Barça’s young Nigerian center sees himself “in a maximum of three years” as an NBA player
Nnaji managed to make the leap to Europe, and after a two-year formative stage in Hungary, he managed to sign for the Barça team
The young Nigerian center James Nnaji (2004), a Barça player trained in Hungary, sees himself “in a maximum of three years” as an NBA player.
This was commented in a statement to DAZN. Nnaji started playing basketball in 2016 and he only trained once a month because he had to help his mother “in the market”remembers about his beginnings in Nigeria.
“If I had some money, I could go on some transport, but if not, I would walk for an hour in the sun to train. There was a moment when my family told me: ‘Man, we spent a lot of money for you to play basketball'”remember.
After Nnaji managed to make the leap to Europeand after a two-year formative period in Hungary, Nnaji managed to sign for Barça.
“I saw a message on my mobile from my agent that said: ‘James, there is a Spanish team interested in you playing with them’. When I found out it was Barça I thought it was impossible“, he comments.
Rubén Alcaraz, head of scouting at FC Barcelonacomments that it was not even necessary to go to see James Nnaji live: “We decided to sign him only with what we saw of him on video”.
The coach Fabián Telléz, ex-coach of Barça Juniorcommented that in the first month they already saw what he was capable of: “His degree of dedication, his capacity for sacrifice and respect for the staff and his teammates were very high”.
The center made his Euroleague debut against Zalgiris in November 2021 and he fit in with the blaugrana team. Now, he does not hide his desire to play in the NBA.
“My goal is to play in the NBA. I’m going to win the ‘Most Improved Player of the Year’ (Most Improved Player of the Year Award) and I’ll be at least a two-time All-Star. I see him in a maximum of three years.”says Nnaji.