JENNY DIAL CREECH GOES GLOBAL
Luc Mbah a Moute grew to love basketball in Cameroon, and he returns there each year to give back, boost sport
Teenage boys from all over the continent gathered on basketball courts in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Among them was 15-year old Luc Mbah a Moute, son of a chief in Cameroon.
The young prince was wideeyed as he looked around at all the other players and imagined for the first time a life playing basketball.
The 2003 camp changed Mbah a Moute’s life. It was the NBA’s first Basketball without Borders camp in Africa. The program has held camps there — and in other locations around the world — ever since.
“After that camp, I could see myself actually playing professional basketball,” Mbah a Moute said. “I knew then that I would always try to give back.”
And the Rockets forward has done that.
Along with continuing to make strides in the NBA, Mbah a Moute hosts an annual camp in his native Cameroon and continues to help grow basketball globally.
“It means the world to me to be able to work with kids and to show them what’s possible,” he said. “I want them to see what they are capable of.”
Mbah a Moute wasn’t in Cameroon long after that camp in 2003. He ended up attending prep school in Florida before continuing on to UCLA.
Since then, he’s spent 11 years in the NBA, most recently with the league’s top team. His skill and versatility have helped the Rockets earn the best record in the league (44-13) at the All-Star break.
‘Just knows how to play’
Mbah a Moute is averaging 7.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. It’s his defense that makes him a star for the Rockets, however.
“He just knows how to play the game,” guard Chris Paul said. “He can guard multiple positions; he can do so many things. He makes us better.”
His abilities all started during his childhood in Cameroon, where most kids spent their time playing soccer — a far more popular option.
“Basketball wasn’t the most popular sport there,” Mbah a Moute said. “But I loved it right when I started playing and stuck with it.”
The sport has been such a big part of his life, so Mbah a Moute hopes it will grow in Cameroon.
“It’s not where it needs to be yet,” he said. “The sport is growing, but we have a long way to go.”
The reason he’s so passionate about basketball is simple: It’s a way for children in Africa to succeed.
“Things aren’t always easy in a lot of parts of Africa,” Mbah a Moute said. “I hope the kids I work with see me and see that hard work and dedication can lead to success. It can lead to opportunities.”
Mbah a Moute has helped several other African players realize their dreams and make it to the top level of basketball.
Discovering others
Most notably, he played a large role in discovering, than encouraging Philadelphia star Joel Embiid.
Embiid attended Mbah a Moute’s elite basketball camp in 2011, just a few months after starting to play the sport.
“Without that camp,” Embiid told ESPN, “how else does anyone find me?”
Mbah a Moute said he knew Embiid — also from Cameroon — was special right from the start.
“When I saw him, I was like, ‘This kid has only been playing for six months and he’s doing this?’ Mbah a Moute said in October before the Rockets played the 76ers. “I knew he was going to be special, but he took it to another level. The sky is the limit for him.”
Ten-year-old Arthur Azinke stood on a court in Johannesburg in 2015 and looked around at all of his teammates. He thought about the players who came before him.
“It was cool to be at a camp for my country,” he said via email. “My favorite basketball player, Luc Mbah a Moute, went to a camp like that. Now I hope to play at his someday.”
Azinke also aspires to play basketball in college in the United States and the NBA. Because of players like Embiid, Cameroon’s Pascal Siakam and Mbah a Moute, it seems possible.
“We are a small place, and most people think we only play soccer, but there are players from Cameroon, from all over Africa, in the NBA,” Azinke, now 13, said. “It makes me believe I have a chance, too.”
That’s Mbah a Moute’s goal — for young African players to look at the NBA and how international it has become and believe that they can make it there.
This season, 108 international players from 42 countries play in the NBA. It continues to grow all over the world thanks to players like Mbah a Moute who spend time in their native countries developing young talent.
“The first year I was in the NBA, I started going back and working with my country,” Mbah a Moute said. “I knew the first time I went to a camp that I would do that someday, and I’m glad I have the opportunity to give back.”