Khaman Maluach was by no means the centerpiece of South Sudan’s attack in a 90-79 victory over Puerto Rico at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Even so, the 17-year-old Duke basketball freshman out of NBA Academy Africa may forever say that he was on the court for his home country’s winning debut in men’s basketball on the world’s biggest stage.
The 7-foot-2, 250-pound center out of Rumbek, South Sudan, tallied two points, two rebounds, and one foul in his six minutes off the bench. Maluach shot 1-for-2 from the field and 0-for-1 from deep.
It wasn’t quite as impressive as the part he played in giving Team USA a wake-up call during the first half of South Sudan’s exhibition bout in London on July 20.
But Khaman Maluach and his squad — 2003-04 Duke basketball one-and-done Luol Deng is the head of the South Sudan Basketball Federation — get another shot at stunning the Americans when they square off in Group C action at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Team USA, featuring one Duke basketball product in 2016-17 one-and-done and reigning Boston Celtics champion forward Jayson Tatum, first faces Serbia at 11:15 a.m. Sunday.
As for the third Blue Devil talent competing in men’s basketball at the Olympics, 2018-19 one-and-done and Toronto Raptors guard RJ Barrett led Canada to victory in its Group A opener on Saturday.
