Basketball - EBBF includes Abdel Nader in the Egyptian national team

CAIRO – 04 February 2018: The procedures have been completed for Abdel Nader, 24-year-old Egyptian basketball player currently playing in the NBA to join the Egyptian national team by Amr Moselhy, member of the Egyptian Basketball Federation board of directors.


Abdel Nader with his team, Maine Red Claws - Abdel Nader official account on Twitter


This move came after Abdel Nader agreed to represent the Egyptian national team for the second phase of the African qualifiers for the upcoming World Cup in China.
Egypt started its journey in the African qualifiers on June 29 in Alexandria alongside Angola, Morocco and DR Congo. Egypt places second in its group behind Angola.

Amr Moselhy met Abdel Nader’s family and got the player’s papers to complete the needed procedures.



Abdel Nader with his team, Maine Red Claws - Abdel Nader official account on Twitter


Nader was born in Alexandria, Egypt and moved to the United States with his family in 1996 at the age of three. He lived in Skokie, Illinois. He speaks fluent Arabic and majored in liberal studies at Iowa State University.

Nader found his passion for basketball early on, as he played for Niles North High School and led them to their first sectional championship. He garnered First Team All-State honors from the Chicago Tribune.

It took a lot of work for Nader’s long-shot dream to come true as he enrolled at Northern Illinois University and appeared in all 31 games, starting in 29 of them. Nader's impressive freshman season earned him a Mid American Conference (MAC) All-Freshman Team honors.


He moved to Iowa State, where he became a professional basketball player. He began to build his confidence by featuring in 32 games, averaging 5.8 points and 2.9 rebounds in 16.4 minutes per game.



In June 2016, Nader was drafted by the Boston Celtics as the 58th overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft. In November 2016, he was acquired by the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League.


With the Red Claws, Nader proved even better than he had been in college or Summer League. Starting 40 games and playing as the focal point for the first time since his Northern Illinois days, he averaged 21.3 points per game on 44.7 percent of shots from the floor.


In April 2017, he was named the 2016–17 NBA Development League Rookie of the Year, becoming the first internationally-born player to be named NBA D-League Rookie of the Year and the third Red Claws player to earn the honor.