A 17-year-old Duke freshman is living his dream at the Paris Olympics. And he’s being coached by a N.J. legend.

Together with his South Sudanese colleagues, 17-year-old Khaman Maluach took on some of the best players in basketball history last Saturday at the 02 Arena in London.

LeBron James, Jayson Tatum, Steph Curry, and Joel Embiid—a hero to Maluach during his upbringing in South Sudan—are on the American Olympic team. 19,177 fans showed up to see.

A projected lottery choice in the 2025 NBA Draft, Maluach, a 7-foot-2, 250-pound freshman at Duke, scored seven points, pulled down three rebounds, and blocked a shot in his twelve minutes of action. He assisted his side, who started the game as a 43½ point underdog and drove the gold medal favourites to the limit, before James’ late driving layup brought them to a 101-100 loss. As Maluach entered the game off the bench, he blocked Lakers great Anthony Davis, sprinted the floor for a slam, and made a step-back jumper over Embiid. Maluach is the youngest men’s basketball player on any team participating in the Olympics in Paris.

Maluach said over the phone to NJ Advance Media from Lille, France, the location of the basketball competition, “I just didn’t think about it during the game because obviously I was competing against them but I thought about it after the game.” “I was thinking, ‘Whoa, I just played against Joel Embiid and all of those guys.'” There, I feel like I belong.

Since gaining independence on July 9, 2011, South Sudan, officially known as the Republic of South Sudan, has only been in existence for 13 years. The basketball squad is the first team from any sport in the nation to make it to the Olympics after they surprisingly qualified at the FIBA World Cup last year.

The U.S. and South Sudan will rematch on July 31 after South Sudan’s opening match against Puerto Rico on Sunday, the same day Team USA plays Serbia.

Joe Mantegna, the boys basketball coach at Blair Academy, is one of the South Sudanese assistant coaches. He has a lengthy history of working with South Sudanese athletes, including Luol Deng, the South Sudan Basketball Federation president since 2019, and the team’s head coach, Royal Ivey.