LOS ANGELES — Among the 40 international prospects at the 10th annual Basketball Without Borders All-Star Camp, Obinna Ekezie Jr. stands out. At 7 feet with a 7-foot-3 wingspan, he towers over most of the other players. His gigantic No. 57 jersey envelops his thin frame. Every so often as he goes through drills, he steals a glance at the bleachers, where his father, Obinna Ekezie Sr., sits amid a swarm of reporters, scouts and executives.
Beneath a white Alo hat, Ekezie Sr. wears a stern expression. He watches his son intently, his eyes never drifting from the court. At times, he even pulls out his phone to film the action.
Held at the Los Angeles Lakers’ practice facility, the camp features prospects from 29 different countries, and Ekezie, a native of Nigeria, is one of the biggest names. With the support of his dad, a former University of Maryland star and NBA player, Ekezie has established himself as a top high school recruit. “He’s gone through everything I’m going through right now,” Ekezie says of his dad. “So he’s just helped me along this path that I’m on.”
A versatile big man with tremendous potential, Ekezie is the No. 1-ranked center in the class of 2027. As a junior at Southeastern Prep in Orlando, he’s currently averaging 11.9 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks, according to MaxPreps. He has garnered more than 30 offers from prominent college programs and already taken visits to Kentucky, USC and Maryland, his father’s alma mater. Whichever school is lucky enough to land him will get a game-changing talent who’s expected to be one-and-done.
“I just want to go to a place (where I can) showcase my talent and play through my mistakes,” Ekezie says. “I’m not a finished product, so I just want to keep getting better and play for a fan base that loves to have me.”
Ekezie’s upside was clear to Scotty Hopson, a former NBA player and accomplished pro overseas who served as one of the coaches at the BWB Camp. The staff held a draft to determine the teams for a mini end-of-camp tournament, and Hopson used his first pick on Ekezie. “He approached everything that we were doing really well,” Hopson tells Hoops HQ. “You could tell that he had been coached up really well and had some people who knew the game in his ear.”
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Ekezie has a much different game than his old man, relying more on skill and finesse than power and strength. He is comfortable handling the ball and shooting from the perimeter. With his size, length and athleticism, he’s a force on the offensive glass and an elite lob threat out of pick-and-rolls. He especially excels on the defensive end, protecting the rim as well as any prospect in the country. “You should have seen him when he started — he couldn’t even get off the ground,” Ekezie Sr. says. “He grew so fast, so it took awhile for his body and muscles to get stronger.”
Roughly 30 years ago, Ekezie Sr. had to forge his own path to NCAA basketball and the NBA. He didn’t have a coach in his hometown of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, or anyone to guide him during the early stages of his career. He didn’t even pick up the sport until he was 15 years old. In contrast, Ekezie Jr. has been following a blueprint carefully laid out by his pops. “For me, it was different, because I went on the journey on my own,” Ekezie Sr. says. “But he has a dad who has been through it, so it’s easier for him.”
Ekezie Sr. fell in love with basketball after seeing Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon dominate the NBA in the early 1990s. While his father, a successful businessman, knew nothing about the game, he bought Obinna a hoop to play with at their home in Port Harcourt.
The plan was always for Obinna to eventually relocate to the U.S. to further his education. In 1993, he moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, to attend Worcester Academy. He joined the school’s basketball team and was astounded by the facilities in America. Back home, he had never played on a wood floor before. “That’s what really blew my mind,” he says. “I saw the wood floor and the gym and I said, oh, now I’m going to make it, because now I have the infrastructure to be able to do well.”
With proper coaching for the first time in his life, Ekezie Sr. — a bruising, 6-foot-10 center — blossomed into a highly sought-after recruit. He accepted a scholarship to Maryland, in large part because the university had a strong engineering program. Under head coach Gary Williams and alongside several future NBA players, Ekezie thrived in College Park. Over a four-year career, he started nearly every game he appeared in, averaging 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds. In both his junior and senior seasons, Maryland finished near the top of the ACC and advanced to the Sweet Sixteen.
The Vancouver Grizzlies selected Ekezie with the 37th pick in the 1999 NBA Draft. He suited up for five different NBA teams over the ensuing six years before pursuing a brief career overseas. He retired in 2007, shortly before his son, Obinna Ekezie Jr., was born in Nigeria.
Through his father, Ekezie Jr. was introduced to basketball right away. “Basketball has been with me since I was born,” he says. The family had a hoop and Ekezie Sr. taught his son the fundamentals. While Ekezie Jr. enjoyed the game, he didn’t take it seriously as a young boy. Infrastructure still lacks in Nigeria, so he wasn’t exposed to a solid youth program. “We have a lot of talent in Nigeria — we just might not have the best resources and infrastructure to develop that talent,” Ekezie Jr. says.
That’s precisely why Ekezie Sr. founded OBN Academy, a state-of-the-art facility in Lagos designed to help young African players untap their full potential and earn scholarships to American colleges. Launched in 2021, the academy features a 700-seat indoor basketball arena and provides year-round instruction from a staff of experts. Ekezie Jr. began training there immediately after the facility opened. “That’s when I started really playing more organized basketball,” he says.
A year later, Ekezie Jr. was on a plane to the States. He enrolled at a middle school in Louisville, Ky., for eighth grade. While exceptionally tall, his skill set still needed significant polishing. For high school, Ekezie moved to Napa, Calif., to attend national powerhouse Prolific Prep, where he teamed with current Kansas star and projected No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft Darryn Peterson. He transferred to Southeastern Prep ahead of his junior season.
Each offseason, Ekezie has competed in camps and showcases to gain more exposure. Ekezie Sr. has also arranged for him to work out with renowned trainer Olin Simplis, known as “The Guard Whisperer,” and numerous NBA players in Los Angeles. Dad has been there for every step of his son’s journey, ensuring he always has access to elite coaching and makes the right moves to advance his career. “It’s therapeutic for me, because where I saw that there were gaps in my career and I thought things could have been better, we’re fixing those things early,” Ekezie Sr. says. “The training is the most important thing. The development is the most important thing. So I’m able to get him into situations where he has the best coaches and the best trainers. That’s really the difference.”
Ekezie Sr. constantly stresses the importance of staying humble and continuing to improve. “This is an ongoing process,” he’ll tell his namesake. “You are never a finished product.”
In private father-son workouts, the two often go head to head. “I bust his ass all the time,” Ekezie Jr. says with a chuckle. “I’m a lot more athletic than he is, a lot better shooter. I feel like I’m just better than him. But he was a great player.”
Of course, Ekezie still has ample room for growth, particularly when it comes to his offensive game. He also needs to get stronger to contend with physical bigs at the next level. But at 17 years old, it is clear that he has the potential to do as his father did three decades ago: flourish in college and make it to the NBA.
At the conclusion of the BWB Camp, everyone convened for a short awards ceremony. Ekezie was named one of 10 All-Stars and crowned the Defensive MVP. For the latter, he received a glass trophy adorned with the NBA and FIBA logos. He posed with it in front of a BWB backdrop surrounded by all the camp coaches, including Hopson, Danilo Gallinari, Vlade Divac and Sasha Vujacic. About a dozen or so photographers and journalists stood before them to capture the moment.
And there, right smack in the middle of the group, was Obinna Ekezie Sr., snapping pictures on his phone with a smile on his face.
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