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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MARCH 08: Femi Odukale #21 of the Seton Hall Pirates dribbles as Yor Anei #10 of the DePaul Blue Demons defends during the second half in the first round of the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 08, 2023 in New York City. The DePaul Blue Demons won 66-65. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Down the stretch of the 2024-25 season, the Chicago Bulls’ G League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, acquired a player with only eight fingers.

Yor Anei, a graduate of DePaul via Oklahoma State and SMU, was playing in his second professional season, and his second in the G League. He had already spent time with the Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks organizations – when Windy City picked him up in late February, it was his third team of the season.

Anei  – who lost the index and middle fingers on his right hand in an accident with a blender when he was about two years old – is carving out a professional career in the direct purview of multiple NBA franchises despite lacking two fingers on his right hand. Compounding the problem is that Anei is naturally dextral, a righty, and has had to learn how to play basketball primarily with his left hand. And yet he has made it, to one step below the NBA, in multiple seasons.

Anei Finds A Way

Because of his physical profile, Anei’s game is based largely around his combination of length and athleticism. Long and lithe, Anei leaps like few others, covers ground, and deters a lot of decisions around the basket.

Anei’s best quality, and the one that has put him on the NBA radar, is his shot blocking ability. In just two seasons at OSU, he recorded 145 blocks – enough to put him in the top ten all time at the school in only half the time he could have spent there – and in the 329 minutes played in his G League career to date, he has recorded 32 more.

There are some things Anei may struggle to do due to his missing digits, perhaps. But there are also some things he can do that very few others can.

One Step Too Far, Perhaps

Physical profile alone is not going to get Anei over the last and final hump into the NBA. The NBA has its eyes on every 6’10 athlete, not just him, and others have better ball skills and ability to defend without fouling than he does. Much as it is to his credit that he has been able to play for so many premium schools, and be on the radar of so many NBA franchises, it also speaks to the fact that he is not quite sticking with any of them. Anei is intriguing, but not reliable.

Nevertheless, he is also desirable. He may not be Brandon Clarke, and the offensive skill is understandably spotty, but Anei can be an offense-changer in the lane, in ways that only a select few humans are born to be able to do at the levels he has been playing at. Handedness is less important when blocking shots than when making them.

Anei has not signed elsewhere in the basketball world this offseason and is expected to return to Windy City for next season. The Bulls retain his G League returning player rights, and after so much moving around over the years, the prized high school recruit could use some stability to reach his full potential. Despite his disability, the ceiling is high, just like his leap.

Mark Deeks I am continuously intrigued by the esoterica and minutiae of all the aspects of building a basketball team. I want to understand how to build the best basketball teams possible. No, I don’t know why, either. More about Mark Deeks