Anunwa "Nuni" Omot (born October 3, 1994) is a South Sudanese professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
player for the
Westchester Knicks
The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks typically play their home games at Westchester County Center in White ...
of the
NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...
. 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
Baylor Bears
The Baylor Bears are the athletic teams that represent Baylor University. The teams participate in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as one of only two private school members of the Big 12 Conference. Prior to j ...
after two years at
Concordia University
Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...
and
Indian Hills Community College
Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) is a public community college in Iowa with campuses in Ottumwa and Centerville. IHCC serves both traditional residential students and commuter students, primarily from a ten-county area in southeast Iowa as ...
.
Early life and high school
Omot was born in a
refugee camp
A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...
in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, Kenya to Pillow and Kwot Omot.
His parents and brother Aba lived in the camp for three years, following a dangerous 440-mile journey from
Gambela, Ethiopia
Gambela ( am, ጋምቤላ), also spelled Gambella, is a city and separate woreda in Ethiopia and the capital of the Gambela Region. It was known as Paanywaa( Anyuak Country) Located in Anyuak Zone, at the confluence of the Openo River and its ...
to the Kenyan border in escape from an ongoing
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
.
They were arrested, spending one week in prison, before being freed with help from the United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
and settling in the camp, which was crowded and did not provide adequate food.[ In 1996, Omot's mother and siblings moved to ]Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
with the help of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service is a non-profit organization that welcomes and supports refugees and migrants entering the United States. It is one of nine refugee resettlement agencies working with the Office of Refugee Resettlement and ...
. However, his father was barred from the United States due to medical reasons.
Living in Minnesota, Omot was looked after by his brother Aba, while his mother worked two jobs at Menards
Menards is an American home improvement retail company headquartered in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Menards is owned by founder John Menard Jr. through his privately held company, Menard, Inc. It has 335 stores in 15 states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...
and Burlington Coat Factory
Burlington, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is an American national off-price department store retailer, and a division of Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation with more than 1,000 stores in 40 states and Puerto Rico, with it ...
to support the family.[ Omot first began playing ]football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
as a wide receiver, but he started playing basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
after a growth spurt.[ He also played ]soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
but basketball soon became his primary focus.[
As a junior in high school, Omot joined the ]junior varsity
Junior varsity (often called "JV") players are the members of a team who are not the main players in a competition (such as any football, basketball, or baseball game), usually at the high school level–– and formerly at the collegiate level ...
basketball team at Mahtomedi High School in Mahtomedi, Minnesota
Mahtomedi ( ) is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 7,676 at the 2010 census. Mahtomedi is considered to be a suburb of St. Paul, and is located between St. Paul and Stillwater.
Geography
Mahtomedi i ...
.[ He moved up to varsity in his senior season, averaging 18 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists. Omot earned All-Conference and honorable mention All-State accolades in his final year at Mahtomedi.][ Still, he failed to earn any ]NCAA Division I
NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
scholarship offers in high school.[
]
College career
Omot began his college career at Concordia in NCAA Division II
NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...
and redshirt
Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi
* Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...
ed his freshman season, growing almost three inches. In 2014–15, he averaged 12.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, shooting 58 percent from the floor and 42 percent from behind the arc. In order to get more Division I exposure, Omot transferred to Indian Hills Community College
Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) is a public community college in Iowa with campuses in Ottumwa and Centerville. IHCC serves both traditional residential students and commuter students, primarily from a ten-county area in southeast Iowa as ...
. He averaged 12.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game and started 33 games in one of the top junior college programs. He was named to the first-team all-conference and NJCAA
The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...
Honorable mention All-American. Omot accepted a scholarship to Baylor on November 12, 2015.
Omot was forced to miss the fall semester of 2016 due to of academic reasons and played limited minutes the rest of the year. His best performance was scoring 14 points in a 74–64 win over Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
on January 18, 2017. He averaged 4.0 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Omot put in a lot of work in the summer of 2017 to improve his game. Omot began his senior season with 15 points against Central Arkansas
Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...
and had 12 points the following game against Texas A&M–Corpus Christi. He registered a career-high 30 points in a 105–82 win over Randall on December 9, 2017. However, Omot struggled to start Big 12 play and was replaced in the starting lineup by Mark Vital. In a loss to Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
on January 31, 2018, Omot scored 23 points and hit all six three-point attempts. On February 20, in a game against West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
, Omot met his father for the first time in 21 years. As a senior, Omot averaged 9.9 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. He shot 48.9 percent from the field and 43.3 percent on three-pointers, which was fifth in the Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...
.[
]
Professional career
After going undrafted in the 2018 NBA draft
The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inte ...
