Khaman Maluach became one of the youngest people to ever play in the basketball World Cup, playing 16 minutes Monday in South Sudan's 89-86 victory over China.
Maluach, 16, scored one point as South Sudan recorded its first-ever World Cup victory. Chicago Bulls guard Carlik Jones scored 21 points while Kuany Kuany added 16 for South Sudan (1-1), which plays Serbia on Wednesday in its final group game.
The 7-foot-2 Maluach, who is widely considered an elite 2025 NBA draft prospect, turns 17 next month. The only players younger than Maluach in World Cup history were Ivory Coast's Georges Lath (16 years, 3 months in 1986) and China's Guo Ailun (16 years, 9 months in 2010).
Maluach is a member of the NBA Africa Academy in Senegal, which he joined as a high school freshman in 2021 -- two years after he started playing basketball seriously while living in Uganda. He was named MVP of the NBA's Basketball Without Borders Africa camp in early August.
Maluach, who is slated to graduate high school in the summer of 2025, has scholarship offers from Duke, UCLA and Georgetown. He also has the option of going straight to the NBA draft as a 2006-born international prospect.
Underdogs South Sudan and Cape Verde picked up wins Monday to stay in contention for the second round. New Zealand and Ivory Coast also stayed alive. Five teams have already advanced to the second round: Latvia, Canada, Germany, Montenegro and Lithuania. Eleven places are still open, and Tokyo Olympic silver medalist France was knocked out Sunday.
After a scoreless debut in the first game, Minnesota Timberwolves sixth man Kyle Anderson scored 22 points for China (0-2), which lost its opener to Serbia 105-63.
ESPN's Jonathan Givony and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
