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Nkwain Kennedy uses social media to spread his skills, work ethic and desire as he tries to fulfill his basketball dreams.

At around 2 a.m. on June 10, just as the Warriors and Celtics were about to start Game 3 of the 2022 NBA Finals in Boston, Nkwain Kennedy reached his phone inside his home near Bamenda, Cameroon. He gets up early then, as he usually does during an NBA season, to catch the game as it takes off halfway around the world.

The glare of his phone pierced the darkness of his house as he browsed through the latest notifications. For a man with more 1.4 million followers of TikTokAnd the 103 thousand on InstagramThere is usually very little. However, it caught his attention in particular immediately. Overnight, he gained a new follower: Steve Curry of the Golden State Warriors.

“At first I thought it was a fake account. I thought it was kind of a joke,” Kennedy told me on a phone call in early August.” For context, Curry follows nearly 46 million accounts, while only 990 follow himself. Something about Kennedy The 21-year-old aspiring basketball player has caught his eye.

Kennedy was known online for his intense workouts, unassuming setups—often on dull mud pitches or in a room with a dirty floor—and a makeshift nature—pushing rusty tires and press stones. In his videos, the local kids act like human resistance teams, pulling him back as he dodges up and down the playground. Friends participate in rehearsals, using sticks to try to get the ball out from under Kennedy’s gloved hands.

While Curry is the most prominent supporter of Kennedy, others include coach Phil Handy of the Los Angeles Lakers and Johnny “Dribble2much” Stephen, Chris Paul’s ball-handling coach. Kennedy says he values ​​all of his followers, but at the end of the day, he hopes for something more than just likes on social media: a chance in the NBA.

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While finding a path to professional basketball is daunting, Kennedy’s training situation is dangerous. For the past five years, the English-speaking parts of Cameroon (where Kennedy belongs) have rebelled against the French-speaking government. Some fights are taking place near Kennedy’s hometown, and next to the court where he trains is a military base: “Parents do not allow their children to come there. There can be [military] Encounters.” In one of the videos he sent me, Kennedy shot hoops one minute but ducks out of shooting the next.

“I’d rather talk about basketball,” Kennedy told me, so I focused on asking him about the players he’s trying to imitate. He launched a huge number of All-Stars leagues, and at the same time broke their strongest contributions to the game he loves. “I watch Ja Morant and I love the sport he brings. Westbrook: Speed. Kyrie: Good handles. Steve: Shooting. LeBron: IQ. Chris Paul: Point to God.”

While watching the game movie, which he does daily, Kennedy identifies certain aspects of the game that he can learn to include in his own. “She might be 7ft, but I still steal something from what you’re doing,” said Kennedy, who is 6-foot-1. “My main question is not exactly how to do this step. I want to know what [the player] To get to that level – so take a look at the NBA or FIBA ​​coaches he’s worked with. Then I try to follow each breakdown, little by little, on their Instagrams,”

I asked Kennedy for his thoughts on Jimmy Butler, from my hometown of the Miami Heat. He immediately jumps into Butler’s life story, highlighting the cruelty of it all (Butler was kicked out of the house at age 13, and went to junior college before he got a chance at D1 basketball). Kennedy sees some of the same perseverance in himself: “I’m trying to take everything that happens to me here, and turn it into something positive.”

Every Kennedy day begins around 7 a.m. After helping his parents with the chores, he leaves for a 25-minute trip to a clay playground marked by his videos. There, he will train for three to four hours a day, often asking passersby to film videos that he will upload to social media. Later, he heads to a makeshift gym for 1.5 hours of weight work, finishes the day with dinner, responds to DMs, and of course, a game movie.

I asked Kennedy what his parents thought of his collar dreams. At first, they did not agree at all. Parents in Africa want their children to go to school and become a doctor, nurse or engineer. What about their thoughts on his popularity on social media? “They don’t know anything about it. I just keep it low. I just want everything to be a surprise for them.”

He told me that one of the most difficult parts of Kennedy’s climb was the lack of a coach who could provide clear direction. “I’m looking for that bold next step. All I’ve done up to this point is all on my own. No one is built like that in basketball. The best players are always looking for coaches.”

While followers from around the world often send him tips and corrections about his training, visualizing the next step is difficult without guidance from a mentor. For people who want to become doctors, the future is clear. You can get there. But with basketball, there is a less clear future because there are no scouts coming in,” he said.

However, this is starting to change as the popularity of basketball in Africa continues to rise. In 2017, the NBA launched the NBA Africa Academy to develop young talents from the continent. Two years later, the Basketball Africa League (BAL) was jointly established by the NBA and FIBA, with NBA legend Dikembe Mutombo, of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as an investor. In the NBA, two of the top players, Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam, are from Cameroon.

“Millions of children in Africa are more excited because they see their brothers get their shot,” Kennedy said, “In the coming years, I think basketball will rival football in Africa.”

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While finishing the conversation, I asked Kennedy about the elephant lurking in the room: What if he didn’t get a real chance? Was all that time he spent working on his jump shot—and building his social media presence—was for nothing? He said no, because kids from all over Africa watching his videos might still be learning something. “I don’t want a kid to look at what I do and be excited about playing basketball. I just want them to see my consistency and passion, and put it in whatever dream they pursue.”

While he politely laughed at my theories, there is no doubt that Kennedy sees an opportunity to prove his worth not as a matter of “if,” but “when.” He said, “For me, it’s not about waiting. If someone from Europe calls me tomorrow, how prepared will I be when that shot comes? That’s one thing I keep in my mind every day.”

The way he sees it, weirder things have happened, like the basketball star he follows on Instagram. For Kennedy, whose videos date back years, Carey’s remark provided a sense of validation for all the work he did. Kennedy said, “I’m a kid from Africa – if someone of that capacity can watch my videos and think ‘m worth watching, that means I’m on the right track.”