Happy birthday to Charles Bassey

Love this picture, a shot of the Spurs past and future in one take:

Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images

Fresh off his signing four days ago, Charles Bassey is officially a member of the San Antonio Spurs. Bassey signed a two-way contract on Monday allowing him to play in both San Antonio and Austin.

Bassey is originally from Lagos, Nigeria where he started out playing soccer. After crossing the 6 foot mark, he caught the eye of a youth basketball coach, eventually landing him basketball camp Giants of Africa, a program established by Masai Ujiri, executive of the Toronto Raptors. Bassey was named most valuable player.

At age 14, he immigrated to San Antonio where he played for St. Anthony’s for two seasons before finishing out high school in Kentucky, where he stayed to play collegiate ball.

Bassey was drafted 53rd in 2021 by the Philadelphia 76ers. He spent most of the season in their G-League affiliate Delaware Blue Coats where he was named All-NBA G League Second Team, NBA G League All-Defensive Team, and NBA G League All-Rookie Team.

Listed at 6’9” 230 lbs., Bassey may be being groomed as a project in the event the Spurs trade Jakob Poeltl in hopes of moving up in next year’s draft.

In the meantime, the Nigerian big man is celebrating his 22nd birthday today.

Happy birthday, Charles.

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