Inside Portland rookie Duop Reath’s unlikely journey to the NBA

INSIDE THE VISITOR’S locker room on the Frost Financial institution Heart in San Antonio, the Portland Path Blazers are getting their belongings collectively, heading house after an exhausting four-game highway journey in late January.

As gamers head out to the bus, small pink backpacks could be noticed on every of the Path Blazers’ rookies — a light-hearted rookie custom in each the NBA and MLB.

Portland, the fifth-youngest staff within the league this season weighted by enjoying time, has 5 such backpacks floating across the locker room on this night time. On Saturday, the Blazers grew to become simply the second staff since starters had been first tracked in 1971 to begin 5 rookies in a sport.

Among the many sea of pink, one rookie stands out particularly, not due to his accolades or his draft place, however due to his distinctive journey to the NBA. At 27 years outdated, Duop Reath is the third-oldest participant on Portland’s squad, simply behind 30-year-old Jerami Grant and 31-year-old Malcolm Brogdon.

Regardless of that, Reath continues to be a rookie. And he nonetheless has rookie duties. In order gamers trickle out to stroll to the bus, Reath gladly picks up his pink backpack and geese out by way of the visiting coaching room.

From the nook of the locker room, Deandre Ayton takes discover.

“Humility takes you a good distance and that is what it is doing for this younger man,” Ayton tells ESPN, referring to Reath as a younger man despite the fact that Reath is his elder by 25 months. “And he is the true definition of laborious work beats expertise.”

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DUOP REATH’S JOURNEY to the NBA was removed from standard. He was born within the village of Waat in what’s now South Sudan in 1996, when the nation was within the midst of the second Sudanese Civil Battle. He and his household lived in a small hut. He did not personal a pair of sneakers.

At 5 years outdated, Reath, his dad and mom and two siblings on the time (Reath is the oldest of seven kids) had been compelled out of their house due to the warfare and traveled to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, the place they stayed for almost two and a half years.

When requested about his earliest reminiscences, Reath described how he leaned on sports activities.

“Simply soccer, man,” Reath informed ESPN. “A variety of soccer. A variety of hanging round with my mates and caring for my youthful siblings.”

Reath credit his dad and mom for giving him what he calls a “fairly first rate childhood,” shielding him from the atrocities of his household’s actuality. And whereas he was out enjoying barefoot soccer on dust pitches, his household was looking for a approach out.

In 2005, that chance lastly arrived. With the assistance of his uncle who lived in Brisbane, Australia, Reath and his household moved some 8,000 miles from house to start a brand new life.

He did not know English. Did not know easy methods to learn or write. He yearned for house.

“It was only a shock,” Reath mentioned. “I needed to return to camp. I needed to simply return to my mates. I needed to simply be in a spot I used to be acquainted with.”

Reath says it wasn’t till he was 12 years outdated, when the household moved to Perth, that he began to adapt.

It was additionally in Perth the place Reath’s curiosity in sports activities grew. His goals of enjoying skilled soccer had been compounded by his dabbling in Australian Guidelines Soccer. He appreciated hitting individuals — however he continued to develop.

Reath, like different South Sudanese children in Perth, ultimately gravitated towards basketball. It was an ideal match.

Realizing he was higher than the typical participant, Reath joined what he known as an out-of-school league enjoying within the South Sudanese Australian Nationwide Basketball Affiliation, which held two nationwide tournaments yearly with groups from throughout the nation.

Quickly after, his life modified perpetually.

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MARCUS KING’S TRIP to Australia began out as a birthday current to himself.

It was 2014 and King was an assistant coach at Lee School, a small junior school in Baytown, Texas, about 30 miles east of Houston. One among King’s former gamers, Deng Deng, a South Sudan native, informed him a few match on the opposite facet of the world.

Phrase of King’s arrival had unfold, and when he landed in Penrith, Australia, a neighborhood videographer who was mates with Deng discovered him and mentioned he wanted to come back try this 6-foot-10 child about to begin his last yr of highschool.

That is when King noticed Reath for the primary time.

“This is this 6-10 dude operating up and down the courtroom and you could possibly see flashes,” King informed ESPN. “He had good contact. He was lengthy. Nonetheless uncooked. However he simply performed laborious. He had an amazing presence on the ground.”

After the sport, King launched himself to a hesitant Reath — and supplied him a scholarship.

“I simply thought it was simply one other American coming right here,” Reath mentioned. “I did not actually perceive what he was speaking about.”

Reath dismissed the supply. So the next day, King tried once more. This time, he was extra assertive.

“I used to be very, very intentional and really matter of truth,” King mentioned. “I mentioned I imagine in you. You might actually do one thing with the proper steerage.”

