David Nwaba

David Nwaba was born in 1993 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Theodore and Blessing Nwaba, both of whom are of Nigerian origin. David has five other siblings, including his sister Barbara who is a professional heptathlete. Barbara competed at UC Santa Barbara, winning the 2015 and 2016 National Championships title and also competed in the 2016 Olympics. Nwaba played his prep basketball at University High School in Los Angeles, where he was a two-time All-Western League Most Valuable Player honoree and an All-League First Team selection. During his college days at Cal Poly, Nwaba majored in liberal arts with ambitions of becoming an accountant. David's favorite books are the Harry Potter series. Nwaba did not take the most common path to the NBA. The Los Angeles native began his collegiate career as a redshirt at Hawaii Pacific before transferring to Santa Monica College. He spent one season at the junior college and averaged 20.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists on his way to being named Western State Conference South Division Player of the Year. He moved to Division I basketball as a member of Cal Poly starting in 2013-14. Nwaba spent three seasons with the Mustangs and helped the team advance to the NCAA Tournament in his first season. Cal Poly won the Big West Conference Tournament, led by Nwaba's 14.0 points and 4.7 assists per game. The squad also won its First Four game in the NCAA Tournament as Nwaba scored 17 points against Texas Southern. It was Cal Poly's lone appearance in the Big Dance since joining Division 1 in 1994-95. As a junior, he provided 11.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals per contest. He also recorded 16 double-digit scoring games. In his final season, Nwaba scored 20 points three times and had a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds in a February loss to Long Beach State. On Mar. 3 against UC Irvine, Nwaba scored a career-high 25 points to become the 23rd player in school history to hit the 1,000 point mark. He earned All-Big West Honorable Mention with averages of 12.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.3 steals.