Patriots Basketball Club have signed American center Kendall Lamar Gray on a short term contract that will see him feature for them in the upcoming playoffs of the local league.
Currently, the competition for the topflight trophy is getting hotter as teams head into the playoffs this month, looking to determine this season’s champion and representative of the country in the 2023 Basketball Africa league (BAL).
The 30-year-old started playing for the national team after processing the necessary paperwork to allow him to do so.
As a Patriots’ player, he is expected to be a key element in their quest to overcome their rivals Rwanda Energy Group (REG) and APR for this season’s trophy.
In this article, Times Sport looks at why he is a good addition to the team and what he brings on the court to support their fight for the championship.
Experience
Gray is an experienced player who has featured for various teams in the United States of America, Africa and Europe.
He played college basketball for Delaware State University, being named the 2014–15 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Player of the Year, becoming the fourth selection in school history to earn the honor.
After going undrafted in the 2015 NBA draft, he signed with Medi Bayreuth of the Basketball Bundesliga in 2015.
In 2016, he parted ways with Medi Bayreuth and was acquired by the Iowa Energy of the NBA Development League, although he did not play for them.
Of recent, he was plying his trade with JS Kairouan in the Tunisian top division league, something that gave him a taste of African basketball as well.
With such experience, Gray is expected to only play well for the Patriots but will also bring good advice to the team mates who will be playing alongside him.
Great defence skills on the court
If you have watched some of the recent matches in which Gray has featured for the national team, you should have noticed how good he is at defence.
He knows how to make timely blocks, plays a physical game, in addition to which he can do some scoring in the paint.
In the first window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers that took place in Dakar, Senegal in March this year, he registered Rwanda's highest efficiency rate (13) in the first two games while contributing 10 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots per game.
Winning attitude
Gray is an ambitious player who loves winning.
An example of this is an interview that he did with the media before the second window of the FIBA World Cup qualifiers, where he stated his dreams of playing at the world cup level with Rwanda.
"[Playing in the World] is a dream of mine," Gray explained. "I have always watched it as a kid, and being in this atmosphere [African Qualifiers for the World Cup),” he said.
"It's a big dream for everybody, especially me. Being able to come to Rwanda, a country that embraces me and gives me the opportunity to put my best foot forward whenever I step on the court," he added.