Beast of far east
Need to support family drove Mudiay down uncommon road to draft
It was as his mother intended — a world with plentiful options, an existence where no choice truly could be considered a bad choice.
Emmanuel Mudiay could go to any town and f ind immediate embrace, holding an invitation to become an instant deity on whichever campus he wanted to walk across, to potentially become the biggest star and story in the nation.
He could select which renowned coach he wanted to learn from, on how best to prepare for the NBA, on how best to maximize the near-maximum amount of talent he was blessed with at birth. and still, there were more options. Perhaps the most gifted high school player in the country, the 6-foot-5 point guard could go nearly anywhere in the world with a hoop nearby, playing professionally and earning enough money to allow his family to stop thinking about the one thing that always occupied too much of their minds.
He could choose his circumstances, his life no longer decided by them.
It was as his mother intended.
On June 25, Mudiay will be sitting in Barclays Center at the NBA draft, waiting to hear his name announced.
at No. 4, the Knicks hold their highest pick since taking what seemed like the safest pick of all-time — Patrick Ewing — but 30 years later, no such certainty exists.
If Mudiay is available, it only gets murkier, potentially constructing the future of the franchise around the most mysterious of the class’ top candidates.
“He’s just anxious and ready to see what happens,” said Ray Forsett, Mudiay’s high school coach. “He wants to go down in history as one of the best to ever play.”
therese Kabeya and Jean-Paul Mudiay met as college students in Montreal before raising their three French-speaking sons in their native Kinshasa — then, the capital of Zaire. then, just over a year after Emmanuel was born, Jean-Paul unexpectedly died of a heart condition, in 1997.
alone with three young boys, Kabeya grew just enough vegetables and sold just enough coffee to provide for her children, receiving just enough help from family and friends and strangers when just enough wasn’t enough.
“we didn’t know where the next meal was gonna come from,” middle child Jean-Micheal said. “Not having electricity all the time, not having Dad around, Mom being Dad and Mom — that builds a lot of character and it builds a lot of respect for life, period. You don’t take anything for granted. when you get an opportunity, you take advantage of it.
“that’s pretty much why [Emmanuel] is the way he is today. Everything we went through out there, just having to struggle at such a young age, you build up that fight.”
Outside their home, a nation was devastated, with the government overthrown and the country renamed the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Outside their home, bullets hit their gate and bodies lied in the streets, as millions died in the second Congo war, largely from disease and starvation. too often, childhood didn’t guarantee adulthood, or even adolescence.
By 2001, Kabeya decided home could be home no more, leaving the country and leaving her children with her parents to seek asylum for the family in the U.s.
“the situation was not stable,” Kabeya told SI.com last year. “For the safety of my kids, and because I wanted them to have a better education, I had to go. … I sat them down and told them, ‘I’m leaving, and it’s for your good.’”
Over the next year, stephane — seven years older than Emmanuel and two years older than Jean-Micheal — looked after his siblings until the seemingly interminable separation from their mother came to an end, when they reunited at Dallas/ Fort worth International airport.
“at one point I thought that we were never going to see our mom again, because things were getting so crazy in Kinshasa,” stephane told SI. “when we finally came to DFW airport, I didn’t recognize her — I was so exhausted from the flight, and back home she wore traditional [Congolese] clothing, but here she had a dress on, and curly hair. It didn’t register with me.”
Larry Brown feels bad now. He stands by every syllable, but didn’t mean to saddle a teenager with the weight of a Hall of Famer’s words. the coach couldn’t help it, though.
while visiting Dallas’ Prime Prep to scout Jordan Mickey and Karviar sheperd, the SMU coach’s attention quickly shifted to a teammate he didn’t know.
“I didn’t even realize he was so young because he was so skilled and so physically gifted,” Brown said. “He thought passfirst and he was way beyond his years in the way he played. I got excited about him.
“when I saw him as a 15-year-old, I made the comment that he was the best young point guard I’d ever seen, and I feel bad that I said that, but he kind of blew me away.”
as a freshman at arlington’s Grace Prep, Mudiay was overshadowed by stars Isaiah austin and Jamal Branch, but in the state title game, the seniors were sidelined, due to suspension and foul trouble, respectively.
Houston westbury had the lead and two straight championships, Mudiay had two points through the first half.
“we knew he had it in him, but we didn’t know it was gonna come out right then,” Branch said.
Nine years after coming to texas, Mudiay arrived, scoring 14 of his game-high 16 points in the second half to give Grace Prep the 2011 TAPPS 4a title.
“He wants the ball in every big situation,” Forsett said. “He has that Michael Jordan-winner mentality, he has that killer in his game.”
soon, Mudiay’s athleticism, vision and play-making wowed all surrounding him, the praise only surpassed by accounts of his maturity and modesty, a Bible by his side wherever he went.
aided by already having Jean-Micheal on the team, SMU prevailed over Kentucky and Kansas, and others, to land the coveted star’s commitment, but when the season started, Mudiay was more than 8,000 miles from Dallas, with stephane,
his cousin and his mother.
“tired of seeing [his] mom struggle,” Mudiay signed with the Guangdong southern tigers in China, where he received $1.2 million and a contract with Under armour, playing his anticipated showcase season while nearly every scout slept.
If Mudiay attended sMU, he reportedly could have faced academic eligibility issues due to the now-shuttered Prime Prep, but Mudiay denies it is why he went abroad, as does sMU, which was prepared to grant him admission.
“I thought it was a bad move when they told me, but when they talked about why they were gonna do it and the opportunities that presented themselves financially, it was hard not to champion it and support it because they’ve had it pretty tough,” Brown said. “I felt if he stayed with us we had a chance to win the national championship and he would’ve been the biggest story in college basketball. I still believe it would’ve happen.”
Instead, he entered another new culture in a new role, coming off the bench to average 18.0 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.6 steals, with the promising season cut short after Mudiay suffered an ankle injury in just his 10th game, sidelining him for more than three months.
with little to gain and more to lose in the upcoming draft, Mudiay returned anyway — with his team facing elimination — scoring 24 points in a playoff win over stephon Marbury and the defending champion Beijing Ducks.
“I was a pro now. I wasn’t a kid anymore, so I couldn’t just pack my bags and decide to go home,” Mudiay said during a pre- draft workout in Los angeles. “I wanted to finish out the season and [do] what I went there to do.”
Long before then, Mudiay won over his teammates, sometimes wondering about the road more traveled.
“when I’d get to the gym, he’d be there, and when I’d leave, he was still there,” said Guangdong’s Chris Daniels. “I’d be lying if I said he never talked about what the college experience would have been like, but he handled himself really well. the most impressive thing for me was his maturity. He’s not like the typical 19-year-old.”
the biggest knock on Mudiay’s seemingly can’t-miss talent is a shot which misses too much. In 12 games in China, Mudiay hit 34 percent of 3-pointers and 57 percent of free throws, though Brown contends Mudiay’s form isn’t broken, with his work ethic and natural gifts too overwhelming for it not to develop — an improvable skill in an otherwise unteachable arsenal.
Brown foresees greatness, looking at someone who sees no other option, a son who sees no choice but to take advantage of every opportunity he receives — just as his mother intended.
“It’s like now it’s time to take care of her,” Mudiay said. “she’s been taking care of us her whole life. she sacrificed her life for us. I feel like we’re sacrificing our lives for her now.
“I can’t let my gift go to waste.”