The Dallas Mavericks got crushed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night, but garbage time gave Salah Mejri a chance to shine. Playing in just his fifth NBA game, Mejri torched OKC's backups for 17 points on 8-of-9 shooting and nine rebounds in just 25 minutes. That's pretty amazing stuff, even if it came in meaningless minutes.
Meet Salah Mejri, the 7’2 Mavericks big man who lit up OKC in garbage time
A 7’2 big man you’ve probably never heard of just lit up OKC in garbage time. Who is Salah Mejri?
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
But who exactly is Mejri? A 7’2 center out of Tunisia, he isn’t well known and quickly turned heads by draining shot after shot Wednesday. It’s not often in this plugged-in world that someone manages to emerge with a big performance like this largely out of nowhere. Here’s some more information on the Mavericks’ new breakout big man.
He is the NBA’s first Tunisian player
The NBA has had players from dozens of countries. Mejri is the first from Tunisia, the northernmost country in Africa. The nation has a population of roughly 10.9 million people, less than half of the state of Texas, where Mejri now plays his home games. The national sport is soccer and the Tunisian national team has appeared in the World Cup four times. Mejri was born to play hoops, though, considering he's 7'2 and a gifted shooter.
He was a bit player in Spain
Usually the players who make the NBA leap from Europe are elite prospects or big stars. Mejri played for Real Madrid, one of the best teams in the world, but he played fewer than 10 minutes per game. He’s also 29 years old, so you can’t qualify him as a long-term project. This is just a rare example of a bench player from an elite European team seemingly being skilled enough to make the leap to bench player for an NBA team. He did shoot over 60 percent on his limited attempts. Mejri won with Real Madrid, too, earning the rare “triple crown” in 2014-15 by winning the Spanish league, Spanish cup and Euroleague all in the same season.
He’s the star of the Tunisian national basketball team
One of the most impressive accomplishments for Mejri on the court has been turning Tunisia into a competitive international team. From 1975 through 2007, Tunisia failed to earn a medal at a single FIBA Africa Championship. Since Mejri joined the team in 2009, they’ve earned one gold medal and two bronzes. At the 2011 AfroBasket, which Tunisia won by beating defending champion Angola, Mejri earned MVP honors by averaging 8.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game. That booked the team a trip to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where it disappointingly went 0-5 but Mejri still put up impressive block numbers.
He once impressed Kobe Bryant
At least one future Hall of Famer was probably familiar with Mejri before he arrived in the NBA. Back at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Mejri got a little reaction out of Kobe Bryant by slamming down a huge dunk late in a blowout between Team USA and Tunisia.
I believe Kobe was thinking “pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good” right there.
He can play some defense
Mejri is a massive human being and that makes him well-equipped to be a rim protector. During his one-plus seasons in Spain, Mejri averaged a block per game despite his minimal playing time. And in a brief stint with the D-League’s Texas Legends this season, Mejri averaged 8.6 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game. That’s a lot of blocks. Here are some highlights from a big performance against the Oklahoma City Blue back in November:
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