Houston Rockets of USA’s Nigerian-born youngster, Usman Garuba has been rated high among the array of players available for Spain for future heroics on the international scene.
Megasportsarena.com reports that this is the verdict of Spain’s coach to this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, Sergio Scariolo, who was reeling lyrical about Garuba and other youngster’s in his squad.
Although Garuba could not save the SPaniards from losing to Team USA in the quarter-finals at Tokyo 2020, Scariolo is not ruling out the lad’s chances of excelling in the near future.
This follows remarkable statistics picked up so far by the youngster, who is officially registered as Destiny Usman Garuba Alari (born March 9, 2002) and is listed at 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) as a power forward and center.
Garuba was born at Hospital 12 de Octubre in Madrid, Spain to Nigerian parents and joined the youth academy of Real Madrid at age 11, following which he became the youngest starter in the club’s history in 2019, when he was 17 years old.
Garuba was raised in the neighborhood of Villaverde Alto and municipality of Azuqueca de Henares in province of Guadalajara by parents from Benin City, but left to escape conflict in their hometown.
After initially moving to Brussels, Belgium, they settled in Madrid without work permits, but they were still able to bring forth Garuba, his younger brother, Sediq, and a younger sister, Uki.
His father, Mustapha, works for manufacturing company Bimbo in Guadalajara, and his mother, Betty, works for the Azuqueca employment program.
He grew up playing football, but switched to basketball because his exceptional height limited his success in the former sport.
Garuba, who idolized USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA) former most valuable player and legend, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, joined Escuela Municipal de Baloncesto de Azuqueca (Municipal Basketball School of Azuqueca) in November 2011.
It was there that respected coach and coordinator, David Serrano helped him start his basketball career in full swing, following which Garuba was named EuroLeague Rising Star and ACB Best Young Player in the 2020/21 season.
He earned most valuable player honors at the 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship at age 14 and the youngster, who made his junior team debut for Spain at the 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship in Radom, Poland, was pooled to play for Houston Rockets in the NBA 2021 Draft.
Though looking tender at 14 and second youngest player in the Euro contest, Garuba became the first player from a lower age group to ever be the MVP, after leading his team to gold, while averaging 16.3 points, 12.4 rebounds, and a tournament-leading 2.9 blocks per game.
After recording 15 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 blocks in the final against Lithuania, Garuba joined Dario Šarić and Ricky Rubio as the only players in history with a triple-double in the final of the tournament.
In the summer of 2017, he was unable to return to Spain duty because he was recovering from a knee injury suffered earlier that year, but he averaged 16.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game at the 2018 FIBA U16 European Championship in Novi Sad, Serbia.
He led Spain to a silver medal, earning a spot on the All-Star Five, after which he helped them win gold at the 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship in Volos, Greece, joining the All-Star Five after averaging 15.6 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game.
Garuba has now gained more strides after playing for Spain men’s national basketball team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, during which he was drafted as the 23rd overall pick by Houston Rockets for the 2021 NBA draft.
His strides have now left Spain’s coach beaming with delight and enthusiasm about a bright future ahead of the squad, even as he admits that the exit of their super stars would leave a huge vacuum that would be difficult to fill.
Indeed, pain need to rebuild and quickly too, as their legends – Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernández, all in their late 30s or older – were scoreless during their ouster from Tokyo 2020 at the feet of USA.
Sergio Rodriguez provided the only consistent help to Rubio, scoring 16 points in what could be the final Olympic game for a Spanish core that has competed together since the 2008 Beijing Games.
Pau Gasol said during his postgame comments that he has reached the end of his international career at 41. Marc Gasol, 36, followed his brother’s lead by tweeting, “That’s all, folks!” after the loss to America.
Scariolo added with nostalgia: “Being a part of a legend is a privilege. To share locker rooms, share practices, share games, trips. I couldn’t even dream of anything like this when I took over so many years ago.
“At the same time, there are many of us who are motivated and ready to keep going and keep competing with the legacy of the ones who will not be with us anymore.
“They are an example, hopefully, for our young players. … I will miss those of them who are not coming back, but our link will be there forever.”
