Your George Mason Patriots have brought in Baylor center James Nnaji, a seven-footer.
I will address the elephant in the room early. James was drafted 31st in 2023, where he was definitely a real candidate to go in the first round. Nnaji played in summer league, and then went back overseas. The seven-footer played professionally instead of coming stateside to play in college when he was freshman-aged and then manually entered the draft, which means that until the last three seasons, he would have been ineligible.
Nnaji played with Barcelona in the EuroLeague and the top Spanish basketball league from the 2021-22 season to 2023-24, then went to a team in the same league, Girona, for the 2024-25 season, before moving onto a Merkezefendi in the top Turkish league in the same season. Then he then came to the states to play at Baylor.
The seven-footer had a couple of things working against him at Baylor. For one, he joined the team during winter break and played without much practice time. That team chemistry you build over the summer and fall is so important.
Second, Baylor was bad and disorganized, which is pretty crazy for a Scott Drew coached team, considering there are still players playing who were in the NCAA when they won a championship. Tounde Yessofou is one of the more ball-stoppy/low feel players I have ever seen on both ends. This team had the lowest assist rate by a Drew-coached Baylor team since 2011, they just did not play team basketball.
Pretty much, there are two major factors working against a guy who is primarily a play-finisher, both of which affect the team’s ability to have him finish plays. There is a lot of fog of war here.
It also cannot be ignored that Nnaji is Nigerian, as is Tony Skinn.
James Nnaji By The Numbers
James averaged 1.4 points, 2.1 rebounds, .3 blocks, and .3 steals in 8.2 minutes per game at Baylor.
I am going to believe that those numbers are real. It is not impossible that he has grown since then, as Nnaji was 18 at the time of those measurements.
His closest size comparisons are Duke/Suns Mark Williams and Arizona/Hawks Christian Koloko, Williams being 7’0 barefoot (James 7’0 in shoes) with a 7’6.5 wingspan, 9’9 standing reach, and weighing 242 pounds compared to Mason’s newest guy in the 250 ballpark at Baylor. Koloko was 6’10.75 shoeless, which is probably nearly exactly what Nnaji is, with a 7’5.25 wingspan and 9’5 standing reach. Those are some imposing names.
Offense
Nnaji shot 9-13 (69.2%) from the field, all twos, and 8-14 (57.1%) from the line, giving him a true shooting of 66.2%.
Although it is a small sample, I believe the two-point shooting he showed last season is indicative of his true efficiency, as across four seasons of different levels in Europe, the seven-footer shot 69.5% from the field, and took zero threes.
The free throw shooting might actually be an overperformance, as he shot 48.8% from the line in a 172-shot sample in the same stretch. Hack-A-Nnaji could be a viable strategy if that isn’t fixed.
The biggest red flag on this end is the 5.8% shot rate, along with the 10.8% usage rate. I have never seen a shot rate that low. This explains the 29.4% turnover rate, since he only had 8 turnovers on the season. I don’t think that would continue during a full season with a real usage rate.
The below stats are only based on games he played in to get rid of DNPs/strength of schedule messing with the on/off numbers.
There are going to be confounding variables of course, in games where Nnaji played, the offense had an eFG of 45.5% with him on, and 52.3% with him off. This sounds bad, but luckily, the offensive rebounding goes up from 32.8% to 34.9% with him on, per Hoop Explorer’s lineup analysis tool. The free throw rate jumped from 29.9 to 36.7, which is very good.
The turnover rate went from 15.3% to 23.4% with him off vs. on, and the adjusted offensive rating went from 124.3 to 105.7.
Pretty much, if Nnaji is used in the same way and does not make any improvements, he will be an offensive black hole. I do not expect for this to be the case, as Steve Curran has a track record of getting a lot of out of bigs, with all but possibly Haynes having less tools to work with.
Defense
This is where he makes a big difference.
The baseline stats are that James had a 3.5% and 2% block and steal rate, which is solid. He committed 4.7 fouls per 40, which is fine, especially for the few amount of minutes he played. A two-foul stretch in one minute could bump that up.
The rebounding is fine, at 20.6%, which is first on his team, but you would kind of want that higher considering how few minutes he plays. Usually big men who play sparing minutes get incredibly high rebound rates since they can use more energy per minute and pick up an extra foul and it isn’t a big deal because they are only playing 14 minutes today. Kanga was at 26% on defense (the offensive side was the crazy one at 22.9%), and Allenspach was at 18.8%.
