Bulls rookie Adama Sanogo hopes time in G League just a step to the NBA
CHICAGO (CBS) -- After leading UConn to the 2023 NCAA college basketball title, Adama Sanogo is now playing in the G League for the Windy City Bulls, hoping it's just a stop on the journey to the NBA.
It has been quite the journey for the 21-year-old center.
Sanogo is like any other player in the NBA G League, trying to show he belongs and earn his way onto an NBA roster.
"I see G League as like a place where to get better, and I mean, to get to the next level. So, like, that's why I take every game serious. I make sure I work on stuff I need to work on," he said.
Just 10 months ago, Sanogo was on top of the basketball world, named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, leading the University of Connecticut to an NCAA national title.
"Anything is possible. There's no way if you told me when I was playing basketball in Mali that I would come to the United States and be an MVP in the NCAA Tournament, I would be like, 'No way. Come on,'" he said.
Sanogo loves basketball now, but growing up in the West African nation of Mali, soccer was his sport.
"By the time I was like 14, 15, I was like six-four, six-five. So every time I go play soccer, people in my neighborhood, even like my neighbor and stuff like that. They were like, 'You are Adama … you should play basketball. This is not your game.' It used to annoy me," he said.
Only a year later, he was playing for the Mali under-17 national team, then came to the United States to go to high school, before ending up at UConn. Now he's in the G League, and already impressing Windy City Bulls coach Henry Domercant.
"He works hard, plays hard. He does some of the little things, and the dirty work. So he's fun to coach, and he's physical. You know, in a league that I think is becoming sometimes less and less physical, he's physical. Also, just he has a nose for the ball, right? He pursues rebounds, and you don't have to call many plays for him, and then you still look up at the scoreboard, and he's like 20 and 10. So it's fun to have those guys," Domercant said.
Sanogo has gotten a small taste of the NBA life, appearing in a few games for the Chicago Bulls. To get the chance to play in the league full-time would mean the world to him.
"It's not just a dream, but I feel like it's just like I'll work for it. You know what I mean? Like, just be out there, and score your first NBA point. It means a lot to me, man. Like, because I really came from nothing," he said. "I personally believe that I can definitely be out there. So I've just got to be patient, and work on my game, and see where life takes me."
With his attitude and talent, life should take Sanogo wherever he wants to go.