There are a good number of great players with African
roots in the NBA at the moment and they are all having a significant
impact on their respective rosters.
One such standout player is the
Charlotte Hornets’ Nicolas Batum,
who came into the league in 2008 with the Portland Trail Blazers as a
first-round draftee, picked 25th overall, initially selected by the
Houston Rockets.
Although the 28-year-old guard has French nationality, he stays
well connected to his African roots. His late father Richard Batum, also
a professional basketball player, was born in Cameroon and son Nicolas
has on many occasions stressed that his connection to Cameroon stays
strong.
The 6’8’’ small forward paid homage to his heritage while on the
continent last year when he played on the Team Africa squad in the first
ever NBA-sanctioned game played on the continent – the NBA Africa Game
on 1 August 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
In the lead-up to the game, he spent a week on the continent and
participated in Basketball Without Borders Africa during which he spent
time with young African basketball players from across the continent and
imparted some of his basketball knowledge to their budding minds.
Batum has noted the event as one of his proudest moments as a person of African descent.
Together with him on Team Africa were Orlando Magic’s Bismack
Biyombo, Utah Jazz’s Boris Diaw, LA Lakers’ Luol Deng, Milwaukee Bucks’
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Gorgui Dieng and Portland
Trail Blazers’ Al-Farouq Aminu with guest appearances by legends
Dikembe Mutombo and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Batum looked like he was going to have a slow tenure at the Blazers
in the first year, averaging only 5.4 points per game, but that stat
quickly changed from the second season where he took his average to
double-figures with his best season at Portland being 2012/13 where he
was averaging 14.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
Last year, he moved to Charlotte, joining the likes of Kemba
Walker, Marco Belinelli and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in Michael Jordan’s
budding Eastern Conference franchise and fitted in very well. Last
season he started and played 70 games (averaging 35 minutes per game),
averaging 14.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game.
Batum has quickly become an integral part of the Charlotte Hornets
with his presence on the court both offensively and defensively. He
plays well on and off the ball, is a great scorer that can drive down
the lane, shoot deep twos as well as from behind the arc.
The current season has already started off well for Batum, who has
started 10 of the Hornets’ games so far and averaged 34 minutes in each.
He is averaging 13.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game,
shooting 78.4 percent from the field and only getting better as a
player.
Batum has had eight good years in the NBA and looks like he will be
performing at a high level for many more seasons. It is impressive that
he remains so connected to Africa even after attaining his star status.
By Kaunda Chama
@therealkaunda on Twitter