Kuany Kuany (Born 2000)
- Nationality: AUS/SSD
- Date of Birth: 27/03/00
- Place of Birth: Kakuma, Kenya
- Position: PF
- Height (CM): 206
- Weight (KG): 91
- Junior Assoc:
- College: California (2019–2023) / VCU (2023–2024)
- NBL DEBUT: 28/11/24
- AGE AT DEBUT: 24
- LAST NBL GAME: 7/02/25
- AGE AT LAST GAME: 24
- NBL History: Illawarra 2025
- Championships: 1
- Illawarra (2025)
BIO: Kuany was born in Kakuma, Kenya, and spent his early years between South Sudan and Kenya. At the age of six, his family relocated to Melbourne, Australia. It was there that Kuany discovered basketball, beginning to play the sport at age 11. Driven by a passion to further his basketball career, he made the bold decision to move to the United States alone at just 15 years old.
In the US, Kuany attended Victory Rock Prep and later Prolific Prep, where his talent on the court began to garner attention. In May 2019, he committed to play college basketball for the California Golden Bears, choosing the program over offers from Washington State and Nevada.
NBL EXPERIENCE
Kuany Kuany (Born 2000) made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 24 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.
Illawarra kept most of the roster which had reached the previous season’s semifinals, with head coach Justin Tatum adding Trey Kell III (via Adelaide) and Darius Days (via Winnipeg) following the departures of Gary Clark (to Yokohama), Justin Robinson (to Trapani), AJ Johnson (to Milwaukee), Kyle Adnam (to Cairns) and Biwali Bayles (to Nyon).
Kuany joined the Hawks in November as a training player and was registered as a nominated replacement player. He was also selected by South Sudan during the FIBA AfroBasket qualifying window, producing 17 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in an 85-60 win over Mali.
His best NBL game came on November 28, when Kuany (2 points) converted his only field-goal attempt in 3:47 as Illawarra defeated New Zealand 109-71, with Olbrich (21 points and 3 rebounds) and Kell (17 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals) leading the Hawks while Parker Jackson-Cartwright (19 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists) paced the Breakers.
Kuany (1 point across 4 games) received limited opportunities behind Harvey (17.9 points, 3.6 assists, and 1.2 steals), Kell (17.8 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists) and Froling (14.6 points and 7.3 rebounds) as Illawarra finished first with a 20-9 record.
Kuany returned for the final 29 seconds of game five of the Grand Final series, where Kell (26 points, 11 rebounds, and 7 assists), Hickey (21 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists) and Harvey (16 points and 7 rebounds) led Illawarra, while Goulding (21 points and 2 blocks), Ili (20 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals) and White (17 points and 7 rebounds) led Melbourne. Kuany (0 points in 29 seconds) finished the 114-104 win on the court as the Hawks claimed their second NBL championship.
Kuany Kuany (Born 2000) played one season in the NBL. He averaged 1 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists in 4 NBL games.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 24 | Illawarra | 20-9 (1) | 4 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 40% | 0 | 2 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 40% | 0% | 2 | Totals | 4 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 40.0% | 0 | 2 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0% | 0% | 0 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-25 | 24 | Illawarra | 20-9 (1) | 4 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 40% | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 40% | 0% | 2 | Total | 4 | 2.6 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 40.0% | 0.1 | 0.0% | 0.5 | 0.0% | 0% | 0% | 0 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|---|
STATE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
- Townsville (2025)
Kuany joined Townsville for the 2025 NBL1 North season, playing alongside Kyle Adnam during the NBL offseason. He made an immediate impact in his only known Australian state league stint, scoring 33 points in Townsville’s 111–84 season-opening win over Cairns, and later produced one of his best games with 36 points, 11 rebounds, and 4 assists while shooting 11/16 from the field and 13/16 from the line in a 103–95 win over Southern Districts. That 36-point outing also earned him NBL1 North Player of the Week honours.
Across the 2025 NBL1 North season, Kuany appeared in 13 games for Townsville and averaged 19.2 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. Other standout performances included 29 points, 14 rebounds, and 2 steals in a win over Logan, 24 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in a win over Rockhampton, and 20 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals against Gold Coast.
FIBA EXPERIENCE
In November 2024, Kuany joined the South Sudan national team for the AfroBasket 2025 qualifiers.
Kuany, who will be making his debut for South Sudan, expressed his excitement on the announcement “This is something every kid dreams of, and to be able to do it at my age is a blessing. I can’t wait to get out there, put on the South Sudan jersey and have my friends, family and teammates watching the game.”
Kuany remained with South Sudan through the February 2025 qualifying window and finished the AfroBasket 2025 qualifiers with 6 games played at 7.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game as South Sudan went 4–2 and sealed qualification for AfroBasket 2025.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Cyprus - Anorthosis Ammohostou (2025–2026)
Kuany Atem Kuany joined Anorthosis Ammohostou for the 2025–2026 Cypriot Division A season in Cyprus, with his signing recorded on September 25, 2025, and he also appeared in the FIBA Europe Cup qualifiers where he averaged 13.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks across 2 games.
Kuany stayed with Anorthosis Ammohostou during the 2025–2026 ECOMMBX BL season and averaged 15.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 18 league games while leading the Cypriot Division A in player efficiency rating at 23.0.
COLLEGE
Kuany Kuany played four seasons at California from 2019–20 through 2022–23, building up from a limited-role freshman (28 games, two starts, 2.2 points and 1.1 rebounds) into a senior-season rotation mainstay who started 26 of 32 games and averaged 9.0 points and 3.9 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per night. Along the way he missed two games (Jan 9–14, 2021) after suffering a concussion, then later had his best college stretch in 2022–23 with 17 double-figure scoring games, 28 made threes, and a big jump in productivity at the stripe where he shot 82.3% and led Cal in free throws made (93) and attempted (113).
His 2022–23 highlights at Cal included a career-high 18 points in a win over Stanford on Jan. 6, plus an 11-point, nine-rebound outing against Washington State on Feb. 25, and a game where he hit 9-of-11 free throws while scoring 16 in the Bears’ win over UT Arlington on Dec. 21. Off the court, Kuany graduated with an undergraduate degree in sociology (May 2023), earned the Joseph M. Kavanagh Award (Cal’s most inspirational student-athlete award), and was named to the Pac-12 Winter Academic Honor Roll.
After the season, Kuany entered the transfer portal (reported March 18, 2023) to use his final year of eligibility, then transferred to VCU (announced May 22, 2023) as a graduate addition for Ryan Odom’s first Rams roster. VCU described him as a veteran of 116 college games who had shown floor-spacing ability across his Cal career, and he arrived in Richmond after completing his sociology degree.
In 2023–24 at VCU, Kuany appeared in 38 games, started 37, and averaged 5.7 points and 2.4 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game as the Rams pushed into the NIT, with their run ending in the quarterfinals in a 74–54 loss at Utah on March 27, 2024 (VCU finished the season 24–14). In that NIT stretch he logged 8 points vs Villanova, 6 vs South Florida, then 4 points at Utah in the quarterfinal.
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