The fifty-eight 2022 NBA draft features seven new recruits who fully or partially fly African national flags.
The 76th edition of the annual draft at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York saw Ochai Agbaji of Nigerian blood emerge a No. 14 pick after leading Kansas to their first NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament since 2008.
Agbaji, 22, is a Nigerian American picked by Cleveland Cavaliers will team up with another Nigerian-born star on the upstage, Isaac Okoro, drafted by the same team in the 2020 NBA draft.
Other Africans choices in the NBA 2022 pick are DR Congo’s Yannick Nzosa drafted in No. 54 by the Wizards, Senegal’s Khalifa Diop the Number 39th pick heads to the Cavaliers, and Christian Koloko who represents Cameroon picked at Number 33 heads to the Raptors.
Ousmane Dieng, whose father Ababacar, also played basketball is the number 11 pick of this year’s draft. Little is known about the heritage of Dieng.
Though, listed as a French national, Dieng definitely sounds Senegalese. While the Knicks draft Dieng and Ochai are first-round picks, the others are second-round choices.
The Clippers’ number 43 draft Moussa Diabate is of Malian and Guinean blood, though he also represents France like Dieng. Ismael Kamagate is the Piston’s pick at number 46. He is of Ivorian heritage, though he represents France.
