Jordan Ifeanyi Nwora (born September 9, 1998) is a Nigerian-American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the Indiana Pacers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Louisville Cardinals The Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the NCAA athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. The Cardinals teams play in the Atlantic Coast Conference, beginning in the 2014 season. While playing in the Big East Co ...

. He plays internationally for the Nigeria men's national basketball team.

Early life

Nwora was born on September 9, 1998, in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

to a Nigerian father and an American mother. His father Alexander Nwora, a basketball coach, helped Jordan in developing his basketball abilities.

High school career

Nwora started playing basketball at Amherst Central High School in the 2013–2014 season, before transferring to The Park School of Buffalo for two seasons. At The Park School he shot 42 percent from three-point range leading the Pioneers to the New York State Federation Class B championship, averaging 21.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.4 steals, and 1.4 assists. His second season at The Park School saw him raise all of his season averages, turning in 23.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.3 steals, and 1.8 assists. He earned First Team All-Centercourt honors in both his junior and senior seasons playing at The Park School. Nwora continued his prep career for one more season, where he scored over 500 points at Vermont Academy, averaging 18.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in the 2016–2017 season.

College career

Nwora joined the Louisville Cardinals in 2018. In his freshman season, he averaged 5.7 points, 2.2 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. During his sophomore season, Nwora became a permanent starter on the team six games into the season. He averaged 17.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game, becoming the second Most Improved Player in the NCAA and named Most Improved Player in the ACC. He was named the preseason ACC player of the year. On January 29, 2020, Nwora scored a career-high 37 points and added nine rebounds in a 86–69 win against Boston College. At the conclusion of the regular season, Nwora was named to the First Team All-ACC, finishing second in the player of the year voting to Tre Jones. As a junior, Nwora averaged 18 points and 7.7 rebounds per game while shooting 44% from the field. Following the season, he declared for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

Professional career

Milwaukee Bucks (2020–2023)

Nwora was selected with the 45th overall pick by the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

in the

. On November 24, 2020, the Bucks announced that they had signed Nwora. He was assigned to the

Salt Lake City Stars The Salt Lake City Stars are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and are affiliated with the Utah Jazz. As of the 2022-23 season, the Stars play in the Maverik Center in West Valley City, U ...

for the start of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

season, making his debut on February 10, 2021. Three days later, he was recalled from the Stars because of an ankle injury. On May 16, Nwora scored a career–high 34 points during a 118–112 loss to the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on January ...

. Nwora was part of the Bucks team that won the

2021 NBA Finals The 2021 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2020–21 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In this best-of-seven playoff series, the Eastern Conference champion Milwaukee Bucks ...

. On December 18, 2021, Nwora scored a season-high 28 points, along with 11 rebounds, in a 119–90 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Indiana Pacers (2023–present)

On February 9, 2023, Nwora was traded to the Indiana Pacers in a four-team trade involving the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The ...

and Phoenix Suns. He made his Pacers debut on February 13, recording seven points, three rebounds and two steals in a 123–117 loss to the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

National team career

Nwora was called up to be part of the D'Tigers for the 2019 FIBA world cup qualifier between June 28–30, 2018, by his father Alexander Nwora who is the head coach of the team. In the tournament, he averaged 21.7 points, 8 rebounds and 2.7 assists. During the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifiers in Lagos, Nwora scored 36 points against Mali to be the highest scoring player for Nigeria in history, breaking Ike Diogu's record of 31 points. Nwora scored a game-high 33 points in a loss to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in the preliminary round of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. He led Nigeria in scoring in the tournament after averaging 21 points per game.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

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, 62 , , 13 , , 19.1 , , .403 , , .348 , , .837 , , 3.6 , , 1.0 , , .4 , , .3 , , 7.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", , align="left" ,

, 38 , , 3 , , 15.7 , , .386 , , .392 , , .860 , , 3.1 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , .2 , , 6.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 130 , , 18 , , 15.8 , , .408 , , .376 , , .829 , , 3.1 , , .8 , , .4 , , .2 , , 6.8

Playoffs

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, 8 , , 0 , , 2.5 , , .222 , , .000 , , .000 , , .4 , , .3 , , .0 , , .0 , , .5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 13 , , 0 , , 3.9 , , .222 , , .167 , , .556 , , .9 , , .2 , , .0 , , .1 , , 1.5

College

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Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, 28 , , 0 , , 12.0 , , .464 , , .439 , , .769 , , 2.2 , , .4 , , .6 , , .1 , , 5.7 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 29 , , 31.9 , , .446 , , .374 , , .765 , , 7.6 , , 1.3 , , .9 , , .4 , , 17.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 30 , , 33.1 , , .440 , , .402 , , .813 , , 7.7 , , 1.3 , , .7 , , .3 , , 18.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 93 , , 59 , , 26.3 , , .445 , , .394 , , .785 , , 6.0 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .2 , , 13.9

Personal life

Jordan Nwora is the first son of Amy Nwora, an American and Alexander Nwora the Erie Community College and Nigerian National Basketball Team Head Coach His 3 siblings (Ronni, Caeli, and Lex) are also interested in basketball as his sister Ronni Nwora played high school basketball for The Park School of Buffalo, Buffalo, New York. She currently plays for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball team represents the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in NCAA Division I basketball. The team plays its home games at McCamish Pavilion. Players Notable players who have played with the Yellow Jacket ...

team. During the 2019 FIBA World Cup qualifier in Lagos, Jordan and his father Alexander became the first Nigerian Son and Father to represent a Nigerian national team side at the same time.

References

External links

Louisville Cardinals bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nwora, Jordan 1998 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup players African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Amherst Central High School Alumni Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Buffalo, New York Louisville Cardinals men's basketball players Milwaukee Bucks draft picks Milwaukee Bucks players National Basketball Association players from Nigeria Nigerian men's basketball players Olympic basketball players of Nigeria Salt Lake City Stars players Small forwards Vermont Academy alumni Wisconsin Herd players