Wenyen Gabriel Reflects Proudly After South Sudan’s First-Ever Game Against USA: “We don’t have any indoor basketball courts in our Country. We don’t have anything like that. We’re a bunch of refugees that came together for a few weeks out of the year… this is much bigger than basketball for us”
by bambam-in-vietnam
42 Comments
Awesome for South Sudan, wish they had pulled it off. It’s really cool to see different countries be a lot more competitive with the USA’s best in recent years
Love seeing inspiring underdog stories like these
Fuck Paul Pierce
Wasnt expecting to be rooting for South Sudan
Basketball is a global sport – love to see it.
Imagine going from no indoor courts to playing against Team USA. That’s like me going from my driveway to challenging LeBron.
I like his haircut
Very happy for South Sudan in this showing. They should absolutely be proud of their performance against the U.S.
Wenyen Gabriel is absolutely a NBA Player level player. He was signed by the Celtics last offseason but was cut right before the season started.
What a message and delivered beautifully
I used to hate on Luol Deng for the highway robbery performed on my Lakers, but after reading how he’s used a lot of that into building the program they have in South Sudan, really dope story and everyone should look into it
Just shows what it means for people to represent their country and their people instead of trying to form the best teams on a technicality. This is what it’s actually about.
Shout out to this fella 👍
Damn very well spoken, kinda wish they would’ve pulled that off yesterday
I work in refugee resettlement and if you live in an American city, there is a population of resettled refugees in your area. Oftentimes they’re relegated to a certain corner of the city and not truly welcomed into the community. The agencies are fantastic at providing services and getting people out of crisis, but they’re often limited by the fact that it’s hard to move past “getting people out of crisis” when there’s so many individuals and families to care for, and the life they enter in the USA is really fucking hard.
Want to encourage everyone to volunteer with / donate to your local resettlement agency! Volunteer to teach English for an hour a week, get a group of friends and volunteer to move furniture into a home that a newly arrived family will call home, drive people to appointments occasionally, whatever you have the capacity to do! **It will change your life for the better in so many ways.** Feel free to comment or DM if you have questions about volunteering, refugee resentment in general, or how to help!
Dope hopefully this performance grants them more funding or whatever they need to remain competitive.
For those that don’t know. South Sudan is the newest country in the world. It got its independence in 2011.
Our Lakers legend ! Honestly, this is why sport is beautiful.
People love to overreact while the 3 ball, lack of chemistry, better coaching, game plan execution, teams underestimating their opponents made shit like that more common.
Game was mad funny, Bron and AD still playing like top 5 player and Embiid having his 1st best game.
I have no doubt that when my GOAT KD will come back, Team USA gonna slap everyone but reading doomers is mad funny.
On a side note this why Luka and other players love to play for their country, for us fan it’s always about rest but guys that play for teams that lacked talent and care for their country don’t give af.
South Sudan was playing out of their mind. Really had control of the game through three quarters. So proud of the hustle, effort and heart. I think they’re going to make a Cinderella run in the Olympics.
If the NBA wants to help Team USA in the future, it’s time to adopt FIBA rules.
i was just happy to see a team from Africa compete like that.
I just cant find the link rn but I saw a picture on twitter last FIBA World Cup when some Sudanese was watching the games on a wide projector in some random street in Sudan under the scorching heat of the sun.
W South Sudan
The best players in the world were almost beaten by “refugees” in a worn torn country. Absolute respect… hopefully next time.
It’s definitely impressive, but I also think this isn’t a very well coached Team USA, and I don’t expect them to do as well as everyone else thinks.
Interesting to hear him have hope for the next generation of athletes and how his current team is paying the groundwork for them..
Then, you watch some of the top vets in the WNBA talk about rookies like they are going to get to the league and have a “wake up call”, and actively target them during games.. only to get embarrassed last night when the top vets playing for Team USA gets beaten by said rookies.
Disney movie incoming
So much respect boys!
Aight thats it, I’m rooting for South Sudan now in the olympics
They did really fucking good vs team USA, I was impressed.
Get these guys sustainable air conditioning
Team USA players need to band together and fund the construction of a legitimate indoor facility for the SSD team.
Damn Wenyen is pretty
Shout out my man Luol Deng who did a ton of work to promote the game in South Sudan.
Inspirational as heck!
One of the best examples of “using your platform” I have ever seen. That was sincere and passionate.
You played the best in the world and lost by one point.
That’s something to be very proud of.
Much respect to South Sudan, they played a incredible game and almost beat us, those boys can ball for sure.
Team USA needs to play better if they want to win the gold
Very well said, I wish them all the luck in the world.
Much love to him and his country. What they’re doing is so, impressive.
Imagine almost losing to a country that do not have any indoor basketball courts.
Mad respect for South-Sudan!
We need to go back to amateur athletes only. Millionaire NBA players competing means nothing. Amateurs competing for the love of the game like this guy brings much more inspiration.