Ultimately Reath and his dad and mom agreed and, following his commencement, the 18-year-old was on his method to america for the primary time to play basketball.

“I did not actually know a lot about America,” Reath mentioned. “So I believed Texas was simply cowboys and everybody was on their horses. That is the image I had of it.”

Instantly after he arrived, King pushed him. There have been 5:30 a.m. exercises. There have been laborious practices.

In Australia, Reath was greater, quicker and stronger. That wasn’t the case at Lee.

“It was powerful,” Reath mentioned. “King would say he was attempting to ship me house at first. He mentioned if I wasn’t going to adapt and get higher, he was going to ship me house. In order that used to inspire me to get higher. [King] had a plan and all the pieces in thoughts for certain.”

In his first season at Lee School, Reath averaged 6.9 factors and 5.4 rebounds

Reath was enjoying towards former Division I and II athletes who had transferred down. Realizing he may deal with his personal towards them, he knew he was destined for the subsequent degree.

Heading into his sophomore yr, Reath was ranked as a high 10 juco prospect within the nation, and after that season, through which he averaged 14.6 factors and eight.4 rebounds, Reath transferred to LSU.

The Tigers went 10-21 in Reath’s first season. A yr later, the staff employed Will Wade and went 18-15. It wasn’t the success Reath had hoped for, however his 12.5 factors and 5.7 rebounds per sport had been sufficient to earn him a spot on the Dallas Mavericks’ 2018 Las Vegas Summer time League squad.

Reath performed a complete of simply three video games and 23 minutes for a stacked Mavericks staff that featured former lottery decide Dennis Smith Jr., future All-Star Jalen Brunson, and a pair of late second-round picks forward of him on the depth chart at heart. He had seven factors, 10 rebounds whole and missed each of his 3-point makes an attempt. His NBA goals had ended as shortly as they’d emerged.

In August, Reath signed with KK FMP, a top-level staff in Belgrade, Serbia.

Once more, he discovered himself in a foreign country, one other house, adjusting this time to the variations of European basketball for the primary time.

He spent two seasons there earlier than shifting on to KK Crvena Zvezda, who additionally play within the Serbian League. A quick stint with the Brooklyn Nets in summer season league in 2019 hadn’t produced one other NBA alternative, and an absence of enjoying time with Crvena Zvezda compelled Reath again to Australia and the NBL in 2021.

It was there that Reath had one other alternative — an opportunity to symbolize the Australian nationwide staff on the postponed 2021 Olympics.

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MATT NIELSEN, AN assistant coach for each the San Antonio Spurs and the Australian males’s nationwide staff, remembers the primary time he noticed Reath.

“We had a four- or five-day camp and also you simply noticed it, you simply noticed one thing totally different in him for our staff,” Nielsen mentioned. “He may stretch the ground however was additionally lengthy and athletic. He can transfer effectively and stuff like that. And really, any time we gave him an opportunity in observe, he simply produced.”

It was at that camp that Portland teammate Matisse Thybulle additionally met Reath for the primary time.

“I knew of Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Dante Exum and that was about it,” Thybulle informed ESPN. “By no means heard of Duop Reath.”

Reath made the staff that yr and went to Tokyo as a floor-spacing large for the Boomers, who went on to win the bronze medal. He noticed motion in 4 of Australia’s six video games, averaging 2.8 factors on 80% taking pictures.

That very same summer season, Reath signed with the Illawarra Hawks, a top-level staff within the NBL, coached by Australian nationwide staff coach Brian Goorjian. It was his third staff in his second nation in three seasons.

In 30 video games that season, he averaged 15.5 factors, 7.1 rebounds per sport and made 43.8% of his 3-pointers. The Hawks completed with the second-best document within the NBL.

That summer season, Reath performed with the Phoenix Suns’ summer season league squad, however in his first begin he suffered an ankle damage after scoring 13 factors. Identical to that, his summer season was over.

Three months later, Reath discovered himself in China, enjoying for the Qingdao Eagles. In 39 video games, Reath averaged 18.2 factors and seven.8 rebounds. When that season was over, Reath joined Al Riyadi Beirut of the West Asia Tremendous League. In simply 10 video games there, Reath averaged 21.4 factors and 9.9 rebounds per sport.

“Once I was in China, I used to be enjoying with numerous freedom and enjoying in Lebanon with numerous freedom,” Reath mentioned. “After which whenever you play with that sort of freedom and you already know what you are able to, you then really feel assured. You’re feeling very assured.”

After the season, Reath returned to Las Vegas for his fourth summer season league, this time with the Path Blazers.

