Talal Afandi’s heart was beating out of his chest. The Saudi photographer was on the court of the first NBA game in the Arabian Gulf, camera in hand, a moment he’d been dreaming of since he was 14 years old. Walking right in front of him were some of greatest players in the sport, past and present— Giannis Antetokounmpo, Trae Young, Isiah Thomas and Shaquille O’Neal. His body was betraying him—but his mind was clear. He was exactly where he was always supposed to be.
“I had actual goosebumps, and the chills kept coming. To get my heart to calm down, I had to tell myself over and over, ‘it’s just a basketball game. Do you. Do you,” Afandi tells Esquire Middle East.
Within moments, the hair on his arm was still standing, but his hand was steady. He was ready to shoot his first NBA game.
Afandi, 25 now, was a freshman in high school in his hometown of Jeddah when he first fell in love with the game.
“It was everything—the history, the stars, the spectacle. To be honest, there were not a lot of people playing basketball where I came from. People played football, not this. Not the NBA. But this was the game I loved. I said to myself, I want to play this game, even if there’s nobody playing this game with me.”
Afandi started finding people anywhere he could—in parks, in underground games, and by the time high school was over he knew that he wanted to go to the US to be closer to the game he loved, closer to the NBA.
“I started looking for colleges in the States, aiming high like Duke University, North Carolina, UCLA—basketball schools, Division 1 schools. I ended up going to Ramapo in New Jersey—a Division 3 school. And I couldn’t make the team as a basketball player,” Afandi says.
He was crushed, but he couldn’t leave the sport behind.
“That didn’t mean I stopped loving the game. It just made me thinking differently, and see what I loved other than the game itself. I started doing photography to be around the team, covering the games. I would go to local games in New Jersey and New York, find local tournaments and cover them too,” Afandi says.
Having his camera with him where ever he went, he started learning not just about basketball, but everything the camera could do.
“I learned about fashion and portraits and documentaries. Honestly, without even noticing, I had become an artist. I was not just a sports photographer, I started having vision,” he says. “I’m blessed to not be on a basketball team to be honest. I really now know what I should be doing.”
Afandi came back to Saudi Arabia to support his family, and continues his photography journey.
When the NBA announced it was going to make its debut in Abu Dhabi, Afandi knew he had to go. He partnered with us at Esquire Middle East, flew from Saudi Arabia to Abu Dhabi, and was able to get NBA access he never dreamed of, surrounded by people as passionate as he was—a reaction he had always dreamed of surrounded by people who had no interest in the game.
“I was in the States for seven years, but I couldn’t ever do this there. Doing it here, so close to home, it’s a different feeling. It’s a beautiful, beautiful experience,” he says.
Back in Saudi Arabia, basketball culture is not what it was. The Saudi Basketball League is growing in both talent and fandom, something Afandi is wholeheartedly dedicated to.
“I’m surprised at how good it is. There’s a lot of good players right now playing in the league. There are a lot of players that were in the NBA right now playing in the Saudi Arabian League, which is amazing for the league, you know. It makes it hard. It makes it competitive. It makes it watchable, to be honest,” says Afandi.
As Afandi’s career as a photographer grows, he’ll always be able to look back to this moment, and the work he was able to put in with the NBA itself.
“This—this is an unbelievable feeling,” he says.