South Sudan’s Khaman Maluach picked 10th in NBA draft amid ban on visas from his country

Before Khaman Maluach became a phenom at Duke he played on South Sudan’s mens basketball team during the Paris Olympics.

The Trump Administration’s current crackdown on immigration has been complicating things for the high-profile NBA draft pick Khaman Maluach. 

On Wednesday, June 25, the 18-year-old Duke basketball star was drafted by the Houston Rockets (and then traded to the Phoenix Suns) as the No. 10 pick in the first round, ESPN reported. When NBA commissioner Adam Silver called his name, he was brought to tears during the victorious moment. 

“It just makes me proud because I had beliefs,” Maluach said. “I believed in myself. I was delusional about my dreams. No matter what the odds are against you, it shows that you can win.”

The college basketball phenom added, “I’m excited to put on the Phoenix jersey that has my name, that has ‘Maluach’ on the back.”

Maluach may still be a teen who didn’t begin playing until 2019, but he has already made quite a name for himself in the sport. He averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks while starting all 39 games for Duke and leading them to the Final Four. Before that, he was the youngest player on South Sudan’s Olympic Basketball team during the Paris Olympics. However, hailing from South Sudan, the logistics of drafting him are complex. 

In April, the Trump Administration suddenly revoked all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and placed a ban on the issuance of new ones during a tense diplomatic battle between the U.S. and the east-central African nation. The Trump Administration stated it would lift the ban when South Sudan agreed to take its nationals back. South Sudanese officials called the ban and the reason for it unfair, as the region is embroiled in civil war. 

Before enrolling at Duke, Maluach played for the NBA Africa Academy, an elite training center that nurtures the continent’s top talent on the court. In order to travel to play for Duke in North Carolina, Maluach was granted a standard F1 student visa. With the issuance of those visas currently on pause, Maluach, with the help of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders initiative, applied for a business-tourist visa to participate in the NBA draft combine in May, according to NBC News.

Now, as a full-fledged player in the NBA, he will need a P-1A Athlete work visa, which allows international athletes to temporarily enter the U.S. to play their sport. Despite the ongoing ban for passport holders, the NBA is committed to making this work for the young player.

“We’ve been on this journey … with Khaman since age 14, and we’re going to continue on this journey with him through the rest of his career, and we’ll continue on this journey with him post his career,” Troy Justice, the NBA’s senior vice president and head of international basketball told NBC News.  “These are lifelong commitments that we make to all of our international players.”