Destiny Usman Garuba Alari (born 9 March 2002) is a Spanish professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

of the Spanish

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

and the

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

. Listed at , he plays at both the

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

positions. Garuba was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain to Nigerian parents and joined the youth academy of

at age 11. In 2019, when he was 17 years old, he became the youngest starter in Real Madrid history. In the 2020–21 season, Garuba was named

EuroLeague Rising Star The EuroLeague Rising Star in an annual EuroLeague awards, award of the EuroLeague, which is the European professional club basketball system, top-tier level European-wide professional club basketball league, that is given to the player the EuroLe ...

and ACB Best Young Player. He earned

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

(MVP) honors at the

2016 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2016 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 30th edition of the FIBA U16 European Championship, European Under-16 Basketball Championship. Sixteen teams participated in the competition, held in Radom, Poland, from 12 to 20 August 2016. Bosnia ...

at age 14. In the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. The NBA draft returned to Brooklyn after 2020 NBA draft, the pre ...

, he was selected by the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

with the 23rd overall pick.

Early life and youth career

Born in Hospital 12 de Octubre in

, Garuba was raised in the neighborhood of Villaverde Bajo (Madrid) and the municipality of

Azuqueca de Henares Azuqueca de Henares is a municipality located in the province of Guadalajara, Castile-La Mancha, Spain. According to the 2013 census ( INE), the municipality had a population of 34,685 inhabitants. The mayor of Azuqueca is José Luis Blanco. His ...

(

province of Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a province of Spain, belonging to the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. As of 2019 it had a population of 258,890 people. The population of the province has grown in the last 10 years. It is located in the centre ...

). He grew up playing

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, his original passion, but switched to

because his exceptional height limited his success in the former sport. Garuba idolized former NBA player

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...

. In November 2011, he joined Escuela Municipal de Baloncesto de Azuqueca (Municipal Basketball School of Azuqueca), where coach and coordinator David Serrano helped him start his basketball career and where he earned the nickname of "La pantera de Azuqueca" ("The Panther of Azuqueca"). In 2013, Garuba joined the lower categories of

. He stood and weighed by the time he was 12 years old. In 2015, Garuba helped his team win the Minicopa Endesa, an under-14 Spanish club tournament. He debuted by posting 24 points and 16 rebounds in a win over

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

. In the following year, Garuba led Real Madrid to another Minicopa title and was named MVP of the competition. He averaged 22.8 rebounds per game in the tournament, grabbing 32 against

Joventut Badalona Club Joventut Badalona, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional basketball club based in Badalona, Catalonia, Spain, playing in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup. Known to their fans as ''La Penya'' (in English, ''The Club''), it is one of only two team ...

in the final. In February 2018, Garuba gained his first Adidas Next Generation Tournament (ANGT) experience with the Real Madrid under-18 team at the Munich qualifying tournament, after missing the previous edition with a quadriceps injury. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team, despite being one of the youngest participants. In the final tournament, Garuba averaged 12 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and was named ANGT Rising Star. In January 2019, he was named MVP of the ANGT Munich tournament after averaging 16.5 points, seven rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Garuba helped Real Madrid win the final tournament and joined MVP

Mario Nakić Mario Nakić (; born 14 June 2001) is a Serbian professional basketball player for Partizan Mozzart Bet of the Basketball League of Serbia (KLS), the ABA League and the EuroLeague. Early life and career Nakić was born in Belgrade, Serbia, FR Yu ...

on the All-Tournament Team.

Professional career

Real Madrid (2017–2021)

In the 2017–18 season, Garuba played for Real Madrid B, the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

for Real Madrid in the

Liga EBA The Tercera FEB, formerly known as Liga EBA (''Liga Española de Baloncesto Aficionado''), is a Spanish basketball championship that is the fourth tier level in the Spanish basketball league system, after the Liga ACB, Primera FEB and Segunda FEB ...

