Duke basketball freshman not listed on Olympic roster

It felt like it might have been a forgone conclusion that Duke basketball freshman Khaman Maluach would make the South Sudan Olympic roster, but the center did not make the squad after its roster was announced.

The Sudanese Basketball Federation posted its roster to its official website. Maluach was invited to the team's 25-man training camp.

The 17-year old comes to Duke as a reclassified prospect from the Class of 2025 and ranks as the No. 6 player in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite rankings. He had ties to the Blue Devils prior to his commitment as his mentor Luol Deng, who is also the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation, is one of the elite players to come through the Duke basketball program.

Despite picking up basketball late in life, Maluach has shown his potential to NBA scouts as he was projected to the No. 3 selection in ESPN's Way-Too-Early 2025 NBA mock draft, but now sits as the No. 6 selection.

Khaman Maluach joined the NBA Academy Africa in 2021 and was named as the Most Valuable Player of the of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa camp in 2023 and the playoff and defensive MVP at the BWB Global camp in 2024.

The towering presence stands at 7-foot-2, 250 pounds with a 7-foot-5 wingspan and 9-foot-8 standing reach.

Maluach played for the South Sudan national team at the 2023 FIBA World Cup and, at 16-years old, he was the youngest player on the roster. Being the best ranked African team in the tournament automatically qualified the nation for the Olympics.

South Sudan will play Team USA in an exhibition on July 20 (3:00p.m. ET, FOX) and the two nations will also compete in the same group during Olympic pool play.

The Sudanese team has its first Olympic game on Sunday, July 28 (5:00a.m. ET) against Puerto Rico before playing the United States in its second game of the group stage on July 31 (3:00 p.m. ET).