Former Detroit Pistons second-round pick James Nnaji has enrolled at Baylor and is immediately eligible to play for the Bears’ men’s basketball team, Jonathan Givony reports — a significant development and unprecedented path to college basketball.
Nnaji, 21, went 31st overall in the 2023 NBA Draft, with his rights going to the Charlotte Hornets as part of a trade. His rights were traded to the New York Knicks in 2024. However, Nnaji never signed an NBA contract, and instead has been playing in Europe, most recently with Yukatel Merkezefendi in Turkey on loan from Spain’s FC Barcelona. He averaged 7.5 and 4.0 rebounds with Yukatel Merkezefendi.
Nnaji and Barcelona — the team he had been with since 2020 — mutually agreed to part ways after the 2024-25 season.
Most recently, he played with the Knicks in the 2025 Summer League.
Nnaji was listed at 6-feet-11 and 226 pounds when he was drafted as an 18-year-old, and Givony lists him as 7-feet and 251 pounds with a 7-7 wingspan currently.
“There was serious steam for Nnaji to work his way into the back end of the first round, so Charlotte moving up to acquire him at No. 31 feels like decent value here,” Kyle Boone wrote of Nnaji when he was drafted. “Nnaji’s measurables in terms of his size and length are impressive and he’s a big leaper who can finish above the rim, though he does present as something of a project for the Hornets.”
Instead, in a wild twist, he’ll end up playing college basketball more than two years after being drafted. Baylor is 9-2 this season and has been without Juslin Bodo Bodo (arm) and Maikcol Perez (ACL), two expected front-court contributors.
