When it comes to African basketball, no country on the continent seems to be rising higher right now than Cameroon.
The Central African country boasts the 2024 NBA Most Valuable Player in Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid and an NBA champion and two-time All-Star in Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam. Embiid believes there is a possible 2025 Rookie of the Year on the horizon from his native country.
His name is Yves Missi, the New Orleans Pelicans center who has been perhaps the NBA’s most surprising rookie. Tonight, there could be a matchup of Cameroonian centers as Missi and the Pelicans play Embiid and the Sixers.
It sounds like Embiid wants to show him who the basketball king of Cameroon is.
“I can’t wait to kick his ass, but I’m happy for him,” Embiid said. “He has a chance to be really good. Right now, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do. But I would also hope that he keeps working on his game because I think there’s way more to come.
“He also has a pretty good chance of also winning that award, Rookie the Year. I’m rooting for him.”
Just four years ago, Missi arrived in Maryland to play prep basketball with no dreams of playing in the NBA. He quickly went from unknown to five-star recruit, starring at Baylor while learning English in the process. The Pelicans drafted Missi with the 21st overall pick in the 2024 NBA draft and he has made an impact from the moment he has played.
Considering his obscure path to the NBA, Missi is still in awe of where he is.
“Sometimes I imagine that this all is just a dream and one day I just wake up I’m in Cameroon and nothing really happened,” Missi told Andscape.
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Missi is averaging 9.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game as a rookie. He is the only player on the injury devastated Pelicans who has played in all but one game. After practice on Jan. 2 in New Orleans, Pelicans president of basketball operations David Griffin surprised Missi and his teammates with the news that he won Western Conference Rookie of the Month honors for December.
In 13 December games, Missi led all rookies in points (146), total rebounds (130), offensive rebounds (63), field goals made (60) and blocks (21). The 6-foot-11, 235-pounder averaged a double-double (11.2 points, 10 rebounds) in December and his six games with at least 10 rebounds were the most among first-year players. Missi also led all NBA players in offensive rebounds in December and his 277 rebounds through his first 33 games are the most by a rookie in franchise history, surpassing Anthony Davis’ record of 251.
“First of all, I was not expecting it. I was getting treatment and I saw everyone get in a meeting. I was kind of confused,” said Missi about getting the news of the award. “Obviously, it’s a great feeling. I want to thank my teammates, the coaching staff and the organization. I’m happy to be in this position.”
While Africa is well-known for producing soccer players, Missi actually comes from a basketball family.
Missi was born in Brussels, Belgium, on May 14, 2004, but grew up with his family in Yaoundé, Cameroon. His parents, Jean Paul and Annette Missi, both played for the Cameroon national basketball team. Yves was a little boy when his brother, Steve Moundou-Missi, starred for Harvard University from 2011-15, becoming a two-time All-Ivy League selection.
“Basketball has always been something in my family,” Yves Missi said. “Even my brother played as well so there always been something familiar in the family and I just picked it up. My brother was good. My parents, according to them, they were super good.”
Former Georgetown guard Joe Touomou, a Cameroon native, helped Steve Mendou-Missi get placed at Montverde Academy (Fla.) before he signed with Harvard. Touomou said that Steve was nearly stopped from going to America because his father preferred that his son study engineering in France. Cameroonian basketball coach Francois Enyegue introduced Touomou to Yves Missi. Touomou was immediately impressed after watching Yves play, then sent him to West Nottingham Academy in Colora, Maryland, in 2021.
“The first thing I told him that he was going to be better and more dominant than his older brother,” Touomou said told Andscape. “One thing I kept telling Yves when he was younger when he was in Cameroon was to come to the U.S. with a killer mentality because that is the only way he was going to be respected in American basketball circles. He kept telling me, ‘Don’t worry. I got you coach.’ ”
What Yves Missi was telling Touomou was quite different than the laid-back mentality he actually arrived with in America. There was no agenda for him other than having a good time. The French speaker had to learn English, was skinny and was raw as a basketball player.
