Prospect Overview
• Ariel Hukporti is a seven-foot, 20-year-old center of German-Togolese descent. In 2021-22, he averaged almost 15 minutes per game for Melbourne United in the Australian NBL, where he was teammates with former NBA veteran Matthew Dellavedova. In 29 NBL contests, Hukporti posted 6.6 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.
• The big center was born in Stralsund, Germany and originally played soccer. At age 11, with a noticeable height advantage, he switched to basketball.
• From 2016 through 2020, Hukporti played for the Riesen Ludwigsburg club of the German Bundesliga system. In 2019, Hukporti appeared briefly in five Champions League games, but only saw three minutes of action per CL contest. During the summer of 2020, Hukporti signed with Nevezis Kėdainiai of the Lithuanian Basketball League (the LKL). With Nevezis, the seven-footer delivered 10.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.2 blocks over 23-plus minutes per LKL contest. That production encouraged Melbourne United to sign Hukporti as part of the NBL’s “Next Star” program.
—Profile by RotoWire