I would predict Nnaji ends up in the low 20s in the A10, with the increased minutes and drop down in competition canceling out.
Per Hoop Explorer’s lineup analyzer tool, Baylor gives up an eFG% rate of 50.7% with him on the court, and 55.8% with him off. That is good, but unfortunately the rebounding goes from giving up an OR% of 36.8% to 31.2% with him on vs. off. The biggest plus is that opponents shot 67.9% at the rim with Nnaji off in his games, vs. 58.6% with him on.
James Nnaji Scouting Report (Full Game vs Louisville)
Athleticism
Nnaji looks massive, and moves up and down the court really well. If there is a tubby dude on him, rim-running might be very disruptive.
Offense
The offense is hard to judge because half of the possessions end when Tounde Yessofou gets the ball and decides he’s taking a double-teamed post fadeaway.
There were some perimeter driving flashes, but he mostly sat in the dunker spot. James has gravity as a roller that can get teammates open looks at the rim.
The big man will get into the mix for rebounds he probably won’t get and grab some unexpected boards.
Nnaji missed a post entry pass that would have left to a wide open shot.
The offensive scouting section is pretty short due to his low usage rate. This is more of a mystery box.
Defense
The defensive system looked like a mess. There were a lot of miscommunications on switches, which had some of Nnaji in the action, but also would have some situations where both players were there all season. It looked very disorganized.
The perimeter defense was the most shockingly good attribute I saw. Tounde Yessofou had him switch onto Mikel Brown Jr., the 6th pick in the draft, and the big man had to go under the screen which gave Brown an open three. Nnaji probably had no chance of staying in front of him if he went over the screen, but Mikel is letting it fly on unders.
James had some on-ball reps against him, and did not look significantly worse guarding the NBA PG than Tounde Yessofou.
The seven-footer also guarded Ryan Conwell, the 37th pick in the draft, who is amazing in the pick and roll and takes a gazillion threes, and stayed in front of him.
He did a great job forcing midrange attempts instead of letting them get to the rim or have an open three.
If a guard is inbounding, you can still put Nnaji on them and he can old his own afterwards.
The big man covered a back-door cut attempt well and plays a good center field in the full-court press.
This is the case for a lot of bigs, but when James is in good position, he does very well with rim protection.
Joe time.
James Nnaji Scouting Report (Houston)
Thanks Palmer.
Well Mason Nation, I have to admit, I did not think we’d be talking about an addition to the 2026-27 roster at this point of the year. But, here we are. James Nnaji. Not the name anyone would have expected no?
No matter your thoughts on his eligibility, as it stands he will be a Patriot. And his 7 foot frame will be a welcome addition to a solid, but not super tall, Mason frontcourt.
I watched Baylor’s home game against Houston from this past year, where Nnaji played 17 minutes.
Now, even though he played for Barcelona overseas for four years, it’s very obvious to me that Nnaji is still an extremely raw prospect. That makes sense when you look at his Euroball stats too- not a lot of growth there season to season statwise. He is lanky, he is tall, he needs a bit more muscle, but he’s not nothing.
The defensive side of the ball was significantly better than the offensive side of the ball. On both ends he looked like a 21-year-old playing in a brand new system for only the third time, but he had some instincts on the defensive end. He also showed an ability to guard the perimeter. That wasn’t elite, even for a big man, but his athletic ability was on display defensively.
Nnaji needs to get stronger on the boards (the hope is a mostly full offseason will allow for that to develop clearly) and really upgrade his ability offensively. I think Mason’s slow pace will help with that, but Nnaji looked out of place during many of Baylor’s offensive possessions. I do think his teammates could have done better at getting the ball to him in good areas, or at least throwing it up to him. The one time they did that, he finished for a nice dunk.
There is ability here with Nnaji, it just needs a lot of molding. If he didn’t have that label of “former NBA Draft pick” on him, the talk would be about Mason taking a flyer on an athletic, but raw big man who averaged less than two points per game during Big 12 play last season. If anything, Nnaji coming to George Mason shows that this isn’t a professional chasing more money. This is a soon to be 22-year-old trying to get better and play the game. I think George Mason and this coaching staff can make a player out of Nnaji. But it will take time and I would not expect him to be a starter. Come in with reasonable expectations of his play and let him develop.