, the fourth-tier league in Spain. In 11 games, he averaged 11.1 points, 9.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. In the 2018–19 season, he continued to primarily play for Real Madrid B, averaging 14.6 points, 12.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 blocks per game over 22 Liga EBA appearances. On 28 October 2018, at 16 years and seven months of age, Garuba debuted for Real Madrid in the

, the first-tier league in Spain, against Miraflores. He became the youngest

in ACB history, surpassing José Ángel Antelo, and the third-youngest Real Madrid debutant, behind

Luka Dončić Luka Dončić ( ; ; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since his rookie season, he has been selected to five NBA All-Star games and fiv ...

and Roberto Núñez. In the 2019–20 season, Garuba became a full-time member of Real Madrid's senior team. In his season debut against

, at 17 years, six months and 19 days of age, he eclipsed Dončić as Real Madrid's youngest-ever starter. On 29 September, Garuba recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds in a win over

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

to become the youngest player with a

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the ter ...

or 10 rebounds in ACB history; Dončić had previously held both records. He was also the second-youngest player to post an efficiency rating of 24 in the ACB, behind only

Ricky Rubio Ricard Rubio Vives (born 21 October 1990) is an inactive Spanish professional basketball player. He became the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish Liga ACB on 15 October 2005, at age 14. Rubio made his EuroLeague debut on 24 October 2006 ...

. On 30 October 2019, Garuba made his

debut, recording 12 points, four rebounds, three steals, and a Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 20, against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. He finished the season averaging 4.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 0.7 blocks in 15 minutes per game in the ACB and EuroLeague and was an ACB All-Young Players Team selection. On 22 December 2020, Garuba recorded 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and 25 PIR in a 91–62 win over

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Uber Arena and c ...

. On 18 April 2021, he posted 14 points and 12 rebounds in a 101–92 victory over Joventut Badalona. Garuba won the

ACB Best Young Player Award ACB Best Young Player, previously known as the ACB Rising Star award from 2005 to 2013, is an award for the top-tier professional basketball league in Spain, the Spanish ACB League. The award has been given since the 2004–05 ACB season. Curr ...

and was named to the ACB All-Young Players Team for his second straight season. On 29 April, he recorded a career-high 24 points, 12 rebounds and 30 PIR, leading Real Madrid to an 82–76 win over

Anadolu Efes Anadolu Efes Spor Kulübü, commonly referred to as Anadolu Efes or simply Efes, is a Turkish professional basketball team based in Istanbul. Founded in 1976, the club was formerly known as Efes Pilsen until 2011. Efes is the 2021–22 EuroLeagu ...

in game 4 of the EuroLeague Playoffs. Garuba earned

honors after averaging 3.9 points and four rebounds per game in the competition.

Houston Rockets (2021–2023)

In the

, he was drafted by the

with the 23rd overall pick during a run in the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. He made his

2021 NBA Summer League The 2021 NBA Summer League was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the campus of University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The summer league c ...

debut in a 92–76 loss versus the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

where he went scoreless along with six rebounds and one steal. On 16 August, he officially signed his rookie contract. On 5 October, he made his preseason debut off the bench against the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

in a 125–119 loss with five points and a rebound in six minutes of action. On 26 January 2022, the

announced that Garuba had undergone successful surgery to repair his fractured left wrist and was expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks. On 8 July 2023, Garuba was traded to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

in a five-team trade. Four days later, he was traded once again to

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

alongside

TyTy Washington Jr. Tyrone Lewis "TyTy" Washington Jr. (born November 15, 2001) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA), on a two-way contract with the Valley Suns of the NBA G League. He played ...

Rudy Gay Rudy Carlton Gay Jr. (born August 17, 1986) is an American former professional basketball player. A forward, he played college basketball for the UConn Huskies before being selected eighth overall in the 2006 NBA draft by the Houston Rockets, ...

and a 2026 2nd round pick in exchange for

Patty Mills Patrick Sammie Mills (born 11 August 1988) is an Australian ( Kokatha and Dauareb-Meriam) professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Mills was born and raised in Canberra, and is ...

and on 21 August, he was waived by the Thunder.

Golden State Warriors (2023–2024)

On 25 September 2023, Garuba signed a two-way contract with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

and their

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...

affiliate, the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior to ...

and on 14 April 2024, he signed a standard contract with Golden State.

Return to Real Madrid (2024–present)

On 20 August 2024, Garuba returned to

, signing for three years. In September 2024, Garuba suffered an injury to his left foot.

