SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — As cheers erupted in Sacramento for the Golden State Warriors, perhaps one of the biggest local fans is the mother of Festus Ezeli.

Patricia Ezeli says it was only eight years ago when the 6’11” center even picked up a basketball. He’d never played on an organized team until college. Now he’s in the national spotlight.

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“This is the joy of any parent, you know, to see your child do well in your lifetime. I’m so happy,” she said. “He’s so smart anything you put in front of him he absorbs, he learns.”

Festus moved to Yuba City from his home country of Nigeria in 2004 to live with an uncle after graduating high school at 14. His plan was to be a doctor, but his uncle suggested he try basketball because of his height and to assimilate into American life.

“Because he didn’t know how to play, many young children he hung out with would laugh at the way he played,” she said.

And even as a young child on a family trip to the Bay Area there were glimpses of his success to come.

“We noticed while we were on the Golden Gate Bridge, Festus would raise his two fingers, do the victory sign,” she said. “When I look at it today I’m like ‘Oh maybe he knew he had some future in the Bay.’”