And for the primary time, he was capable of finding a groove, averaging 13 factors and seven.4 rebounds off the bench.

After 5 years and 5 groups and 4 international locations, it was clear to each Nielsen and Thybulle that some NBA staff was going to offer Reath an opportunity. It was only a matter of who — and when.

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THYBULLE REMEMBERS THE turning level for Reath. It was Aug. 20, 2023, and Reath’s Australian nationwide staff was going through the French nationwide staff in a World Cup exhibition.

With simply over three minutes remaining and Australia down by 4 towards France in Tokyo, Reath caught a cross within the lane and barrelled towards the basket. There was one man between him and a thunderous slam: three-time NBA Defensive Participant of the 12 months Rudy Gobert.

Irrespective of. Reath took one step, jumped from exterior the restricted space, and pounded the ball by way of Gobert’s outstretched arm. Australia went on to win 78-74.

It stays Thybulle’s favourite Reath reminiscence.

“He grew to become a brand new participant in a way,” Thybulle mentioned, “as a result of the participant I had performed with on the Olympics versus the participant I performed with on the World Cup had similarities, however in a way had been vastly totally different so far as the talent and expertise degree.”

Following the World Cup, the Path Blazers introduced Reath into coaching camp, the place Ayton, the previous No. 1 total decide who days earlier had been dealt from the Suns to Portland, mentioned he took it upon himself to check the well-traveled rookie as a lot as potential. He realized shortly it would not be really easy.

“He ain’t backing down from s—,” Ayton mentioned. “He loves the problem and he competes. I examined him and I am a loopy m—–f—–. However Wop received it. Wop can play on any staff on this league. Any staff.”

Nonetheless, Reath needed to show himself additional.

He was considered one of Portland’s last cuts earlier than the beginning of the common season, then signed a two-way deal two days later. His NBA journey would start within the G League.

Reath’s G-League profession lasted only one sport.

The Rip Metropolis Remix made their debut Nov. 10 towards the South Bay Lakers. With Portland on the town to face the Los Angeles Lakers two nights later, Reath placed on a present, ending with 37 factors, 10 rebounds and two blocks whereas taking pictures 15-of-20 total and 5-of-6 from 3-point vary.

“After the sport, all people’s joking as we’re strolling out the fitness center like, ‘Effectively, Wop simply performed himself out of the G-League’,” Thybulle recalled.

Two days later, Reath made his NBA debut towards the Los Angeles Lakers.

And it was all the pieces Reath imagined it could be.

“I informed Matisse as quickly as I walked on the courtroom to do my warmup, the lights had been somewhat bit brighter at Crypto.com Enviornment,” Reath mentioned. “It felt like that is how I visualized it, the warmup, my pre-game warmup, all the pieces was the best way I visualized it. And I used to be simply telling him, yeah, ‘Man, goals do come true.’

In 13 minutes, Reath had 11 factors and was 3-of-8 from 3-point vary.

As a two-way participant, Reath was eligible to bounce forwards and backwards between the Blazers and the Remix, however he by no means went again to the G-League.

After making his NBA debut, he performed in Portland’s subsequent 15 video games, beginning 4 of them, averaging 8.2 factors and a pair of.8 rebounds.

Quickly, although, one other roadblock appeared.

Two-way gamers are solely eligible to be on the energetic NBA roster for 50 video games in a season. Although he’d been inactive for the primary eight video games of the season, Portland’s last sport earlier than the All-Star break represented Reath’s fortieth sport. Barring a change, he’d solely have the ability to play in 10 of Portland’s remaining 28 video games.

However the Blazers noticed the worth in an undrafted participant who ranks eighth amongst all rookies in 3-point area objectives and ninth in win shares based on Basketball Reference.

So after a two-decade journey that took him from South Sudan to Kenya to Australia to Texas to Louisiana to Serbia to China to Lebanon again to Australia then lastly to Portland, on Feb. 16 Reath inked a three-year, $6.2 million contract, making him a full-fledged NBA participant.

His journey meant the world to him and to his household again in Australia, most of whom have by no means seen him play an NBA sport in particular person. His household watches the replays the next day due to the time distinction.

These days, he retains a small reminder of house with him always. He wears the initials “A.R.” on his wrist tape for a household buddy, Alier Riak, who was killed in Australia in 2022. Reath likened him to somewhat brother.

So when Reath steps on the courtroom, now with that full contract in hand, it provides him a reassurance that all the pieces — and each place — he went by way of was price it.

“I felt a way of gratitude,” Reath mentioned. “Reflecting on my journey, I really feel like each expertise performed a significant position to place me within the place I’m right this moment.”