D
onavan Freeman was first introduced to the idea of playing for the Bahamas National Team in April at the McDonald’s All-American game. VJ Edgecombe, a Baylor commit and five-star recruit, was already set to attend a four-day training camp held in Houston in June.
The Bahamas was looking to compile its best-ever roster ahead of its final qualifiers for the 2024 Paris Olympics in Valencia, Spain. Edgecombe didn’t want Freeman to miss out on the opportunity.
Freeman listened intently to the pitch. That same week, Bahamas general manager Lynden Rose spoke with Freeman’s agent, Keith Stevens, and his father, Dedglan Freeman, about the endeavor. Initially, Freeman was intrigued, yet remained hesitant. He would have to miss the first portion of summer practices at Syracuse.
Two weeks before the training camp started, Rose along with Bahamas head coach and current Golden State Warriors assistant, Chris DeMarco, followed up about Freeman’s availability. Freeman continued to push it aside.
Four days before the camp started, Stevens asked Freeman one final time if he wanted to go to Houston. This time, Freeman agreed.
“I couldn’t turn down an experience like that,” Freeman said.
Ahead of his much-anticipated freshman season at Syracuse, Freeman spent two weeks in the summer trying to help the Bahamas qualify for the Olympics. Behind NBA players like Deandre Ayton, Eric Gordon and Buddy Hield, Freeman’s role was limited and the Bahamas fell one game short of its goal.
Still, the experience was invaluable as Freeman gathered every bit of information he learned and took it back to SU. Now, Freeman — the No. 15 recruit in the 2024 class, SU’s highest since Carmelo Anthony — looks to use that knowledge as a springboard to a successful freshman campaign.
Freeman’s Bahamian roots run deep. His mother, Darshelle Freeman, grew up in the Bahamas before attending Saint Augustine University in Raleigh, North Carolina. There, she met Dedglan and the two moved back to the Bahamas. When Freeman was 4, they decided to start a new life in the United States, moving to Waldorf, Maryland.
Basketball wasn’t in the picture for Freeman until he was in third grade. He started learning the ins and outs while playing at the Temple Hills Community Center. As a lanky and uncoordinated kid, Freeman initially struggled.
“We used to keep tabs of how many times he would fall when he first started playing basketball,” Dedglan said.
Over time, Freeman grew more comfortable. He started playing AAU for New World in middle school and was selected to play for the Premier Youth Basketball League — a showcase league in the DMV area. There, Freeman was discovered by Team Takeover, a national AAU powerhouse.
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Freeman went from a more back-to-the-basket center to a dynamic wing player who could put the ball on the floor and shoot. The skillset, combined with his 6-foot-9 frame, garnered attention from Power Four schools around the country. Syracuse was among the first to offer Freeman in 2021, along with Maryland, Georgetown and Virginia Tech. Unbeknown to Freeman, it wasn’t just colleges keeping tabs on him.
Mychel Thompson first heard about Freeman in 2022. Thompson, the brother of four-time NBA Champion Klay Thompson, had become an assistant coach with the Bahamas National Team, tasked to scout young Bahamian players around the U.S.
Paolo Zamorano, an NBA agent, contacted Thompson to let him know Freeman — then a sophomore in high school — was possibly Bahamian. Thompson and others involved in Bahamas basketball attempted to contact Freeman but never got through.
Since Freeman was just 16 at the time, he wasn’t a top priority. Though, Thompson still monitored Freeman. He watched him commit to Syracuse in May 2023 and blossom from a top-60 prospect into a consensus five-star recruit and potential NBA lottery pick.
With Freeman transferring to IMG Academy for his senior season and dominating in the Nike EYBL Scholastic, Thompson and others ramped up their interest. The week of the McDonald’s All-American Game, representatives from the Bahamas National Team aggressively pushed for Freeman to join them.
Edgecombe, who played for Long Island Lutheran and competed against Freeman in the Nike EYBL, continuously nudged him. Eventually, things fell into place and Freeman came aboard.
