You’re doing something right as a basketball player if your nickname is “Baby Shaq.” Oumar Ballo, who measures in at 6’10”/245 pounds at the tender age of 17 certainly qualifies for that moniker, and if you’ve seen him play you can see why the name stuck.
Ballo has taken an uncommon route to Spokane on his basketball journey, leaving his country of Mali for Las Palmas, Spain after accepting an invitation to attend a British prep school—Canterbury International Basketball Academy—which served as his incubator for the game. After earning back-to-back MVP honors for the Spanish U16 Championship in 2017 and Spanish Junior Championship in 2018 during his time with CIBA, basketball took Ballo to Mexico City in the fall of 2018 where he concluded his prep career at the NBA Academy Latin America.