Olumide Oyedeji

Professional career

Oyedehi competed in the 1999 and 2000 Nike Hoop Summits before the Seattle SuperSonics picked him 42nd overall in the 2000 NBA draft. Across three NBA seasons, he suited up for 93 games, putting up 1.4 points and 2.1 rebounds per contest. His last NBA appearance came on April 1, 2003, in a loss to the San Antonio Spurs where he recorded no stats.

He later played for Granada in Spain and Shanxi Zhongyu in China. In 2011, he joined the Changwon LG Sakers of the Korean Basketball League, averaging 10.8 points and 15.0 rebounds before being let go. He signed with the London Lions of the British Basketball League in 2015.

National team

Olumide Oyedeji has been part of Nigeria’s senior men’s national basketball team since 1997. He played for the team at the FIBA Africa Nations Cup in 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2011, 2013, and 2015. In 2015, he captained Nigeria to its first AfroBasket title in Tunisia. He earned silver medals at the Africa Nations Cup in 1997, 1999, and 2003, and bronze in 2005 and 2011.

At the All Africa Games, he won bronze in 1999, 2007, and 2015, silver in 2003, and gold in 2011. He also competed in the 1999 FIBA World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Oyedeji is the first African player to appear in every major global basketball tournament, including the Olympics, World Cup, Commonwealth Games, All Africa Games, NBA, EuroLeague, and Asia Championships. He led Nigeria to victory in the 2015 Four Nations invitational tournament in South Africa, where he was named MVP. He retired from the national team shortly before the 2016 Summer Olympics.

FIBA

The FIBA Central Board appointed Oyedeji to the FIBA Players Commission for the 2014–2019 term. His appointment followed his nomination by the Nigerian Basketball Federation. He served under the chairmanship of former Serbian international Vlade Divac. Oyedeji is also a member of the board of the Nigeria Basketball Federation.