The Washington Wizards drafted Yannick Nzosa with the No. 54 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft on Thursday evening. Nzosa plays for Unicaja Malaga in Spain and is a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to the NBA’s draft profile, he did not play organized basketball until he was 12 years old (he is 18 right now) and he has been in Malaga since 2019. According to Malaga Hoy in Spain, Nzosa is looking to naturalize in Spain so he can play for the Spanish men’s national basketball team in the future. Nzosa wouldn’t be the first Congolese player to naturalize as a Spanish citizen.