Back to you Palmer.
Ratings
James Nnaji was reportedly dealing with recovery from back surgery, so who knows how that affected his game, and how much better he will be in November.
Horizontal Athleticism: 65 – This dude can really move. It is absurd how fast his feet can move. Once you can coach him into moving to the right places, Nnaji is a game-changer.
Vertical Athleticism: 60? – I did not see too much, but I remember him as a draft prospect. He gets up fast.
Shooting: 20 – Nnaji hasn’t attempted a three in the stats I see from 2020 onward. He is also a career sub-50% free throw shooter. There will have to be a complete overhaul to get anything out of the shot.
Driving: 30 – I saw one rep and it was good, I would imagine he would get more reps if that was able to be replicated.
Finishing: 55 – James’ ability to stay in the high 60s low 70s from two in his career is impressive. Maybe the touch at the rim can be a little indicator of some shooting potential.
Screening: 40+ – This has potential to go up, but the screen-setting was bad. I would assume that has a lot to do with him being there for such a short period of time and not having the ball-handler’s timing right. There is no reason such a big and fast dude should be a below average screener.
Passing: 30 – His career high assists per 36 minutes is 1.1. Nnaji is probably just a Ojiako/Emejuru level of passer where when he gets the ball inside, it is either a shot or a turnover, but you can trust very simple perimeter passes. That isn’t the end of the world with a play-finisher, as long as they aren’t getting post touches with no recourse if a double comes. I had it at a 25 but then realized his offensive rebounds always get to the perimeter. Bump it up to 30.
Rebounding: 55 – This lines up with a big dude like him.
Hands: 50 – Didn’t see him get any extra balls or drop any easy passes. You take that from a seven-footer.
Rim Protection: 55+ – He gets a 55 rating from me, and that is not factoring in how much was working against him, which is the plus. The drop in opponent rim efficiency during his minutes is very impressive.
Post Defense: 50? – I saw him guard the post once or twice, but each time it seemed more like an active dribble handoff.
Perimeter Defense: 65 – This is scaled for him being a seven-footer. It is pretty absurd how well he handled going against future NBA guards in Mikel Brown Jr. and Ryan Conwell.
Feel: 35 – There are some instincts on the defensive end but offense is so clunky. That could just be him not being used to this massive frame.
What Does This Mean for Mason?
Before this commitment, Michael Marcus was kind of shoehorned as the backup center. There is a chance he still gets minutes there, but this pickup gives Mason the flexibility to run him at the four if they want.
This is great process for the Patriots. Even if this ends up not working out, getting a lottery ticket prospect when you were prepared to go into the next season without him is amazing. If he works out, sick. If he doesn’t, oh well.
On our podcast, Joe described Nnaji as a Juco style pickup, and I really like that way of thinking. These guys are pretty common on the Juco recruiting circuit, guys who have trouble doing the right things all the time but are absurd athletes. If you can turn them around, you have an awesome big man. If not, you have an energy/hustle guy who plays a couple minutes a night and can step in if Kanga is in foul trouble.
For those who follow Mason recruiting closely, former visitors Larry/Hamed Olayinka and Shahid Muhammad come to mind.
The chances of Nnaji being a significantly better player in Fairfax than Waco is very high. Combine a more organized team, a longer ramp-up time, an offseason with Steve Curran, and being 10 months farther from his back surgery, and a breakout seems likely.
Depth Chart/Rotation
PG – Baraka Okojie, Peyton Miller
Guard – Brayden O’Connor, Lilian Marville
Wing – Efeosa Oliogu-Elabor, Makhai Valentine, Malik Presley
Big Wing – Elijah Jones, Shane Pendergrass, Ryan Preston-Mendy, Bryton Barrett
Forward – Emmett Adair, Michael Marcus
Center – Emmanuel Kanga, James Nnaji
I added big wing as a role since Mason has so many guys who can possibly play the 3 and 4 but not 2 or 5.
My starting rotation is Okojie-BOC-EOE-Adair-Kanga, with Jones being the first guy off the bench, and some version of Valentine, Marcus, Marville, and Nnaji being the rest of the bench unit.
It will be tough to get all 11 veterans plus Pendergrass playing time. Someone who really deserves playing time will most likely get DNPs.
Overall, this insulates the team from Kanga getting two fouls before the U16 severely handcuffing the staff.
