Britain’s Tosan Evbuomwan is hoping to make his NBA debut for the Detroit Pistons as the season begins on 24-25 October
You’ll find one in many schools: the superstar student athlete.
Typically it’s someone physically superior than their peers, with athletic ability and attributes to ensure dominance across most sports.
Tosan Evbuomwan knows exactly what that feels like.
“When I was younger, sport took up most of my life and it was usually football,” Evbuomwan told BBC Sport.
“I also played a lot of rugby, track and field, cricket, tennis, pretty much everything to be honest in terms of British sport,” he added.
Born in Newcastle, the 22-year-old is speaking to BBC Sport via video chat from his new apartment in Detroit, Michigan.
He is more than 3,500 miles from where he grew up – a long way from home – but closer to achieving a dream of playing top-class basketball in the NBA.
Following the NBA Draft in June 2023, Evbuomwan signed a ‘free agent contract’ with the Detroit Pistons. In short, he’s part of the roster. There’s no guarantee of minutes on the court, but he’s able to play for their affiliated teams and take part in daily practices – affording him the chance to stake his claim for a full-time spot on the team as the new season starts next week.
It’s perhaps the first time in his life he hasn’t been an automatic selection or the ‘go-to’ guy. But it’s a challenge the 6ft 8in forward is embracing.
The journey so far
Evbuomwan’s NBA dream could have been a Premier League one.
He signed for his home-city team Newcastle United as a seven-year-old schoolboy, but by the age of 12 he realised football wasn’t for him. Although clearly talented -with the youth academy keen on keeping him – Evbuomwan had fallen out of love with the game.
“I just stopped enjoying it, to be honest,” he told BBC Sport. “So I decided to take a step back for a few years and when I started playing again it was at a much lower level with friends.
“There are a couple of guys who I played with when I was younger who are still playing. Jack Young [on loan at Ayr United] is one of them. He’s doing well. So it’s good seeing guys still going strong.”
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