CNN
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When the US State Department announced on April 5 that it would cancel all existing visas for South Sudanian citizens, it cast uncertainty on the lives of all national lives in the United States.
One of those citizens is basketball player Kaman Mallach. He had just declared for the 2025 NBA Draft after leaving Duke at the time of the announcement.
Malach – a 7-foot, 2-inch towering rim conservation center – is widely expected to be a lottery in Wednesday’s draft, with his dynamism and high ceilings making him an exciting prospect for several NBA teams.
There may be obstacles and red tape, but Mallach’s path to the NBA is certainly sailable.
After signing with Duke, Mallach has obtained the F1 visa, a standard student visa that has been suspended since May, but is back on the tourist visa as he is waiting for the NBA draft.
If drafted by one of the league’s 29 American teams, Maluach will move to the P1 visa, a professional athlete visa. A significant portion of the NBA’s international players remain on the P1 visa over their long-term careers.
However, CNN Sports understands that while Mallach will not be given a P1 visa if drafted by the Toronto Raptors, a B1 business visa will be required to enter and leave the United States. In Canada, he will probably be on an O1 visa for foreigners with “extraordinary abilities.”
For example, if Mallach is drafted for a team at the Eastern Conference and has two road trips to Toronto in the season, he will need a waiver and a new visa every time he rejoins the US.
However, if drafted by Raptors, CNN Sports understands that Maluach requires a new B1 visa and exemption for each road trip to the US.
Mallach will be the only player in the league to face these types of important logistical hurdles, such as having to come directly to obtain a new visa, but this type of complexity is not necessarily unique.
Former NBA center Enes Kanter had no valid travel documents for three years while his Turkish passport was cancelled and receiving his US citizenship, but he was able to travel to Canada for ongoing conversations between the league and the US and Canadian authorities.
A US State Department spokesman did not comment on the specific incident, but in a statement to CNN:
“South Sudan passport holders who have been notified of their visa expiration are not required to leave the US before they can be granted until the date. Future trips to the US will require a new visa application.
“We will continue to make decisions regarding visa services around the world in a way that prioritizes maintaining the highest standards of US national security and public safety.”
The Raptors said they had no comment on the team’s draft plan. CNN contacted the South Sudan Embassy for comment.
Born in the town of Rambeck, Mallach and his family fled to neighboring Uganda when the Centre was a boy due to the conflict in South Sudan.
When he was 13, Mallach recalls that motorcyclists would stop him on the street and give him some visionary advice.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, you have to start playing basketball. In three or four years, you’re going to be that taller,” Maluach told Olympics.com.
Incredibly, Mallach says he only picked up basketball for the first time when he was 13 or 14, and soon after a quip from a motorcyclist he took part in a basketball camp hosted by former NBA player Luol Deng in South Sudan.
“I had just gone camping and saw a happy tall person. It was like, ‘This is where I belong,'” the smiling Mallach told reporters in May. “I came back the next day and picked up a basketball.”
By the time the camp came the following year, Mallach said he was already the tallest there.
Troyustice, the senior vice president of the NBA and head of international basketball operations, oversees the league’s global grassroots program and recalls the first time he saw Maulach in a WhatsApp video sent by Scouts at the NBA Academy Africa.
“It’s like a young 14-year-old tall boy who doesn’t play basketball and I believe we have high potential,” Justice tells CNN about Scout’s rating. “And he comes from an incredible family, so we really believe he’s a perfect fit for the academy program.”
It was soon revealed that the Academy had special talent in its hands.
Brendan McKillop, the Vice President of NBA, who oversees the academy, was amazed at how easily it appears on the court for anyone who has never picked up basketball before.
“His size and length are unmistakable the first time I met him,” McKillop tells CNN. “The thing that popped out most at me was his fluidity.
“Many young kids who have never played sports really don’t know how to move, but he had this natural ability. He touched, had great hands and knew how to move well on the basketball court.
Maulach was selected as MVP and defensive player for the Basketball-free Border Africa Program, run by the NBA and has been part of the Elevation Program, which has one NBA Academy Africa outlook for each of the 12 Basketball Africa League (BAL) teams in recent seasons.
In 2023, Mallach started for the Senegalese team as Douanes in the BAL final, co-founded by the international governing bodies of basketball in 2019 by the NBA and FIBA.
His rise represented South Sudan, the youngest country in the world at the 2024 Parish Games. Mallach was the youngest player in the tournament.
The 18-year-old has undoubtedly the physical attributes to succeed at the highest level, but Justice stated that it was the Malach mentality that made him stand out.
“It’s his ability to listen and learn,” Justice explains. “He consumes everything he is given by the staff who coach the Academy’s strength and conditioning coaches. He is a ready learner, constantly learning, constantly growing, constantly changing, constantly evolving and working.
“He has professional habits. He learned them at the academy, but he also came to us with a special character that allows him to get hungry.”
These feelings are reflected by McKillop, who calls Mallach “an incredibly unique and special child.”
“He also brings an incredible work ethic, incredible attitude, leadership, desire to be great and humility to the table,” adds McKillop.
But more than anything, McKillop was taken to the way a young man interacted with those who helped him on his path.
“He never forgot how lucky he was,” says McKillop. “He’s always the first person to be grateful for. If you see our staff watching three times a year and see him at events or whatever, he knows all of our names and greets us by name.
“I’m excited that he has this opportunity before him.”
