Key Points
- Duop Reath is set to sign for NBA side Portland Trail Blazers.
- Reath came to Australia as a refugee aged nine.
- He nearly gave up on basketball but was given a chance by Western Sydney club Savannah Pride.
Duop Reath nearly gave up on basketball after high school. He was exceptionally tall and talented but there was no plan and no clubs asking for his signature.
But finding a second chance in Sydney and sticking it out has finally paid off, with Reath now set to sign for NBA side Portland Trail Blazers.
This is the story of how the South Sudanese Australian centre became the first player from renowned club Savannah Pride, in Sydney's western suburbs, to make it all the way to the world's richest, most popular league.
Who is basketball star Duop Reath?
The athlete arrived in Australia aged nine, after fleeing South Sudan and spending time in a Kenyan refugee camp.
When the family moved to Perth, Reath started playing football and harboured dreams of playing for the Socceroos.
Duop Reath of Australia (right) taking on South Sudan in August. Source: AAP / Joel Carrett
Hearing he and his brother didn't have a way of getting to 8am games, a coach gave them regular lifts.
But in 2011 after finishing school, Reath started to lose interest in basketball.
A call from a coach in western Sydney changed everything.
Mayor Chagai, a refugee himself, runs a basketball club of mostly South Sudanese ballers out of a PCYC gym near Blacktown - the Savannah Pride.
He told the Sydney Morning Herald he was asked to help Reath and after flying to Perth to meet with his parents, Chagai brought him to Sydney to join the Pride set-up.
Reath was later spotted by talent scouts who had been invited by Chagai.
A move to Houston to play college basketball followed and then Louisville State University.
Duop Reath (right) playing for the Portland Trail Blazers against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Summer League in July. Credit: Ryan Stetz/NBAE via Getty Images
However, he earned a space in the Dallas Maverick's NBA Summer League side and from there had a stint in Serbia before moving back to Australia to play with the Illawarra Hawks.
He then had stints playing in China and Lebanon and recently impressed with Portland's Summer League team.
His highly-praised performances with the Australian national team in last month's FIBA basketball World Cup reportedly convinced the Trail Blazers to sign him on a one-year contract.
Reath attracted media attention for joining in the South Sudanese anthem when Australia faced them in a friendly in Melbourne before the tournament.
He told NBL Media it meant a lot to him to watch the Bright Stars celebrate their first tournament win, against China.
“I’m really proud of those guys. It feels like I’m part of them, you know I’m part of the team as well with them. Seeing how far they’ve come from day one til now to try to qualify, so just really proud. I think having that pride coming from South Sudan solidifies it even more.”
Reath said he hoped to inspire the youth.
Duop Reath playing for the Illawarra Hawks in the NBL last year. Source: AAP / Nathan Hopkins
What is basketball club Savannah Pride?
Savannah Pride has become an incubator for talent, and dozens of its members have been picked by scouts to move to the US to play for colleges, but Reath is the first to make it to the top.
Chagai said it has always been his dream that one of them would make the NBA.
"It sends a positive message that if you work hard, if you take up opportunities from the different coaches, you can realise your dream," he told the Herald.
"That is the positive message Duop can send to so many young South Sudanese players across the country. They have a passion for basketball, but in most cases they never feel like they’re going to make it."
In 2006 Chagai began coaching younger players in the South Sudanese community to help them find a passion for basketball, which he credits with helping him through hardships.
After a number of name changes, Savannah Pride was chosen, Chagai told SBS News in 2017.
Chagai said it's an apt name that reflects the group's strong connection with one another - like a pride of lions.
He said basketball has grown into something that brings all walks of life together.
Chagai says moving to the US is incredibly hard for many kids and some of them are too consumed by the excitement of a basketball scholarship to analyse whether the offer would actually benefit them.
"Some kids don't understand. When they go to America, they end up getting surprised," Chagai said.
"And some of those coaches in between that are taking them, they're trying to do maybe a little bit behind the door, or not being straight up with the kids, and then the kids end up getting stuck. And they're not being told the truth."
He is yet to comment on the Portland move, but Reath's actions on the court have made history for South Sudanese Australians.