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“My brother and sister came here earlier,” Missi said. “So, I’m the youngest. So, they had the experience before me. My brother played [at] Harvard. I went by myself. I went during COVID, so they couldn’t just come with me and then leave. So, it was just like me out there. Probably the only thing they would care about was how I would react being by myself and not knowing the language as well.
“For me, it was just for fun. I was by myself. New country. New friends. New adventure. It wasn’t like the final goal is the NBA. As the journey started going on, I thought maybe I can do it.”
Missi was better than expected during his lone season at West Nottingham Academy, showing solid post skills and shot-blocking ability. Suddenly a major prep prospect, he transferred to high-profile Prolific Prep in Napa, California, during the 2022-23 season. The five-star recruit was ranked as ESPN’s 13th-best player in the Class of 2023. He signed with Baylor University in 2023 with expectations to redshirt as a freshman.
Missi, however, didn’t sit out and averaged 10.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 23 minutes per game primarily as a starter for Baylor during the 2023-24 season. He said that he didn’t believe he was an NBA prospect entering college, but that mentality changed after posting 11 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots against Duke on Dec. 23, 2023.
“It was like a far dream,” said Missi about the NBA. “Too far to reach and just keep working and hopefully I can make it.”
Missi was ecstatic that his entire family was there to support him during the 2024 NBA draft and at his introductory press conference in New Orleans after not seeing much of them since 2021. Pelicans general manager Bryson Graham said at the introductory presser that he watched Missi play at a practice at Baylor and was impressed with his athleticism, movement and instincts at his size.
On being drafted, Missi said: “I can’t describe it. There was really a lot of emotion. Happiness for sure. Excitement having my family around.”
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Missi showed his potential from his NBA debut with 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks in a 123-111 win over the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 23. He quickly moved into the Pelicans’ starting lineup. Three Pelicans starters — Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Dejounte Murray — have missed much of the season to injury. The Pelicans have the second-worst record in the NBA at 7-31 and several key players are being dangled in trade talks.
But in Missi, there is something to cheer about for New Orleans.
“It’s been a great. I’m trying to get a lot experience,” said Missi about playing for the Pels. “I’m the youngest here. I’m taking advice from the guys here. I make sure I get better each and every day.”
With Missi now on the floor, Cameroon has raised its flag higher in the NBA.
Along with Embiid, Missi and Siakam, Los Angeles Lakers forward Christian Koloko and Toronto Raptors rookie center Ulrich Chomche are also Cameroonian players in the NBA. Former NBA players Luc Mbah a Moute and Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje are Cameroonian, and former NBA star Joakim Noah also has Cameroonian roots. Noah invested in the Basketball Africa League and made an impact on basketball development in the country.
“It’s pretty nice being from Cameroon,” Missi said. “I would never think I would be able to be here [in the NBA] one day. So, I know a lot of guys from Cameroon look up to me. I see texts [messages] and [comments] even on social media. They look out after me. I’m super-excited to be representing.”
Said Embiid: “It’s great. I wasn’t the first one. We had Luc and we had a few guys. So, for those guys to keep coming and continuing with, especially being from Cameroon.”
Missi said he was also previously inspired from words of wisdom he has received from Embiid and Siakam. Missi met Embiid while the latter was playing at prep school in Maryland. Missi also was present when Siakam brought the 2019 NBA championship trophy back to Cameroon and talked to the youth.
“I actually went to school with his big sister at Montverde,” Embiid said. “So, I knew about (Yves) before. And then I had given tickets to my cousin who also went to Baylor with him. So, I knew him for a while, obviously, just knowing his family. His big brother also played at Harvard, but he went to Montverde, so I kind of knew the whole family from before.”
On what Embiid told him, Missi said: “Keep working. If it doesn’t happen, God will find something else and make it happen.”