This article is part of The Athletic’s series marking UK Black History Month. To view the whole collection, click here.
Tosan Evbuomwan has swapped Newcastle for New York and soccer for basketball. The first decision, to change sports at 14, has proved inspired.
A decade on, Evbuomwan has signed a two-way contract for the New York Knicks for the 2025-26 season where he will play at Madison Square Garden, an arena he considers basketball’s “Mecca”.
According to Hoopsfix, ahead of the 2024-25 season, he was one of only nine players who were born and developed in the UK to have made it to the NBA. Some achievement for a player who had not played a basketball match in an organised form until he was a teenager at Royal Grammar School Newcastle.
Evbuomwan was soon snapped up by local side Newcastle East Griffins following a schoolboy tournament. Within a year, he was invited to an England camp.
The NBA is a world away from his upbringing in the north east of England where he excelled at soccer, to the extent that he was part of Newcastle United’s academy from the age of seven to 11.
“We had a football goal and a basketball hoop in the garden, but I never used the hoop,” says Evbuomwan.
“Football in the UK is so cutthroat, that’s why it’s at such a high level, but it’s not always best for the kids.
“That was just never for me. I love to compete and play at the highest level, but at that age, sport was always about enjoyment and it was never about making it and becoming a pro. If I didn’t enjoy it, that was it.
“I used to dread going to games — and gamedays. I would get so nervous and I’m not a nervous person. I’m usually quite good under pressure but I would be scared to make a mistake. At that point, it wasn’t a career thing, so as soon as the enjoyment factor went it was like: ‘Why am I doing this?’.
“I will never forget the day we went in to tell them I was leaving. People and parents were shocked. As soon as my parents and I left the office, I remember telling them: ‘I feel so free. I’m free’.”
The New York Knicks’ Tosan Evbuomwan, wearing No 20, drives to the basket against the Washington Wizards during an NBA preseason game earlier this month (Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE via Getty Images)
Evbuomwan’s departure from Newcastle’s academy freed him to pursue sport for fun. He quickly embraced basketball as the perfect opportunity.
The sport became a playground trend, with Evbuomwan and friends sparking a lunchtime exodus from football.
It was clear he had something. Thrust into competition against older, stronger and more experienced players, his first England camp was a shock to the system. The second was not.
“The first time I got selected for an England camp, I hated it,” says Evbuomwan. “I felt so out of my depth but I kept playing and got better pretty quickly. By the time the next call-up came, I had improved a lot. I felt like I belonged.”
At FIBA’s (basketball’s international governing body) Under-18 European Championship in Latvia in 2018, he excelled for Great Britain. America noticed.
College scouting platform DraftExpress made contact on Instagram with an offer to help navigate the notoriously difficult National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recruiting process.
“I was like: ‘Why not? let’s just see what happens’,” Evbuomwan recalls. “My coach, Ian MacLeod, emailed schools for me and Princeton was one of the ones that got back.”
Evbuomwan was whisked out to the historic campus an hour outside of New York for an official visit.
He remembers walking into Princeton’s Jadwin Gymnasium for the first time. “I couldn’t believe the resources, I was blown away,” he says.
“I was greeted by three shooting machines when I walked in the door. I found out that every middle school in America has at least one of them. I can count on my hand how many there are in the UK!”
By the end of his third year at Princeton, he was Ivy League Player of the Year. Twelve months later, he played a leading role in Princeton’s first appearance in the NCAA’s March Madness Sweet 16 since 1967.
Evbuomwan, left, in action for the Princeton Tigers in the Sweet 16 round of the 2023 NCAA men’s basketball tournament (Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
“It was a bigger deal to everyone else,” he says. “We don’t grow up on the tournament the way these guys (his team-mates) did. I didn’t appreciate the scale of it, the fact that everybody across the country watches it, in school, in work — it’s a massive moment.”
Princeton upset No 2 seed Arizona and No 7 seed Missouri, before losing to Creighton in the round of 16, but small forward Evbuomwan was on the NBA’s radar.
Evbuomwan impressed and declared for the 2023 NBA Draft, eventually signing a free-agent contract with the Detroit Pistons, although he was waived not long after.
Following his first free agency deal, Evbuomwan has moved between a number of G League and NBA rosters. It was while on a 10-day contract with the Memphis Grizzlies that he could finally call himself a bona fide NBA player, walking out under the bright lights of the FedEx Forum to play 16 minutes against the Golden State Warriors in a 101-121 loss in February 2024.
There was a 10-day contract with the Pistons next, followed by a spell with the San Diego Clippers, the LA Clippers’ G League affiliate. Evbuomwan’s cross-country adventures weren’t done there. He signed a two-way contract with the Brooklyn Nets in January 2025.
A closely contested game against the Utah Jazz went on to become the setting for another NBA milestone: a career-high 22 points for the Nets, outscoring each of his team-mates in the process.
Thousands of miles away, the north east of England celebrated. A thread popped up on Newcastle United’s subreddit to share the news and appreciate the former academy player. One comment brimmed with hometown affection: “Love this. 22 points and went to Princeton to boot. Howay the lad.”
Unfortunately, for these Geordies, Evbuomwan’s football allegiance was claimed by another team.
“Obviously a lot of people hate the fact that I’m a Manchester United fan,” he says, “but that’s my mum’s influence.”
Evbuomwan, playing for the Nets, attempts to guard LA Lakers superstar LeBron James in January 2025 (Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
That guiding hand has been central to Evbuomwan’s ambitions. In 2012, his mother Michelle died from breast cancer and he wears the No 20 on the court as a tribute to her March 20 birthday.
She had been one of Nigeria’s first female pilots, flying relief planes for the Red Cross and even taking the helm on flights carrying Nelson Mandela. “She was an amazing woman who continues to inspire me and others to this day,” says her son.
Now it is Evbuomwan who wants to set the example — for the good of British basketball.
“A lot of what I hope to do is to help inspire the younger generation at home,” he says. “I know how hard it is to make it. There are a few Brits in the league now. Hopefully we can be a beacon.”
On this front, there is hope. On September 17, the UK government announced a joint funding commitment with the NBA centring on a £10million investment intended to “elevate basketball” in the country.
“We have real potential in the UK and that deserves to be given a chance,” Evbuomwan says.
“I wanted to be an NBA player, which I can now say I’ve done. Being here is something I have to earn everyday. It’s never guaranteed.
“There’s 60 draft picks, plus free agents, so probably 100 people coming in each year. That means there are 100 people losing their jobs each year. It’s a never-ending cycle.
“You can never take your foot off the gas and I’m not stopping now.”