Yannick Nzosa

BIOGRAPHY

Yannick Nzosa was born 15 November 2003 in Kinshasa, DR Congo. He is a center in the NBA.

At age 12, Nzosa was discovered by a friend of a coach of local club New Generation Basketball, with whom he started his basketball career. One year later, he tried to enroll at Canterbury Academy in Las Palmas, Spain. In 2017, Nzosa began playing for Italian club Stella Azzurra Roma. In February 2019, Nzosa played for Stella Azzurra's under-18 team at the Kaunas Tournament, a qualifier for the Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT), and was named to the all-tournament team. For the 2019–20 season, Nzosa was loaned to Stella Azzurra's affiliated team, Roseto Sharks of the Serie A2 Basket. In December 2019, he represented the club's under-18 team at the ANGT Valencia Tournament, earning all-tournament team honors.

On 31 March 2020, Nzosa signed a five-year contract with Unicaja of the Liga ACB. The deal included a clause of about €1 million to allow him to leave for the National Basketball Association and the EuroLeague. In the 2020–21 season, Nzosa joined Unicaja's senior team and immediately became a key player. On 27 September, at 16 years and 10 months of age, he made his Liga ACB debut. In 18 minutes, he recorded 10 points, shooting 5-of-5 from the field, three rebounds and two blocks in an 81–78 win over Andorra. He joined Ricky Rubio and Luka Dončić as the only 16 year olds in league history to score at least 10 points in a game, while becoming the second-youngest debutant in team history.

Nzosa was selected by the Washington Wizards in second round of the 2022 NBA Draft.