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Mfiondu Kabengele Rumors
After dragging Germany to the top of the world in 2023, coach Gordie Herbert begins a new era with Canada, as they are approaching FIBA AmeriCup 2025. Bayern Munich’s head coach decided to call up 14 players in a preliminary roster ahead of the start of the competition, which will take place in Nicaragua from 22-31 August. Among them, both the newcomer at BC Dubai, Mfiondu Kabengele, and Isiaha Mike, who spent the 2024-25 season at Partizan Belgrade, are present.
BC Dubai continued to reinforce their team in order to be competitive in the debut season in the EuroLeague, and the latest arrival will strengthen the club’s frontcourt. Joining the newcomers on a two-year deal, Mfiondu Kabengele will also debut in the EuroLeague.
Former Clippers player Mfiondu Kabengele signed with Italian team Reyer Venezia for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
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The Bus One Boys, as they have named themselves, consists of Griffin, Luke Kornet, Sam Hauser, Payton Pritchard, as well as Justin Jackson and Noah Vonleh before they were traded earlier this season. Guest appearances often include two-way players Mfiondu Kabengele and JD Davison, deadline acquisition Mike Muscala and sometimes even Jaylen Brown when he’s getting in some early work. To gain official membership in the group, a player has to follow one simple rule. “We’ll allow guys in perfectly fine and they’re always welcome. But if you violate the Bus One code — which is basically just not being on (the bus) — that’s really it,” Kornet said. “The only pillar is participation and attendance.”
For two-way players like JD Davison and Mfiondu Kabengele, the target is clear. They are officially part of the Boston Celtics, splitting their time back and forth but rarely seeing the NBA court. The formula is simple: Play well in Maine, be a good leader, and entice Boston coach Joe Mazzulla to put you in a game. But that can lead players with bigger opportunities astray, so consumed with proving they’re complete players now that they forget to fulfill the role the team needs.
Even late in practice, Kabengele’s booming voice carries across the Portland Expo to the point it interrupts drills at the other end. “It’s like my engine. When I talk, my mind starts processing what I’m talking about and my body starts moving,” said Kabengele, who played at Florida State. “Everything’s kind of in motion. My voice is the engine that gets me going, gets me thinking, and gets me processing what’s in front of me.”
His talent is apparent and his passion is always on display. He can shoot, move the ball, finish and defend. At first glance, it’s hard to understand why he’s not in the NBA. But as practice carries on, small mistakes pile up and Kabengele’s frustration rises. He follows up a perfect pick-and-roll by forgetting his action on the next play call. He’ll block a shot to start a fast break, then two possessions later be out of position to stop a drive. As his coaches try to talk to him, he sometimes just walks away.
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Gary Washburn: Luke Kornet (personal reasons) is not with the #Celtics in Memphis. Mfiondu Kabengele is with the club from G League Maine.
Brown took an interest in Kabengele after the 25-year-old big, who is fighting for a rotation spot, started coming to him early on for advice in training camp. Though Kabengele is just a two-way player hoping for some second-unit minutes, he wanted to learn how to do his job as if he was the starting center. “I asked him a lot about pick-and-roll angles, how I should roll and what I should look for,” Kabengele said. “It is a little selfish, but I want to roll so I can be a threat as well. I know that (Jayson Tatum) and Jaylen, they’re that “guy” and you got to respect what they do. So I’ll ask Jaylen how can I be a threat when I’m setting screens. … He told me tips and tricks on how to angle it, how I should roll, things to look for before I set a pick.”
But Kabengele feels he’s finally found the right path. “I’m not the same person I was in my rookie year, or even last year when I was in the G League,” he said. “A lot of times, I would come into games and practices and think, ‘All right, I have a skill set.’ It was a little bit of arrogance I had. It wasn’t laziness, but I had a good sense of what I needed, then every time I fail and go through these things, I’m like, ‘Why are things not working?’ Then I did some self-reflection.”
“When I got drafted, and I was in a league, I settled.” Kabengele admitted to BostonSportsJournal.com. “So I’m like, I can just go to the gym and go home, you know? Just go to the gym and go home.” Kabengele is candid about the trappings of just making it into the NBA admitting that “I felt like I made it, I can settle in.” But things flipped quickly for him. The Clippers moved him to Sacramento, which promptly cut him. He was signed and cut by the Cavs and Rockets, the latter using the camp cut to assign him to the G League Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
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