Wenyen Gabriel is playing his first season with Bayern Basketball. But the 29-year-old center is more than just a professional athlete—he is actively involved in the fight against poverty in his home country of South Sudan. A portrait.
Is there such a thing: a day without his beaming smile, a day when he even cries?
Wenyen Gabriel smiles broadly, naturally; he pauses briefly, and then it occurs to him. It was in the summer of 2024, in Juba, the capital of South Sudan. The national heroes had returned home after competing in the Olympic Games in Paris—the first ever for the young, landlocked East African nation. Gabriel laughed a lot that day; the people’s enthusiasm for the national team opened his heart, and it is very big.
But there were also several times when tears came to his eyes; he remembers that very clearly. “South Sudan is one of the poorest countries on earth,” says Wenyen. “And when you see how they live there, you’re quickly moved to tears.”
For the UN Relief Agency Back Home in South Sudan
Wenyen Gabriel is an empathetic young man—something the Bayern center demonstrates not only on the court, where he always gives his all with dedication, but in every aspect of his life. Above all, he is a human being. He, the former refugee, is doing very well today. Yet he has never forgotten where his roots lie.
Wenyen opens the photo album on his phone. His cousin, who returned to South Sudan years ago and handles things for him there, has just sent him a new photo: an outdoor basketball court in the middle of a barren residential area in Juba, with his logo, W32G, in the center circle. His initials and his jersey number.
“I want to give something back,” says Wenyen, talking about his big project: building a school in South Sudan, the planning for which could be completed this summer. “This school is my big dream.”
Wenyen Gabriel has made his way from Rumbek, where he grew up and where his grandmother still lives, to the most famous basketball courts in the world. His parents once fled South Sudan with their six children, a country plagued by poverty where millions have been displaced due to ethnic conflicts as well as floods and droughts caused by climate change.
As a refugee in the U.S.
When he was two, the family moved from Egypt to the United States. Thanks to the help of the United Nations Refugee Agency—Weynen’s father worked as a volunteer for the UNHCR. Since 2020, his son has served as an ambassador for the UN agency; in the summer of 2022, the former refugee visited a refugee camp in South Sudan and organized a basketball camp.
You can imagine the excitement: Weynen was a pro with the LA Lakers at the time. He says, “I want people to know about South Sudan and not forget it. It’s important to help people who are forced to flee their homeland because of widespread insecurity, corruption, and instability.”
Weynen started playing basketball at age 11 in Manchester, New Hampshire. At 18, he played for the University of Kentucky in the NCAA, and two years later in the NBA. He has made 164 appearances so far in the league; most of them (68) were for the Lakers (5.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG), alongside LeBron James and Dennis Schröder. On the national team, he made a name for himself as the top shot-blocker at the 2023 World Cup and also in Paris during the Olympic sensation. Last season, the 6-foot-10 athlete with slender legs made his first move to Europe, joining then-EuroLeague champion Panathinaikos.
Workshops and Scholarships
To help others succeed, he set up an agency in Arizona two years ago. It’s meant to serve as a solid foundation for him after his playing career ends. The agency is already awarding scholarships to young people and organizing camps and workshops. A camp has already taken place in Juba as well; “a few hundred young people attended,” he reports, noting that they participated in Wenyen’s “Holiday Olympics” over the winter.
He himself couldn’t come, of course; he had jobs to do in the EuroLeague and the Bundesliga. But very soon, in the approaching summer of 2026, Wenyen wants to be back in Juba and bring with him what will infect everyone: his laughter, his heart.