NBA Playoffs: How Denver Nuggets’ Zeke Nagy Advances AI and Virtual Reality

Winning an NBA title requires playing smart basketball, but Denver Nuggets forward Zeke Nagy is also thinking about another type of intelligence.

The 22-year-old, who faces the Miami Heat in this season’s NBA Finals, has invested in science-based learning in Nigeria, a project that includes subjects such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality.

His aim is to help young people in West African countries reach their career goals.

“If they put their minds to it, anything is possible,” said Nunaji, whose father is Nigerian.

“It means a lot to me. I hope the way I stand by myself and present my culture will inspire young people over there.” [in Nigeria] Believe they can achieve the same.

“That’s our real goal: to establish a place where kids can choose where they want to go and what career path they want to take.”

Nnaji used her family foundation to build an exercise center and now focuses on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning.

“I am really proud of our family foundation. We will be building several STEM technology centers.

“We offer music engineering, coding, AI, virtual reality and much more, so they can take the path to certified engineering.”

Nnaji, who was born in Minnesota, USA, said he hopes to visit the foundation himself in the near future and would be proud to wear the shirt if Nigeria were to convene at the international level.

“100 percent, it’s been a dream since I was a kid. It’s incredibly humbling to represent Nigeria.”

Although he wasn’t a regular in those games, Nnaji said he still feels strongly about being part of the team.

“The chemistry is great. You can see the energy is different. We all get along,” he told BBC Sport.

“We always felt we could win from the beginning of the year and every player is equally important.

“We have to have a ‘next moment’ mentality because if someone goes down, they might call your number. That’s the mentality.

“I will be ready in case you are called.”

“It was really weird because we were like, ‘We’re going to play the Heat.’ Then all of a sudden Boston came back and won three in a row. We’re going to play Boston!

“But the fact is, during that time, we put a lot of effort into ourselves, made sure we had our basics, our basics, our philosophy, and what makes us first-class, and then went into the game. We’ve made sure we’re top notch when we’re ready, and we have our own identity.”

The Heat are the first No. 8 seed to reach the finals since the New York Knicks in 1999, but Nagy doesn’t skimp on the likes of Jimmy Butler, Bam Adebayo and Caleb Martin.

“We have to go out, we have to play our best game, we can’t play at any level and we have to focus.

“If we play aggressively, play great defense, move the ball offensively, run up and down and get quick break points, we will win.”

One man the Heat are trying to stop is Nugget star center Nikola Jokic.

Nine years ago, the Nuggets took the Serbian player with the 41st overall pick in the draft, a move that caused little stir at the time.

Jokic is now a global icon and Nagy is proud to share the court with him.

“He’s literally a wizard on the court. He sees everything. He’s got eyes in the back of his head and his IQ is off the charts,” he said.

“And it’s great because he’s going to be playing against stronger guys, more athletic guys, faster guys and making them suffer through and through.

“He has incredible patience. No one can rush him, no one can speed him up. He’s just incredible to watch.”

“Ever since I was a kid, I’ve watched a lot of players. I remember the first time I saw the finals, Kobe[Bryant]Lakers vs. the Celtics. I was like, ‘Wow, I want to do that.’”

“I know a lot of superstars who haven’t won a championship, so it’s incredibly humbling and very appreciative to be in this position.”