Gonzaga Finalizes Commitment From French Guard Juwan Ekanga-Ehawa
Exit one young French guard, enter another.
Saturday at 2 PM PT was the deadline for international players to withdraw from the NBA Draft, and to no surprise, Jack Kayil remained in the process and looks to hear his name called early next week in Brooklyn. But the Gonzaga Bulldogs have already been operating on the conclusion that he was never re-routing back to Spokane.
Pivoting to a countryman of Kayil, the Zags have reportedly landed a commitment from 6-5 combo guard Juwan Ekanga-Ehawa, adding the talented 18-year-old into a backcourt that already includes Mario Saint-Supéry and Isiah Harwell. The move marks GU’s seventh added player of the offseason, and its third incoming freshman.
Developing in the best national division in France, Ekanga-Ehawa has played for JL Bourg-en-Bresse since 2023 for the circuit’s U21 team. Breaking out this past season, he averaged 19.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 2.1 steals over 22 games. His shooting splits were 52.0%/30.6%/69.2%, good for a 61.6% true shooting clip. He finished with double figures in scoring in all but one game and totaled a season-high 33 points in a 97-94 season finale victory over Le Portel.
Ekanga-Ehawa even got a couple of call-ups to JL Bourg’s top unit, appearing in 15 minutes across two games and scoring two points. In Élite 2, a second-tier French league, Ekanga-Ehawa suited up in seven contests for Chorale Roanne after JL Bourg’s season ended, logging 1.3 points and 0.7 assists in just over seven minutes a game.
He also competed in the French Young Star Game in Paris in early March, where he tied for the game-high in scoring with 16 points on an efficient 8-of-10 from the floor. Last summer, Ekanga-Ehawa was a part of the national youth teams during the European Summer Olympic Festival in Macedonia, where he brought home a U17 silver medal in 3-on-3 action. He was also selected to France’s Eurobasket U20 preliminary roster this summer in Slovenia.
The intrigue with Ekanga-Ehawa is the production to this point, despite not being extremely polished. Possessing a 6-10 wingspan, he is an archetype that can score at all three levels offensively while guarding multiple positions on the other end. The consistency with his jumper will be something to watch, but he’s shown confidence as a shooter, and when pressuring the rim, he’s been a highly efficient finisher.
Not predicted to enter the draft until 2029, Ekanga-Ehawa will likely spend time developing his game in college for several years. From that standpoint, his playing time could be scarce during his freshman year, but his talent and experience could bring his name more into the equation of the guard rotation in Spokane, depending on how fast he develops in the Zags’ system. Saint-Supéry was a one-and-done possibility coming into last fall, but the Spaniard is running it back for his sophomore season with a surefire starting point guard job and likely a bigger share of the offensive workload.
Basketball runs in Ekanga-Ehawa’s family, as his father, Joachim, played professionally in France for 14 seasons, and won MVP honors for 2nd Division Nanterre in 2006-07. He was also a regular participant for the Cameroon national team in his heyday and helped the country capture a silver medal victory at the 2007 FIBA Africa Championship.
Gonzaga’s French pipeline only continues to grow with the addition of Ekanga-Ehawa. The most recent examples include former All-WCC First Team selections Joel Ayayi, who played on JL Bourg’s U21 with Ekanga-Ehawa, and Killian Tille. Prior to that, Mathas Keita suited up for the Bulldogs and later went on to play for Chorale Roanne. Back in 2001, Ronny Turiaf broke the dam in a big way, becoming the first-ever French Zag, playing in Spokane for four seasons, and winning WCC Player of the Year in his senior year before logging 10 seasons in the NBA.
If history serves, Gonzaga fans should be optimistic about Ekanga-Ehawa’s future in Spokane as a guard with a high ceiling under head coach Mark Few and his staff.
