The assignment was simple, a profile on Aaron Gordon, in the midst of a crucial playoff run for the Denver Nuggets, chronicling how the former Arizona Wildcat had found a home in the Mile High City with his squad on the verge of a championship.
It was a story about a player who had once found misery under a glaring spotlight — the perils of being given too much, too soon — only to blossom into one of the league’s best role players.
So who better to interview than his younger teammate, Zeke Nnaji, himself a former Arizona star? Nnaji could talk about what it was like to play in Tucson, to play for Sean Miller, to wear the Wildcat colors, to face tremendous pressure.
Only the start of Nnaji’s NBA career has been nothing like Gordon’s.
And here’s the thing: He knows he may be better off for it.
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It’s the Catch-22 of the transition from collegiate to professional sports.
Display your greatness and potential at one level, get drafted by a terrible franchise at the next. Ask any college player, and they’ll tell you they dream of going top five. Then they wake up a half-dozen years later with a shoe deal and no playoff appearances, and they’ll tell you the juice isn’t worth the squeeze.
Sometimes it’s better to land with a franchise that is fundamentally sound than one that promises instant gratification.
Case in point: Nnaji, the 22nd pick of the 2020 Draft.
Former Arizona Wildcat Zeke Nnaji averaged 5.2 points in 53 games this regular season, but isn’t disgruntled. “A lot of guys aren’t in this position, and I feel like I’m extremely blessed,” he said. “To be able to see what it takes to win a championship is something that will carry with me the rest of my career.”
Unlike Gordon, who started 72 games and played almost 30 minutes per game as a third-year pro at the age of 20, Nnaji has played in 53 games this year, his third, starting five, and averaged just 3.7 shots per game. He’s played in 4 games during this playoff run, scoring all of five points.
His teammates say he has played a valuable role in practice and when called upon, and he’s relished this postseason run, even if he hasn’t seen much time.
“It’s all about making the most of the opportunity you’re given,” he said. “For me, that’s learning from the great vets we have here and the winning culture we have established here. A lot of guys aren’t in this position, and I feel like I’m extremely blessed. To be able to see what it takes to win a championship is something that will carry with me the rest of my career.”
One, he believes, which will be made longer by what he’s gained early in his career.
If not by doing, he says, by seeing.
“I like to learn,” he said. “I like to add to myself and to my game. I know I don’t know everything. Anything I can take away from someone to better myself, that’s something I’ve always taken pride in. You can never be satisfied with where you’re at. You’re either going up or going down.”
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One thing Nnaji loved, he says, is learning under Miller with the Wildcats.
A five-star recruit out of Minnesota, Nnaji was an instant standout for the Wildcats in 2019-20. He scored 20 points in his first game and averaged 16.1 on the season, which culminated with a Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honor.
“I feel like I played really hard in Arizona,” Nnaji said. “I didn’t really play that hard in high school. That’s something that Sean definitely brought out of me. Coach brings out your intensity. He coaches with such passion, and everyone just feeds off that. He really brings that hit-first mentality out of everyone. Now it’s just a part of our games.”
Former UA Wildcat Zeke Nnaji, left, tries to stuff a shot by another ex-Cat, Deandre Ayton, in a March game.
I’d asked him what was something he and Gordon had both learned from their time in Tucson?
“One thing is playing with a chip on your shoulder, taking pride in your defense,” he said. “Playing hard and making sure no matter who you’re going up against, they’re gonna feel you, and they’re gonna understand you’re no pushover.”
He brings that kind of intensity to practice now with the Nuggets, going up against one of the best rosters in the NBA, full of wily veterans — DeAndre Jordan and Jeff Green — as well as a host of stars in Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. and a cast of young players like Peyton Watson and Christian Braun.
“Even from training camp this year, you could just feel a different vibe,” he said. “Especially the vets, DJ and Jeff — the way they helped organize things, the focus we brought into camp. Everything felt different this year.”
But even in the midst of a special season that could have the ultimate conclusion, Nnaji was able to sneak back to his old college haunt for a few days.
And he certainly has reasons to visit.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry drives between Zeke Nnaji, left, and Bruce Brown in a February game.
His younger sister, Maya, is coming off an impressive freshman season for the Arizona women’s basketball team after becoming the highest-rated recruit in program history in 2022. The ninth-rated recruit in the country after scoring 19.5 points and grabbing 8.5 rebounds per game as a senior at Hopkins High in Minnesota, Maya averaged 13 minutes in 28 games for the Wildcats last year.
Nnaji came to watch some of her games, getting a chance to meet with Tommy Lloyd, who has made it clear that he remains an important part of the Arizona family.
“I didn’t want to sway her in any one direction,” Nnaji said of selling his sister on playing for the Cats. “But I could tell when she saw the way the fans embraced me and treated me, she fell in love with that right there. She made up her mind then.”
Chicago Bulls legend, Scottie Pippen, said that his former teammate, Michael Jordan “was horrible to play with."
