₦airaland Forum

They better coz I have no doubts she will deliver. A whole African BBall MVP. It is well.

BascoVanVeli:
Amy and Angel Reese 😁 This is a very good signing for the Dream. They only have 2 good players on their bench. I won't be surprised if she gets bumped up to a full contract before the season ends.

TheSuperNerd:
They better coz I have no doubts she will deliver. A whole African BBall MVP. It is well.

A 3 point specialist like Amy is like gold in that team. That's all they have been doing is jacking up threes.

Btw somebody said Atlanta beat Dallas and took Amy as part of the spoils of war 🤣

Lol... okay, that's quite wicked.

BascoVanVeli:
A 3 point specialist like Amy is like gold in that team. That's all they have been doing is jacking up threes.

Btw somebody said Atlanta beat Dallas and took Amy as part of the spoils of war 🤣

HISTORY LOADING…

Come NBA Draft 2026, Nigeria is on course to become the FIRST African nation to have THREE locally developed players drafted into the NBA 🏀🌍

NBA Draft Combine 2026. Nigerian local, home-grown talents:

• Rueben Chinyelu 🇳🇬
• Felix Okpara 🇳🇬
• Ugonna Onyenso 🇳🇬


https://x.com/i/status/2054993970875232422

Source: CoachHova (@RealBucketScout)

Felix Okpara in action in the NBA Draft Combine... Boy threw that alley-oop down with authority!

Felix Okpara with the alley-oop slam!

📍 2026 AWS Draft Combine pic.twitter.com/N63UAoF9v1

— NBA Draft (@NBADraft) May 14, 2026

On Chinyelu and Ugonna... and how they fared in the NBA Draft Combine Game 3 .

Rueben Chinyelu:
14 PTS (7/13 FG) & 15 REB

Ugonna Onyenso:
4 PTS (2/3 FG), 8 REB & +19 Eff

https://x.com/i/status/2055059054951608386


Source: CoachHova.

TheSuperNerd:
Why do these WNBA sides look down on African talents? Is Amy Okonkwo not MVP of FIBA Africa Women?? A whole MVP of African women's basketball na im dey give Development contract... it is well. Yakubu Manage mode.

"Looking down" doesn't quite describe the situation aptly. The WNBA is the best league in the world with very limited roster spots. The US incidental has a large pool of talent that can conveniently fill the roster 3x over without stress while still churning out talents every year. So historically, the WNBA caters largely to homegrown talent through the college system. A minority from other nations get to make roster but they are usually exceptional talents who more often than not also go through the college system.

Amy isn't an "African talent" in that sense, seeing she went through the college system. So she'll principally be judged, not by her impressive showing at the Afrobasket (due to what they consider disparity in talent) but on her body of work in college. It's why D'tigress players who have historically done well at the Afrobasket like Ezinne Kalu didn't necessarily get looked at by the WNBA. The opportunity however came when the girls put up an impressive display at the Olympics. Since they were literally facing WNBA players as opposition, it became easy to give credit and extend opportunities to them. It's why Amy and Ezinne got opportunities last season and very recently Elizabeth Balogun.

That said, only those with exceptional talent are guaranteed spots in a team. If you aren't one (like all of our players are) then the next best thing is getting yourself in the most ideal situation. I've watched the WNBA for years now and it's how I've seen non exceptional players keep a roster spot.

You'll recall that I expressed reservations immediately Amy got signed by Dallas. Her agent didn't put her in the best possible situation. Dallas already had 11 guaranteed contracts, it meant they had only one spot left to fill. It was a bad deal from the start. There were other teams with way less talented players Amy would have easily made their roster. But without the right agents it's difficult to seal deals like that. A good example of this is Sika Kone who really is an African bred talent. Ever since she got drafted, she's always found herself on a team. Reason is her agent always positions her with teams where she's more likely to make roster, and get opportunities to prove herself. Dallas was that for Amy last season, but as soon as the season ended and Dallas started making moves it became the wrong place for her to thrive. If her agent had got her on a team like Seattle, Connecticut Toronto or Portland for example we won't be having this conversation. One of those teams with the right agents would have given her a guaranteed contract off the bat. If Temi can get a Million dollar contract from Toronto Amy who I believe is way better than her would have gotten a deal, difference is agent.

This is unfortunate then. Someone's agent is sleeping on the job. Came through the US Collegiate system, african bball MVP back to back (2023, 2025), shone at the 2024 Olympics as Team Captain where we reached the Quarters beating Canada along the way before losing out by not much to the US of bloody A... what sort of an agent does Amy have sef?

I appreciate the breakdown my good man.

lovewins:
"Looking down" doesn't quite describe the situation aptly. The WNBA is the best league in the world with very limited roster spots. The US incidental has a large pool of talent that can conveniently fill the roster 3x over without stress while still churning out talents every year. So historically, the WNBA caters largely to homegrown talent through the college system. A minority from other nations get to make roster but they are usually exceptional talents who more often than not also go through the college system.

