NEWARK, N.J. — When Khaman Maluach first stepped onto a court, he struggled to catch the basketball.

Then a young teenager in Uganda, Maluach had never played a sport with his hands. So he ran drills with small medicine balls, lacrosse balls, and footballs with one simple objective: catch, catch, catch.

“Getting used to that,” Maluach said last week from his locker inside the Prudential Center, where top-seeded Duke captured its NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and Elite Eight wins, “ … I had to really do a lot of different stuff to work with my hands.”

His work ethic led to accelerated development since being discovered as a 13-year-old, then training at the NBA Academy Africa and playing for his native South Sudan in the Olympics.

Now, Maluach is constantly fielding lob passes for dunks as the 7-foot-2 interior force for this star-studded Duke team in the Final Four. The 18-year-old’s raw stats — 8.7 points on 71.4% shooting, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks entering Saturday’s matchup against Houston — do not fully capture his impact or importance during this dream season at Duke.

He is the defensive anchor for one of the sport’s premier units, which most recently limited Alabama — the country’s highest-scoring team that, two nights prior, had set an NCAA Tournament record with 25 three-pointers — to 65 points in Duke’s dominant Elite Eight victory.

All of that — plus presumed untapped potential — is why Maluach is considered a top-10 NBA draft prospect, and will likely be in range for the 76ers if they keep their pick.

“I wish I could play with him until the end of time,” teammate Isaiah Evans told The Inquirer from the Newark Regional last week. “He’s just such a special guy. He’s so big, and he’s so smart, and he talks.”

» READ MORE: Cooper Flagg’s dazzling Sweet 16 performance shows why NBA teams are tanking to draft him

The Sixers enter Friday with the NBA’s fifth-worst record (23-54) with five games remaining. They must land sixth or higher in next month’s draft lottery, or their selection goes to the Oklahoma City Thunder because of the 2020 Al Horford trade.

Should the Sixers keep that pick, a big man could be an intriguing option for a team seemingly always looking for a reliable backup behind former MVP Joel Embiid. Or, if the worst-case scenario unfolds, as an eventual Embiid replacement, after news broke Wednesday that he would undergo arthroscopic surgery to address a knee issue that has plagued him for more than a year. Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor, who is one of the more respected prospect evaluators, projects Maluach to the Sixers in his latest mock draft released earlier this week.

Coincidentally, Maluach’s basketball journey draws similarities to Embiid’s.

A refugee from South Sudan, basketball came to Maluach later than many of his elite-prospect peers. He initially visited a camp run by former NBA All-Star Luol Deng, then was recruited to play at local high school Bethel Covenant. Maluach then earned a spot in the rigorous NBA Academy Africa program, training in Senegal and traveling around the world to compete.

As he grew to love the game, Maluach studied the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo during his back-to-back MVP seasons. He looked up to late Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo for his basketball prowess and humanitarian work on their home continent. He morphed into the Most Valuable Player of the 2023 Basketball Without Borders Africa camp, and played for the new Basketball Africa League.

Last summer, Maluach became the youngest men’s basketball player in the Olympic field, as South Sudan made its first appearance at the Games.

“It helped me know what it’s going to be like from now, onwards,” Maluach said of that experience.

Since arriving at Duke, Maluach has become an ideal complement to fellow teenage lottery prospects Cooper Flagg and Kon Knueppel, along with veteran sharpshooter Tyrese Proctor.

» READ MORE: Kon Knueppel demonstrates why he is generating draft lottery buzz in Duke’s Elite Eight rout of Alabama

Maluach threw down alley-oop after alley-oop in the Blue Devils’ two wins in Newark. He also possesses promising touch, thanks to a 76.4% mark from the free throw line this season and a hook shot flashed during the regional. While warming up before Duke’s Sweet 16 victory over Arizona, Maluach dribbled the ball between his legs, then buried a step-back three-pointer. He made 12 of his 15 shot attempts during those two regional games.

Yet defense — the end of the floor that Maluach said is “the only thing I really think about” — is where the big man is already elite.

Ahead of Duke’s Elite Eight matchup, Alabama players repeatedly mentioned Maluach’s 9-foot-8 standing reach that, per coach Nate Oats, “makes it impossible to score at the rim when he’s in there.” Maluach also has the athleticism to cover ground and step out and guard ballhandlers on the perimeter. Evans highlighted Maluach’s constant communication, alerting teammates if they need to relocate on the court.

“He’s telling me what’s going on behind my head,” Evans said. “There’s been too many times where I might have lost my man or I might have been confused, and he gave a quick direction to put me back on track.”

When asked where he has most progressed as a player this season, Maluach pointed to his ability to stay out of foul trouble. That issue temporarily resurfaced in the first half against Arizona, when he only played nine minutes because he had been whistled twice.

But Maluach responded with a monster second half, totaling 11 points, five rebounds and four blocks after the break. That was clear from the Blue Devils’ first possession, when Knueppel lofted a ball to Maluach that he tipped in through contact for the and-1.

“I threw it to him, and he obviously made a heck of a play,” Kneuppel said after the game. “I’m always trying to look for him on those alley-oops.”

It was further evidence that Maluach’s hands have drastically improved since those days spent catching medicine balls, lacrosse balls, and footballs. And when Duke coach Jon Scheyer was presented with the East Regional trophy on a makeshift stage at midcourt last Saturday, he quickly passed it off to Maluach to hoist over his head.

Up next on Maluach’s accelerated basketball journey is continuing to anchor his team in the Final Four. After that, becoming a high NBA draft pick.

“I’ve been growing a lot,” Maluach said, “and I feel like I’m still developing, and I still have a lot to learn.”