The 31-year-old Washington Wizards center will become the first player of Beninese origin to play on a team representing the continent in basketball. And, as if that’s not enough, his connection to the Caribbean will probably also make him the first NBA player of Jamaican extract in a game of this international magnitude.
Like Evan Fournier who will line up alongside him for Team Africa, the honor may have been a long time coming. Yet, unlike Fournier who actively canvassed for recognition as a “bona-fide African qualified to represent the continent” in this auspicious game, Mahinmi has quietly let his play and work ethic in the NBA do the talking while waiting for the call to represent the continent of his father’s birth. Now, that time has come.
Mahinmi has been to Africa before, in 2017, when he made a pilgrimage of sorts to his father’s country of birth, Benin Republic, as part of his rehabilitation program following multiple surgeries to repair his injured knee. This injury occurred only months after he signed a $64-million, four-year deal—the biggest of his career.
So, on this trip to Africa, among many other stops around the world, Mahinmi sought to solve a problem that had made him headline material after some sections of the Washington media questioned his contract. It was a battle Mahinmi was determined to win, and he did. Still, the 31 games he played for Washington Wizards in the 2016-17 season marked his lowest numbers since the 26 appearances for the San Antonio Spurs in his third season in the NBA. The previous two seasons he was with the Austin Toros in the D-League, perfecting his game.
The least number of games he would play in a season after that was 61. This was a number he reached twice: the first time at Dallas in the 2011-12 season, and then while he was at Indiana in the 2014-15 season.
Last season, with the injury issues of his first season in Washington behind him, Mahinmi made 77 appearances for the Wizards. That jump in numbers followed a period of rigorous work in which the Beninese-French center had to give up some of his favourite food and do extra work with personal trainers in order to lose weight and ensure continuous health. So, Mahinmi is the sort of player who gets down to brass tacks and does what needs to be done to get the result he wants.
He was one of the Wizards’ defensive lynchpins off the bench last season, and he may be expected to reprise that role for Team Africa come Saturday.
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