Signed in Japan - Signed with Tokyo United
- Birthdate: 03/19/1991
- Drafted (NBA): 56th pick, 2011
- Pre-draft team: Bakersfield Jam (D-League)
- Country: Nigeria
- Hand: Right
- Agent: Daniel Hazan (Hazan Sports)
| Date | League | Transaction |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 NBA Draft | NBA | Drafted 56th overall by L.A. Lakers. |
| 2011 NBA Draft | NBA | Draft rights traded by L.A. Lakers to Denver in exchange for a 2013 second round pick (#57, Alex Oriakhi). |
| 24th January, 2012 | D-League | Re-acquired by Bakersfield Jam. |
| 1st February, 2012 | D-League | Waived by Bakersfield Jam due to injury. |
| January 2013 | Qatar | Signed for the remainder of the season with Al Shamal. |
| 30th November, 2013 | Estonia | Signed a two week tryout period with BC Kalev/Cramo. |
| 13th December, 2013 | Estonia | Left BC Kalev/Cramo. |
| 5th January, 2014 | Mongolia | Signed for the remainder of the season with SBL Khasiin Khuleguud. |
| 30th October, 2014 | D-League | Designated as an allocated player by Fort Wayne Mad Ants. |
| 1st December, 2014 | D-League | Waived by Fort Wayne Mad Ants. |
| 30th December, 2014 | Estonia | Signed for the remainder of the season with Talliin Ulikool Kalev. |
| 19th February, 2015 | NBA | Draft rights traded by Denver, along with JaVale McGee and a protected first round pick (#26, Furkan Korkmaz), to Philadelphia in exchange for the draft rights to Cenk Akyol (#59, 2015). |
| 7th August, 2015 | Iceland | Signed a one year contract with Keflavik. |
| 28th September, 2015 | Iceland | Signing cancelled. |
| 28th September, 2015 | Finland | Signed a one year contract with Pyrinto Tampere. |
| 9th November, 2015 | Finland | Released by Pyrinto Tampere. |
| December 2015 | Mongolia | Signed for the remainder of the season with Arkhangi Golden East Warriors. |
| 18th February, 2016 | NBA | As a part of a three team deal, draft rights traded by Philadelphia to Houston in exchange for Joel Anthony and a second rounc pick from Houston. |
| 22nd February, 2016 | NBA | Trade voided. |
| 15th July, 2016 | NBA | Draft rights traded by Philadelphia to Cleveland in exchange for Sasha Kaun and cash. |
| 21st September, 2016 | Japan | Signed a one year contract with Kagoshima Rebnise. |
| 1st July, 2017 | Japan | Signed a one year contract with Cyberdyne Ibaraki. |
| 9th August, 2018 | Greece | Signed a one year contract with Kolossos Rhodes. |
| 16th August, 2018 | Greece | Signing cancelled. |
| 28th August, 2018 | Japan | Signed a one year contract with Yagamata Wyverns. |
| 2009 - 2010 | Dodan Warriors (Nigeria) |
| 2010 - 2011 | Kano Pillars (Nigeria) |
| March 2011 - February 2012 | Bakersfield Jam (D-League) |
| July 2012 | Denver Nuggets (Summer League) |
| January 2013 - April 2013 | Al Shamal (Qatar) |
| November 2013 - December 2013 | Kalev/Cramo (Estonia) |
| January 2014 - June 2014 | SBL Becks (Mongolia) |
| October 2014 - December 2014 | Fort Wayne Mad Ants (D-League) |
| December 2014 - June 2015 | Ulikool (Estonia) |
| August 2015 - September 2015 | Keflavik (Iceland) |
| September 2015 - November 2015 | Pyrinto (Finland) |
| December 2015 - June 2016 | Arkhangi (Mongolia) |
| September 2016 - June 2017 | Kagoshima Rebnise (Japan, D2) |
| July 2017 - June 2018 | Cyberdyne Ibaraki (Japan, D2) |
| August 2018 | Kolossos (Greece) |
| August 2018 - present | Yagamata Wyverns (Japan, D2) |
June 29, 2018
Chukwudibiere Maduabum - 54th pick, 2011
Averaged 8.4 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 fouls and 1.6 blocks in Japan’s second division this season. If he hadn’t been drafted, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid, and that is now telling.