, Omot joined the Golden State Warriors
The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
for 2018 NBA Summer League
The 2018 NBA Summer League consisted of three pro basketball leagues organized by the National Basketball Association (NBA): the Sacramento Kings's California Classic Summer League, Utah Jazz Summer League, and Las Vegas Summer League.
The Sacra ...
. On September 25, 2018, he signed with 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 t ...
on a training camp deal. Omot was waived by the Nets on October 11. He was subsequently added to the roster of the Nets’ NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official List of developmental and minor sports leagues, minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development ...
affiliate, the Long Island Nets
The Long Island Nets are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Uniondale, New York, and are affiliated with the Brooklyn Nets. The team plays its home games at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Nassau County ...
.
On July 26, 2019, he signed with Macedonian club MZT Skopje.
On November 22, 2019, Omot was announced by ZZ Leiden
ZZ Leiden Basketball, also known as Zorg en Zekerheid Leiden, is a basketball club based in Leiden, Netherlands. The club plays in the BNXT League, the domestic first tier league. Their home games are played at Vijf Meihal, which has 2,000 seats.
...
of the Dutch Basketball League
The Dutch Basketball League (DBL), formerly the Eredivisie, was the highest professional basketball league in the Netherlands, run by the Federatie Eredivisie Basketball (FEB). Since 2021, the league has been replaced by the Belgian-Dutch BNXT Le ...
(DBL). His contract with Leiden began December 1. The 2019–20 season was cancelled prematurely in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
On June 12, 2020, Omot signed with Tofaş
Tofaş (acronym for ''Türk Otomobil Fabrikası Anonim Şirketi''; ''Turkish Automobile Factory Joint-Stock Company'' pronounced ) is a Turkish automobile manufacturer which was established in 1968 by Vehbi Koç, who was the founder of Koç Ho ...
of the Basketbol Süper Ligi
The Basketball Super League ( tr, Basketbol Süper Ligi; BSL), also known as the Türkiye Sigorta Basketbol Süper Ligi for sponsorship reasons, is the top men's professional basketball division of the Turkish basketball league system. It replac ...
(BSL). On December 9, 2020, he was loaned to Trefl Sopot
Trefl Sopot is a Polish professional basketball team, based in Sopot, Poland. The team plays in the Dominet Bank Ekstraliga, Polish Tauron Basket Liga. The club was founded as the replacement of Asseco Gdynia, Prokom Asseco Sopot that left the ci ...
of PLK. Omot averaged 17.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game.
On July 20, 2021, he signed with the Gießen 46ers
The JobStairs GIESSEN 46ers (formerly GIESSEN 46ers) is a professional basketball club based in Gießen, Germany, that plays in the Basketball Bundesliga. Their home arena is Sporthalle Gießen-Ost, with a capacity of 4,003 people.
History
The ...
of the Basketball Bundesliga
The Basketball Bundesliga (BBL) (English language: ''Federal Basketball League''), for sponsorship reasons named easyCredit BBL, is the highest level league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 18 teams. A BBL season ...
.
In 2022, Omot played in the Baloncesto Superior Nacional
The Baloncesto Superior Nacional, abbreviated as BSN, is the first-tier-level professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1929 and is organized by the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation.
T ...
, Puerto Rico’s professional league, with Leones de Ponce.
Westchester Knicks (2022–present)
In September 2022, the New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
added Omot to their training camp roster.
On September 23, 2022, Omot signed a contract with the New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
. He was then later waived. On October 24, 2022, Omot joined the Westchester Knicks
The Westchester Knicks are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in White Plains, New York, and are affiliated with the New York Knicks. The Knicks typically play their home games at Westchester County Center in White ...
training camp roster.
National team career
In February 2022, Omot was selected by the South Sudan national basketball team
The South Sudan national basketball team is the national basketball team representing South Sudan. Its official name is South Sudan Basketball Federation. It was established in May 2011, and became a member of FIBA in December 2013. They are nic ...
to play in the qualifiers for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup
The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be the 19th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament will be the second to feature 32 teams. For the first time in its history, the World Cup will be ...
.
References
External links
Baylor Bears bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Omot, Nuni
1994 births
Living people
B.S. Leiden players
Basketball people from Nairobi
Basketball players from Saint Paul, Minnesota
Baylor Bears men's basketball players
Concordia University (Saint Paul, Minnesota) alumni
Dutch Basketball League players
Giessen 46ers players
Indian Hills Warriors basketball players
Kenyan expatriate basketball people in the United States
Kenyan men's basketball players
Long Island Nets players
Small forwards
Tofaş S.K. players
Westchester Knicks players
ZZ Leiden players