Roar of D'Tigers: Why Nigeria can help develop the sport of basketball in Africa at Tokyo 2020

When it comes to sport in Nigeria, football reigns supreme. But the growth of basketball in the country, fuelled by the success of Nigerian players on the international stage - most notably NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon - has led some to wonder if basketball could someday challenge football for the title of ‘most popular sport’ in the West African nation.

'We're making noise'

Ekpe Udoh, who was a member of Nigeria’s 2019 FIBA World Cup team and currently plays for the Beijing Royal Fighters of the Chinese Basketball Association, knows there’s one way D’Tigers can help basketball achieve equal status in the country:

Indeed, the roar of D’Tigers is certainly being heard in the basketball world in multiple ways.

Nigeria’s men’s team is currently ranked 22nd overall in the FIBA world rankings and is the number one ranked team in Africa, having already qualified for the Tokyo Summer Olympics. Tokyo 2020 will be just the third Olympic tournament for Nigeria’s men’s team, after competing at London 2012 (finishing 10th) and Rio 2016 (finishing 11th).

“Hopefully, the plan is to be on that plane [to Tokyo] to represent the country. I wish I had been on the national team earlier in my career, so this would be a great chance to play for the country,” Udoh told the Olympic Channel.

“To don that jersey during the Olympics...you play the sport you love for the majority of your career at the highest level, and now you’re going to wear the jersey of your country at the biggest event that happens every four years...I don’t even know the word to express how it would feel.”

Udoh, 33, is the son of Alice and Sam Udoh, who emigrated to Edmond, Oklahoma, where Udoh was born and raised. Udoh attended the University of Michigan, where he played two seasons of college basketball, before transferring to Baylor University in 2009.

In 2010, on the strength of a season that saw him earn honourable mention All-American honours by the Associated Press, Udoh was selected sixth overall by the Golden State Warriors in the NBA draft. But due to wrist surgery, the 2.08m (6’10) center didn’t make his NBA debut until December 2010 against the Miami Heat. Udoh would go on to have stints playing for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, before joining Fenerbahçe. 

“That was a turning point in my life, on and off the court,” Udoh says.

Udoh experienced tremendous success with Sarı Lacivertliler (The Yellow-Navy Blues), winning the Turkish Cup, the Turkish League championship, and reached the 2016 EuroLeague Final in his first season with the team. The following season, Fenerbahçe won the EuroLeague championship, and Udoh was named the EuroLeague Final Four MVP.

Nigerian stars in the NBA

Udoh’s achievements are an apt reflection of the increased talent pool in Nigerian basketball. The country has always produced elite athletes in a number of sports, from football to track and field, and now basketball. At the 2020 NBA draft, eight players with Nigerian heritage were selected: Onyeka Okongwu; Isaac Okoro; Precious Achiuwa; Udoka Azubuike; Zeke Nnaji; Daniel Oturu; Jordan Nwora; and Desmond Bane. Achiuwa and Azubuike were born in Nigeria.

Much of the credit for the game’s growth in the country can be attributed to the NBA’s outreach programs in Africa, including Basketball Without Borders and the establishment of the first NBA office on the continent in 2010. On May 16 2021, the NBA's new Basketball Africa League will make its debut in Kigali, Rwanda.

But for all of the positive work the NBA and FIBA have done, one can’t forget the trailblazing impact of Hakeem ‘The Dream’ Olajuwon on basketball in Africa.

Olajuwon, who was born in Lagos, Nigeria, was the first overall pick in the 1984 NBA draft, and won back-to-back NBA championships with the Houston Rockets (not to mention winning two Finals MVP awards, a league MVP award, and two Defensive Player of the Year awards). Amadou Fall, the president of the Basketball Africa League, told The Undefeated that Olajuwon has had a “tremendous effect” in encouraging fellow Nigerians to take up the sport.

“It’s just with daily community: We all want to root for our own, and I think for anybody picking up a basketball, that name resonates,” Fall told The Undefeated. “He’s always referenced.”

The impact of Nigeria's head coach Mike Brown

Nigeria will also have one of the most experienced coaches in basketball on the sidelines in Tokyo: Mike Brown. The 51-year-old is the current associate head coach for the Golden State Warriors, and won three NBA championships as an assistant coach (in 2003 with the San Antonio Spurs, and in 2017 and 2018 with the Warriors). As the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Brown won the NBA Coach of the Year award for the 2008/09 season.

“I think it’s a great move [hiring Mike Brown] by the Nigeria Basketball Federation, but it’s also going to hold them accountable,” Udoh says. “You can’t bring in this name, this coach who has done great things, and mess around at all. Because he’s going to call you out, and you don’t want to be looked at as not handling your business.”

But if Nigeria can handle their business and improve upon their past Olympic results - in both the men’s and women’s competitions (Nigeria’s women’s team has also qualified for the Games in Tokyo), the team(s) will have taken another positive step in the rapid development of basketball in Africa.

Nigeria will be represented in both the men’s and women’s basketball competitions in Tokyo. The women’s team has been drawn in a tough Group B, where they will face France, hosts Japan, and eight-time Olympic champions the United States. The men’s team has also been drawn in Group B, alongside the number three ranked team in the world, Australia. Their remaining two group opponents will be determined following the Olympic qualifying tournaments.