June 29, 2017
Chukwudibiere Maduabum - 56th overall, 2011
Has played in some niche leagues since leaving the D-League, which haven’t facilitated development. Athletic, but still underskilled, and no longer young.
June 25, 2011
At #56, the Lakers pick a complete unknown - Chukwudiebere Maduabum, who fortunately is able to go by "Chu Chu," although Adam Silver pronounced his name to sound a lot like "Chuck Berry." (If neither of those nicknames work for you, try "Bumchuck.")
One of the pages of this website that no one ever looks at is the D-League transactions page. There are other D-League transactions pages out there on the internet, including the D-League's own one. But those other pages miss certain transactions, and this site's one does not. It is as exhaustive and as comprehensive about things as I am about anything, an exhaustiveness which, as this post testifies to, is unlimited.
One such overlooked transaction occurred on March the 18th of this year, when the Bakersfield Jam, seeking to replace Kenny Taylor, acquired Bumchuck from the available player pool. Having never ever of the man - and I like to at least know of everybody out there - I spent half an hour looking for anything there was to find about Chukwudiebere Maduabum.
I found absolutely nothing. Nada, nil, zip, zilch. There was absolutely no record of him anywhere, ever. As far as I could tell, Chucky had gotten straight off the plane from his native Nigeria and signed a contract with the D-League. There was nothing to find. Given that Bumchuck went on to total three games, 21 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound and 3 fouls in his time with the Jam, I didn't see any reason look again.
And yet here we are now. This D-League garbage time player is an NBA draft pick.
The ESPN panel are clearly stumped. They have nothing to say about Chu Chu, nothing to show, nothing to discuss other than Stu Scott's mildly xenophobic highlighting of the weirdness of his name. [I realise I did the same just now, but then, I'm mildly xenophobic.] Fran Fraschilla gets as far as "he's 6'9......he's a project.....", before abandoning any further discussion and angrily cursing out GM's for not drafting David Lighty and Ben Hansbrough. No one else has anything to offer, and the Lakers' strange move is moved on from.
The truth is, the Lakers didn't want him either. Instead, they just scored themselves a free pick. The only person to know, see or like anything about Maduabum before he came to the Jam was Masai Ujiri, Denver Nuggets GM. As a Nigerian native himself, and a former head of the NBA Basketball Without Borders Africa program, Ujiri has many African connections. Therefore, despite the complete nothing that Chu Chu has done so far, Ujiri clearly believes there is something to be tapped into. It is he who got Chukwudiebere to America, him who got him into the draft process, him who wanted to sneak him through it so that he could be free to develop his own project. But the Lakers spoiled it by taking him. And so Denver had to trade a future second round pick to the Lakers for Masai to get his boy back.
If the Lakers want Hansbrough or Lighty, as Fraschilla wanted them to, they still can. They can sign them once they go undrafted. But by taking Chuck, and immediately giving him away, they got themselves a free second round pick, a pick which may well be higher, and/or in a better draft. It cost them nothing except a shot at the next four guys picked. It was a shrewd if potentially irrelevant piece of business.
The only slight risk the Lakers faced is of looking bad if Maduabum goes on to become an NBA contributor one day. The Lakers were comfortable with that risk. You can see why.
(Because he's genuinely funny and genuinely flummoxed, Jay Bilas turns to humour. "The Bakersfield Jam. Tough lineup to crack.")
The two previous players to have been drafted in the NBA from the D-League were Mike Taylor and Latavious Williams. Never of them had averaged 0.7ppg the year before. The drafting of Chukwudiebere Maduabum smacks of the drafting of Ejike Ugboaja back in 2006, with one important caveat to consider - it is even more ambitious.