Karim Ezzeddine: The Lebanese-Congolese baller’s mission to inspire a generation

Karim Ezzeddine is the 27-year-old Congolese-Lebanese-French basketball player representing Lebanon on the world stage. Born in Kinshasa, Karim has lived pluralistically, playing in Bahrain, France, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the US. Recently having played for the Lebanese national team, Karim has been subject to the severe circumstances that have raked the country relentlessly in various forms; nonetheless, the player has continued to sport pride for his people. Dazed MENA explores his years of triumph and anticipates his luminous potential. 

While his mother is from the Congo, Karim’s father is Lebanese, and at the age of two he and his family relocated to France. Growing up, the player’s older brother was a role model for him; even for someone who now has a LEGO figure modelled after him, Karim is evidence that siblingly admiration will take you to unexpected places. “As with most people of colour from our generation, I was inspired by the hip-hop scene happening in the US, from music, to style, to sports with the rise of the NBA,” the player tells Dazed. “My big brother was fully tapped into that scene. Although I grew up with heavy influences of soccer, I followed my brother’s steps and fell in love with basketball.”

The young player found himself jolted to new heights, literally, after a remarkable growth spurt at 11 years old. Even at that age, he felt he was growing into something much more consequential than a larger shoe size. The change prompted him to join a basketball club, where his promise took him to the United States only a few years later at 16. “I fell in love with basketball as soon as I put the uniform on at 11 years old,” Karim confesses. “I immediately felt I was embraced by that movement.”

The change landed him among future NBA players like Thomas Bryant and Miles Bridges at one of the top 10 basketball schools in the world. After graduating from the University of New Mexico, where he played in the National Collegiate Athletics Association, Karim returned to Lebanon to share his talent with his father’s home country. Impervious to the country’s worsening conditions, Karim found hope while flourishing on the team and bringing pride to his people. “A defining moment of my career was definitely the Asia Championship 2022,” he tells us. “After the country went through one of the biggest modern day collapses in 2019, then hit by COVID in 2020, and to top it off with the port explosion, there was no better way to bring hope and the image of resilience that the Lebanese people show on a daily basis than we did in that tournament.”

Unequivocally, the game was a marked moment for him. It was a revelation that even with a comparative lack of resources, and even in the face of destruction beyond their control, the team was more than good. It was a collective display of unity and resilience. “Each win was magic, a celebration of togetherness. Being one shot away to win it all while we barely had the time and the means to prepare compared to the other nations was our way to represent the Lebanese diaspora,” Karim shares. “The feedback we had from them all over the world was bigger than us, bigger than basketball.”

The pendulum of political atrocities regularly devastating the region does not escape Karim. “The MENA region is a special case compared to other places in the world, because of its geographical location and fight over its territories throughout history,” he highlights. “We need to come together. I hope to see more collaboration and crossover of disciplines.”

Karim recognises that such precarious conditions aren’t exactly an ideal petri dish for fostering the talent of young creatives, and that this is a generational struggle. Still, the player holds out hope, aware as we are that ingenuity blossoming in the face of adversity far outweighs the forces trying to stifle them. “The thing is the youth in MENA have broken dreams,” the player laments. “I hope to channel that message of hope and be a role model for the next generation of talent.”

His conviction is rooted in the philosophy that skill and innovation are not only born from necessity; that enjoyment as a driving force is too often overlooked. “Passion itself fuels my work,” Karimsays simply. “Playing and creating are fun things to do. We tend to over-analyse our ‘why’ when the things we do have an impact bigger than us, but it is essential to remind yourself that you do what you do for fun.”

Volatility in Lebanon has prompted Karim to explore avenues outside of basketball. He plans to open a social wellness studio, committed to establishing much-needed resources centred on healing in his country. “I’m planning to start a new endeavour that is aligned with all that I am. A new concept and design; a social-wellness studio. The location is still to be determined because of the war in Lebanon – we might have to relocate.”

Ever the team player, Karim believes in the power of a larger movement, in channelling our energy and aspirations into a shared vision of possibility. “We were all influenced somehow by the hip-hop culture that was happening in the states, these cross-discipline interactions created one bigger movement. I hope to see the same in the MENA region.” Above all, the player hopes to uplift others in the diaspora to follow in his footsteps: “I want to show that talent from the MENA region can be recognised internationally, and pave the way for those who come after.”