National team career

Junior national team

Garuba made his junior national team debut for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the

Radom Radom is a city in east-central Poland, located approximately south of the capital, Warsaw. It is situated on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship. Radom is the fifteenth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest in its province w ...

, Poland. He was named MVP after leading his team to a gold medal and averaging 16.3 points, 12.4 rebounds, and a tournament-leading 2.9 blocks per game. A 14-year-old and the second-youngest player in the tournament, Garuba became the first player from a lower age group to ever win MVP at the event. After recording 15 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks in the final against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, he joined

Dario Šarić Dario Šarić (; born 8 April 1994) is a Croatian professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He also represents the senior ...

and

as the only players in history with a

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

in the final of the tournament. In the summer of 2017, Garuba was unable to return to national team duty because he was recovering from a knee injury suffered earlier that year. At the

2018 FIBA U16 European Championship The 2018 FIBA U16 European Championship was the 32nd edition of the Under-16 European Basketball Championship. The competition took place from 10 to 18 August 2018 in Novi Sad, Serbia. Sixteen (16) teams are participating, including 2017 Divisio ...

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

, Serbia, he averaged 16.3 points and 12.3 rebounds per game and led Spain to a silver medal, earning a spot on the All-Star Five. Garuba helped Spain win a gold medal at the

2019 FIBA U18 European Championship The 2019 FIBA U18 European Championship was the 36th edition of the FIBA U18 European Championship. The competition took place in Volos, Greece, from 27 July to 4 August 2019. Participating teams * * * * * * ''(Automatically qualified as hos ...

Volos Volos (; ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the capital of the Magnesia (regional unit), Magnesia regional unit of the Thessaly Region. Volos ...

, Greece, joining his teammate and MVP Santi Aldama on the All-Star Five after averaging 15.6 points, 12.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game.

Senior national team

In 2021, Garuba played on

Spain men's national basketball team The Spain men's national basketball team () represents Spain in international basketball competitions. They are managed by the Spanish Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Spain. Spain is the current European champion. Sp ...

at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan which were delayed by one year due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. While there, he was drafted as the 23rd overall pick by the

during the

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 24 , , 2 , , 10.0 , , .432 , , .250 , , .714 , , 3.5 , , .7 , , .4 , , .5 , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 75 , , 1 , , 12.9 , , .486 , , .407 , , .617 , , 4.1 , , .9 , , .6 , , .4 , , 3.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 6 , , 0 , , 3.0 , , .167 , , .000 , , .500 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , .2 , , .5 , , .5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 105 , , 3 , , 11.7 , , .467 , , .363 , , .625 , , 3.8 , , .8 , , .5 , , .4 , , 2.6

Personal life

Garuba's parents are from

Benin City Benin City serves as the Capital city, capital and largest Metropolitan area, metropolitan centre of Edo State, situated in Nigeria, southern Nigeria. It ranks as the List of Nigerian cities by population, fourth-most populous city in Niger ...

, Nigeria but left to escape conflict in their hometown. After initially moving to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, they settled in Madrid in the 1990s without

work permit A work permit or work visa is the permission to take a job within a foreign country. The foreign country where someone seeks to obtain a work permit for is also known as the "country of work", as opposed to the "country of origin" where someone ho ...

s. His father, Mustapha, works for manufacturing company

Bimbo ''Bimbo'' is slang for a conventionally attractive, sexualized naive woman. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish man. As of the early 21st century, the "stereotypical bimbo" appea ...

, and his mother, Betty, works for the Azuqueca employment program. Garuba has one younger brother, Sediq (b. 2004), and a younger sister, Uki (b. 2010).

References

External links

* * *
Usman Garuba
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

*
Usman Garuba – COE – Paris 2024
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garuba, Usman 2002 births Living people 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup players 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Basketball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2024 Summer Olympics Basketball players from Madrid Centers (basketball) Golden State Warriors players Houston Rockets draft picks Houston Rockets players Liga ACB players NBA players from Spain Olympic basketball players for Spain Power forwards Real Madrid Baloncesto players Rio Grande Valley Vipers players Santa Cruz Warriors players Spanish expatriate basketball people in the United States Spanish men's basketball players Spanish people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople from the Province of Guadalajara Sportspeople of Nigerian descent