“There’s not that many talents in the world like that at that age so I was excited to see that potential in person,” Thompson said.
“We don’t have anyone like that. Most teams probably don’t,” DeMarco added.
Twenty-four players arrived at the University of Houston’s campus to compete for 12 spots. Freeman took things slow, not wanting to look too far ahead. Due to the camp’s limited time, DeMarco said there wasn’t much time on the court for individual development. The main focus was implementing consistent philosophies for players who never played with each other.
As a result, Freeman went out of his way to pick the brains of the professional players and coaches there. Lourawls ‘Tum-Tum’ Nairn Jr., a veteran on the team and the associate head coach at Bowling Green, took him under his wing as the starting point guard.
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Most notably, he immediately built a rapport with Ayton, the former No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft and current Portland Trail Blazers center. They discussed the mindset required to play professionally and strategies for the best ways to stay in shape. Freeman took Ayton’s advice to heart.
“Picking up things from a guy like that, you can’t really put a price tag on it,” Freeman said. “That’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Freeman did his best to impress across the four days of camp. Thompson said Freeman started slightly timid, but gained confidence each practice. He impressed the coaching staff with his shot-making and defensive tenacity. Thompson said Freeman was never afraid to guard the ball and take the challenge of being a defensive stopper.
Five days after arriving in Houston, Freeman was on a plane to Greece for the Bahamas’ tune-up games.
Freeman was always the focal point wherever he played. Despite being the youngest player on the team, he expected to have a large role. Freeman saw minutes in friendlies against Montenegro and Greece, matching up with Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.
When it came to the Bahamas’ qualifiers, Freeman was a benchwarmer. During two group stage games, he played just five minutes, all of which came in the opening game against Finland.
Freeman was blunt when discussing the lack of minutes, saying he was hard on himself. Ayton told Freeman to take things one day at a time and stay engaged.
“As a player, you put so much into the game and on a stage like that, you want to be able to play,” Freeman said. “But everything just is not going to happen like that.”
The staff also worked with Freeman to better his shot selection. At times, he’d take contested mid-range jumpers, but the coaches emphasized pulling the trigger from long range instead.
“He had his moments … I remember the staff talking about how, literally, we saw him get better every day,” Thompson said.
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Freeman’s hard work didn’t result in minutes, however. He didn’t play in the Bahamas’ semifinal win over Lebanon. And all Freeman could do was watch from the bench when the Bahamas fell to Spain on July 7, ending its Paris dreams.
With heartbreak, he didn’t have too much time to sulk. After losing on Sunday, Freeman was back on SU’s campus by Tuesday. Due to FIBA’s slower pace, it took Freeman a couple of weeks to get adjusted to the speed. Physically, though, Freeman fit right in after playing against professionals.
Since getting to campus, Freeman has lived in the weight room with SU strength and conditioning coach Ryan Cabiles. Freeman arrived on campus at 190 pounds. He now weighs 207.
It’s all part of the process for Freeman. This summer set the foundation for him. He got a taste of what it’s like to be a professional. Yet, he remains level-headed about his future. As for being one and done at SU, Freeman put it off.
“The NBA isn’t going anywhere,” Freeman said. “It’ll always be there. So (I’m) just prioritizing my improvement and my development, making that the focal point of everything.”
Freeman applied the same live-in-the-moment attitude to his future with the Bahamas National Team. He’ll be 22 when the Olympics come to Los Angeles in 2028. Ask Freeman about it. It hasn’t crossed his mind yet.
The same couldn’t be said for others. Whether it’s DeMarco, Rose or Thompson, they all share the same sentiment. Freeman will be one of the reasons the Bahamas makes the Olympics for the first time. Whether that happens in four years or further down the line remains to be seen.
“For years to come, he’s going to be a star on the Bahamian national team,” Nairn Jr. said. “We need him to help us get to where we want to go, as far as making the Olympics … his class of guys and himself are going to be able to get us over that hump.”
Photograph Courtesy of SU Athletics
Published on October 24, 2024 at 1:33 am
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