Amy isn't an "African talent" in that sense, seeing she went through the college system. So she'll principally be judged, not by her impressive showing at the Afrobasket (due to what they consider disparity in talent) but on her body of work in college. It's why D'tigress players who have historically done well at the Afrobasket like Ezinne Kalu didn't necessarily get looked at by the WNBA. The opportunity however came when the girls put up an impressive display at the Olympics. Since they were literally facing WNBA players as opposition, it became easy to give credit and extend opportunities to them. It's why Amy and Ezinne got opportunities last season and very recently Elizabeth Balogun.

That said, only those with exceptional talent are guaranteed spots in a team. If you aren't one (like all of our players are) then the next best thing is getting yourself in the most ideal situation. I've watched the WNBA for years now and it's how I've seen non exceptional players keep a roster spot.

You'll recall that I expressed reservations immediately Amy got signed by Dallas. Her agent didn't put her in the best possible situation. Dallas already had 11 guaranteed contracts, it meant they had only one spot left to fill. It was a bad deal from the start. There were other teams with way less talented players Amy would have easily made their roster. But without the right agents it's difficult to seal deals like that. A good example of this is Sika Kone who really is an African bred talent. Ever since she got drafted, she's always found herself on a team. Reason is her agent always positions her with teams where she's more likely to make roster, and get opportunities to prove herself. Dallas was that for Amy last season, but as soon as the season ended and Dallas started making moves it became the wrong place for her to thrive. If her agent had got her on a team like Seattle, Connecticut Toronto or Portland for example we won't be having this conversation. One of those teams with the right agents would have given her a guaranteed contract off the bat. If Temi can get a Million dollar contract from Toronto Amy who I believe is way better than her would have gotten a deal, difference is agent.

If this is true there is a good chance Amy makes her debut tomorrow

Murjanatu Musa won the French league title today.

BascoVanVeli:
Murjanatu Musa won the French league title today.

Yay!!!

Bad Geh Murjanatu!

BascoVanVeli:
Murjanatu Musa won the French league title today.

The full schedule for the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup is now out!

The first two games, tipping off at 10:30am, are Japan v Mali, and Australia v Puerto Rico.

Meanwhile, D’Tigress fixtures are as follows:

September 4 - Korea v Nigeria at 1:30pm
September 5 - Hungary v Nigeria at 1:15pm
September 7 - Nigeria v France at 1:30pm

It is safe to say Uche Izoje and Gabby White will be having their baptism of fire in Nigerian colours at the World Cup. They both showed promise during the friendlies against the WNBA teams recently.

So Former D Tigers Coach, Mike Brown is Head Coach of the NY Knicks who are contesting the Eastern Conference finals vs Cleveland Cavaliers... and it was he who recommended David Fizdale for the DTigers job which David eventually accepted.

Nice connections. Mike Brown's Knicks have been on a good run this post season.

Arike's form has really dipped..

At this rate, she might never get to play for team USA..

Maybe it's time she considered playing for us....

As it stands, she is no longer one of the standout players in the league, so there isn't much attention on her ...

Danielnino00:
Arike's form has really dipped..

At this rate, she might never get to play for team USA..

Maybe it's time she considered playing for us....

As it stands, she is no longer one of the standout players in the league, so there isn't much attention on her ...

At this point?

That ship has sailed for a while now. That team USA chapter is closed for Arike. Playing for Nigeria is a different conversation obviously but she's totally out of consideration for USA moving forward.

And on form, I won't say she's dipped though. Yes she had a bad game yesterday but so did most of her teammates. She's however taken up a new role in Dallas which will make her role a lot more different than it used to be. I was hoping she moved to a different team during the off-season where she'll be number 1 option but she chose to stay in Dallas. I think she's still got it, she just won't put up numbers like she used to cause she has a new role now.

Danielnino00:
Arike's form has really dipped..

At this rate, she might never get to play for team USA..

Maybe it's time she considered playing for us....

As it stands, she is no longer one of the standout players in the league, so there isn't much attention on her ...

Chai! Kinda a shame that it could be at this moment in her career that she would consider is. But I really doubt Wakama will call her up for the WC, unless there is an injury to one or two of D’Tigress PGs

Depending on the overall TV ratings and fan interest at the upcoming women’s World Cup, I wish FIBA would expand the number of teams to 24.

Former DTigers coach, Mike Brown's NY Knicks make the NBA Finals after sweeping Cleveland Cavs 4-0 in the Eastern Conference finals.

Knicks' first NBA finals since 1999 and Mike Brown's first since 2007 with the Cavs. Lol. Funny how he had to beat the franchise he got to the finals with 19yrs ago.

TheSuperNerd:
So Former D Tigers Coach, Mike Brown is Head Coach of the NY Knicks who are contesting the Eastern Conference finals vs Cleveland Cavaliers... and it was he who recommended David Fizdale for the DTigers job which David eventually accepted.

Nice connections. Mike Brown's Knicks have been on a good run this post season.