becoming a professional NBA player.

Maluach was born in 2006 in Rumbek, Sudan (today's South Sudan). This North African country has long been one of the poorest in the world, while the long-running civil war and South Sudan's fight for independence made conditions insufferable.

South Sudan’s Maluach to Phoenix Suns in exchange for Durant

Consequently, his family had to flee to the neighbouring Uganda. Young Khaman grew up in Kawempe, a town on the outskirts of Uganda's capital Kampala, in extreme poverty, which is no wonder given that he lived only with his mother and six siblings and relatives. His father was mostly in their homeland, South Sudan.

At the time, he probably couldn't have imagined where he'd be a little over a decade later. He could only dream. Dream about a normal, regular life that his peers from most countries had.

He lived in the dark, stumbling, without knowing where the exit doors were. Until an orange ball started shining like the brightest star and showed him the way. But that "lodestar" wasn't easy to find. It entered Maluach's life suddenly and accidentally.

One day, he was walking back home from school when a boda boda motorcyclist (a type of taxi found in East Africa) spoke to him.

"A guy was on a bike and he suddenly stopped in front of me. He told me 'You should start playing basketball. I can get you shoes, I can get you the ball' if I started playing right away," Maluach recalled talking to BBC Africa.

However, that promise was difficult to keep. Unlike most countries, finding sports shoes and balls in Uganda is a tricky challenge. But basketball was "injected in Khaman's blood flow," and there was no way back.

The closest basketball court was an hour away from Maluach's home, and he walked there barefoot every day. Believe it or not, he played his maiden match, wearing Crocs instead of sneakers?! But even in those unbelievable conditions, his talent was crystal clear, and his progress in becoming a professional and fulfilling his dream couldn't be stopped anymore.

He started playing basketball in 2020, and just a year later, NBA Academy Africa invited him for a trial. He spent the following three years at the academy in Senegal, playing Basketball Africa League (BAL) before moving to one of the USA's most prestigious colleges, Duke.

Following a year at Duke, Maluach was selected as the overall #10 pick in the 2025 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, who later included him in a Kevin Durant trade and sent him to the Phoenix Suns.

In the end, it's safe to say that Maluach has made it. From growing up in poverty, walking barefoot, playing in Crocs, and learning basketball moves by watching Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo over the night when mobile data was cheaper, he reached the greatest heights and became the 11th South Sudanese player in NBA history.

Maluach with Duke in March 2025 (©Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)

Following the draft, he was emotional and cried.

"Everything was just going through my head; my whole journey, my people and the continent I represent. I believed in myself. I was delusional about my dreams. No matter what the odds are against you, it shows that you can win," he said via the BBC.

Nevertheless, most importantly, Maluach taught everyone an essential lesson. You can't search for a previously made path, you have to pave the way by yourself - with effort, with persistence, with everyday fight.

Nothing's over until you say so, until you fulfil your dreams. If they are not fulfilled, then things aren't over yet.

If Maluach could do it, what's your excuse?