Since starring in Zamalek's Basketball Africa League (BAL) win in May, Toronto Raptors center Anas Mahmoud has barely had a moment to blink. It was in Rwanda that the 26-year-old learned of interest from Masai Ujiri, president of the Toronto Raptors. He has only played a bit-part role in the NBA Summer League, but Mahmoud is optimistic about his future.
Furthermore, the seven-foot former Louisville Cardinals prospect is confident that more players will follow him from the BAL to the NBA, having witnessed firsthand how basketball has grown in Egypt -- his home country.
Growing up in Giza, Mahmoud never viewed basketball as a serious career option, instead dreaming of becoming an engineer. However, he was spotted on international duty for Egypt at a young age and moved to West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida, for his senior high school year. From there, he never looked back.
"It all happened right after I played with the senior national team in AfroBasket. We were in Côte d'Ivoire, I believe, in 2013. The head coach of the high school back then, Shaun Wiseman, got in contact with me and asked if I had any interest in coming to the United states," Mahmoud told ESPN.
"At that point, I didn't, because I didn't know much about the United States experience and going to high school and college.
"It was something new that I was introduced to, but as I came back from that tournament and talked a little bit more with him, I saw an opportunity for me to grow and for me also to kind of focus on basketball to become an actual career.
"In Egypt, the pro life wasn't something that we had from a basketball standpoint [at a serious level]. We have soccer pros, but basketball had always been a hobby of mine up until that point."
However, the thrill of competing with players older than him for Egypt and top international players for his high school eventually grew on Mahmoud. When he came to a crossroads between basketball and engineering, there was to be no turning back.
"It was funny, because I always wanted to become an engineer, but I had that tough decision to make coming out of high school. I was also recruited by Georgia Tech -- they have one of the top engineering programmes in the US. I had to sit down with myself and think about it: 'Do I want to go to Georgia Tech, because I want to go to engineering school, or do I want to go to Louisville and choose the basketball career-wise?'
"That's what I did -- I decided I wanted to take my basketball to the next level and that's why I went to Louisville."
However, Mahmoud went undrafted in the NBA in 2018 as his college career wound down. After a brief Summer League stint with the Memphis Grizzlies, he moved back to Egypt, signing for Zamalek.
In some quarters, he is regarded as a late bloomer, but Mahmoud views himself more as a player whose natural game was unlikely to stand out in the college team he was in.
"In Louisville, we were a little bit restricted. We had a system that we had evolved. Maybe the system just didn't show a lot of the stuff that I was capable of doing," he said.
"I think that's kind of why people mistakenly think that the development [in my game] was shown after college. Actually, it was made during college -- it was just never shown because of the way we played in Louisville -- that's what I thought, at least."
All that mattered in 2018 was that Mahmoud was heading back to Egypt, where he would begin his professional career. He did not know what to expect, but was to be pleasantly surprised.
"When I left Egypt in 2014, the basketball community wasn't a big pro-like community. We had a professional league, but it wasn't the best -- it wasn't done correctly. I had been away from it for almost five years when I got back.
"I was excited, definitely, to go back and play professionally, but I wasn't sure how well the pro life was going to go for me there, but I was actually taken by surprise because they made a huge jump in those five years when it comes down to the league.
"The teams are getting so much better and I think it has a lot to do with all the young kids who left to go play in college here in the [United] States and came back at a different level to compete in the league.
"The league was so much better. Teams were more professional and they were bringing in high-quality professional guys to compete."
Competition at the top was stiff in Egypt, but Zamalek ended a 12-year Super League drought in 2019 to qualify for the BAL.
Al Ittihad wrestled the Super League away the following year, while Zamalek lost Terrell Stoglin, who had played a major role in their 2019 title win. COVID-19 postponed the BAL by a year, and although Zamalek's director of basketball operations, Tarek Said Sallman, told ESPN that he was confident of victory when it finally came around, Mahmoud was not so certain.
"I didn't know what to feel. We were coming off of the COVID-19 lockdown. We started the league that season kind of badly. We let our coach go and we got another coach (Augustín Julbe)... before the BAL started. It was kind of hard to imagine us winning at all, honestly," Mahmoud admitted.
"I feel like that's part of the reason why [we won]. It gave us the motivation to get us back on track -- once we got to the BAL and we got it rolling a little bit, our confidence grew."
As it turned out, Zamalek won the inaugural BAL title in Rwanda, beating favourites US Monastir 76-63 in the final. Mahmoud was named BAL Defensive Player of the Year and then doubled up with the MVP award in the Egyptian Super League as Zamalek reclaimed the title. By this time, the Raptors were hard at work trying to secure his signature.
"Right after the BAL, I think I was still in Rwanda when Masai contacted me. The communication kept going all the way until really just a couple of weeks before I got here. I wasn't really sure what route I was going to take."
Mahmoud was eventually swayed by a team that had already captured his admiration in recent years.
"I like the Raptors. I've been following them closely in the last couple of years specifically -- not necessarily growing up, but definitely in the last couple of years. I like the way the organisation handles the goals they try to accomplish. They're definitely one of the most organised [franchises] in the NBA," he said.
Mahmoud's game time has been limited in the Summer League, having been thrown in the deep end with limited preparation, but he is philosophical about his experience so far.
"The Summer League is kind of misleading and everybody knows that, right? You bring in a lot of the guys who don't really know each other and didn't know how to adapt to each other yet and you kind of try to wrap things up at the last minute," Mahmoud said.
"Especially for me, I got here really late -- a couple of days before the Summer League started. I couldn't even get here for the mini-camp. I think I'm doing alright, getting to know the guys and getting to know the systems of what the teams try to accomplish.
"Like I said, the Summer League is kind of misleading, because sometimes, you're not going to look your best just because other people around you don't really know how to help you look better.
"At the end of the day, everybody is trying to show out their talents and it's kind of hard for everybody to show out their talents and show their full potential.
"I'm definitely happy with the experience -- I'm getting in contact with a lot of people that can help me further my career. Playing time is something that the coaches decide. I know I wasn't here early enough... I understand that maybe I'm a little far off, but for me, I'm ready whenever my name is called."
After the Summer League, Mahmoud will fly straight to Rwanda to represent Egypt at AfroBasket. It may seem worlds away from the NBA, but he is confident that this will not always be the case for African basketball.
"I know it's just a matter of time before the leagues in Africa catch up. We see it now -- we see a lot of the young talents leave Africa and go to Europe. Europe, now, is full of young African talents and it's just about time before the transition starts happening in the United States as well.
"We do have the talent, the physical ability and the mental ability. It's just about time that we put ourselves in the right system. That's what sometimes happens -- at least, I know it does in Egypt -- we have the young talent and the physical and mental abilities, but the guys end up being burnt out because they're not in a system that can help them develop the right way.
"They reach their maximum potential based on the system that they have, whereas if they were put in a different higher-end system, they could [expand their] potential.
"I know it's about time, and thankfully, we have some people who have taken that upon themselves to help these young talents -- people like Amadou [Gallo Fall, the president] of the BAL. We needed those leaders to lead the way and put on the stage for these young talents to show up."