Four Arabs Emerge As Potential NBA Prospects

posted on: Feb 21, 2017

BY: David DeMaria/Contributing Writer

With March Madness right around the corner, four North African basketball players, are not only looking to finish their respective college seasons successfully, but stand out as potential targets for the NBA draft, either this year or in the future.

The most frequently mentioned of the four by NBA scouts is Iowa senior Peter Jok. The 6’6” forward is a tenacious defender with long arms, and a pure shooting stroke. Over the course of this past season, he’s averaged 20.9 points per game to go along with 6 rebounds, and scored a season-high 42 against Memphis, draining 8 three-pointers.

Born in Khartoum, Sudan, Peter lost his father, a general for the Sudan People’s Liberation Army during the second Sudanese civil war. Peter’s grandfather, the chief of his village, was also killed during the war. He and his family first fled to Uganda, and later to Kenya, before arriving in Des Moines, Iowa in 2003, where he attended high school in West Des Moines.

Jok figures to be a late second-round pick in this summer’s draft, or he could be a potential summer league signee for teams looking for a sharpshooting guard with the ability to play the passing lane on the defensive end.

Another notable native of the Sudan who has made improvements this season is Southern Illinois forward, Thik Bol. The 6’8” junior transferred from Iowa Western Community College after his sophomore year and began playing for Southern Illinois.

Bol is a solid shot-blocker and led the nation in junior college with 4.9 blocks per game. This season at Southern Illinois, he’s blocked a total of 57 shots over the course of 28 games played, recording a season high of 6 against Evansville. Bol is limited offensively, but is patient as a finisher around the basket, and has been averaging 8.9 points per game, scoring a season high 16 against Mt. Saint Mary’s. In order to compete at the NBA level, he’ll have to work on developing a better mid-range game, due to being undersized for his position.

Bol was born in Khartoum, Sudan and attended Benson high school in Omaha, Nebraska. He’ll definitely remain in college next season, and may become a good summer league prospect for 2018.

One player with a very high ceiling is Louisville junior forward Anas Mahmoud. A native of Giza, Egypt, Mahmoud stands at 7’0” tall and has some qualities that resemble Spanish center Pau Gasol. Mahmoud is a very good passer from the high post, though his numbers wouldn’t indicate it. He averages just 0.7 assists per game. Mahmoud is not an explosive leaper, and sat out the end of his sophomore season with a foot injury, but has good agility and impressive footwork in the post, averaging 6.2 points to go along with 3.7 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game. One area of Mahmoud’s game that stands out is his ability as a shot-blocker, blocking a total of 50 shots so far this season.

Mahmoud attended West Oaks high school in Orlando, Florida for his senior year in 2013. Mahmoud has represented Egypt at the 2012 FIBA U-17 World Cup in Lithuania, averaging 5.4 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game.

Mahmoud, 21, will finish his last season at Louisville, and could be on the radar of NBA teams in search of a lanky shot-blocker in 2018.

Finally, Memphis has a very large red-shirt freshman from Giza, Egypt by the name of Karim Sameh Azab. Standing at 6’11” and weighing 290 pounds, this center has represented Egypt internationally at the 2014 FIBA Africa U-18 championships in Antananarivo, Madagascar. Azab averaged 5.4 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game over the course of the African tournament. He pulled down a team-best 11 boards, and a tournament-high 18 points in the final game of group play against Tunisia. Egypt would eventually beat Tunisia in the finals to win the tournament.

Azab is only a freshman, and sat out for most of this past season while working out his immigration papers. He’s not terribly quick, but he runs the court pretty well and finishes around the basket with ease. At his size, he could develop into an intriguing college prospect, and may find his way into NBA circles if he improves his footwork and mid-range scoring abilities.

Azab attended Hales Franciscan High School in Chicago, Illinois for his senior year. He could make his on-court debut at Memphis next season, and promises to generate some intrigue.

The most prominent Arab player in the NBA right now is Tunisian center Salah Mejri of the Dallas Mavericks, and there have been prominent Arab players in the past, such as Egyptian forward Alaa Abdelnaby.

With this new crop of talent, and an ever-increasing popularity of the sport around the globe, there could be many players in the future who will take their basketball talents from Arab countries to the United States.