PHILADELPHIA — The next stop on Tacko Fall's basketball journey is the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL, who will continue their tour of the United States with a game against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday.
Fall, who last appeared in the NBA during the 2021-22 season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, did not play in the Breakers' first of three tour games against the Utah Jazz due to a quad strain. The 7-foot-6 center told ClutchPoints that he won’t play against the Sixers. The Breakers will likely have to finish their tour, which concludes against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday, without their new big man.
After spending two seasons with the Boston Celtics and part of one with the Cavs, Fall traveled overseas to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, first with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers and most recently with the Nanjing Monkey Kings. The 28-year-old started a handful of games for Nanjing after being mostly a starter with Xinjiang, a stark contrast to his NBA career, which has featured one start in 37 career games.
While he hasn’t played in an NBA regular season since his stint with the Cavs, the big man has appeared in the Summer League. He played for the Milwaukee Bucks in July of 2023 and suited up for the Jazz the prior summer. His new opportunity with the Breakers — and the chance to visit an NBA stage again— excites him.
“I've been around this team for, like, a week now. Just wanted to make sure that I meet the guys, start to build chemistry,” Tacko Fall told ClutchPoints. “I'm really excited about this opportunity. I was really looking forward to these preseason games. I think it would've been great. Being in China for the last two years, I was a little bit off the radar. But, you know, things happen. Couldn't control that. But I'm still excited. I'm still proud of the team working out, just getting ready for whenever I'm ready to go on the court.”
Ahead of the Breakers' matchup with the 76ers, the preseason opener for Philadelphia, Tacko Fall spoke with ClutchPoints about a potential NBA comeback, his time playing overseas, his thoughts on the 76ers and Celtics and more. This interview was edited for length and clarity.
ClutchPoints: Now having played two seasons over there [in China], what has that experience been like?
Tacko Fall: “It's been good. I played a few years in the NBA. For me, I really didn't get to be on the court much. I played a few games. Playing in China has allowed me to get a lot better, actually. My conditioning is much better. My body feels great. I move a lot better. Skill-wise, I'm much better, too. This was a good opportunity to come in and showcase that. You never know what may come out of it but like I said, things happen. God has a bigger plan. I'm really looking forward to getting back on the court and that's about it.”
CP: How much of a priority is it for you to make it back to the NBA? Is that your goal, something you're really trying to go for, or are you just letting your basketball career take you where it does?
Fall: “I think both. Obviously, as a competitor, you want to play at the highest level. I've played in the NBA. I mean, a couple of years ago, I was an NBA player. Now, I'm an even better player. I'm more experienced. My body, like I said, feels much better. I move a lot better and I'm still fairly young. I definitely want to put myself in a position where there's opportunities for me to make it back. But at the same time, I just want to take it day-by-day and focus on the task at hand and just take it as it comes.”
CP: When you were interviewed by Shams Charania [last year], you talked about the physicality of the CBA and how much more physical the league is than the NBA. What has it been like adjusting to that and how has that helped you improve your game?
Fall: “Oh, so much. I mean, you have to adjust. For me, especially in the beginning — obviously, I'm tall, I'm bigger than everybody else. But in the CBA, first of all, they're very physical and they let them get away with a lot of stuff. And that's not something that people do a lot in the NBA. The spacing is different. Just being able to operate in very tight spaces in the CBA.
Also, I got really pushed out of my comfort zone, especially in my first year. In the NBA, they’re like ‘Okay, he's big. Let's just play him in the drop and let everybody go to him and block shots.’ In China, they’re like, ‘No, get out there and then come back and recover.’ A lot of those things have allowed me to get out a little bit of my comfort zone and pretty much make me realize that, wow, you can actually do it. You just gotta be able to do it on a more consistent basis, which I think I've done to that point.”
CP: Is there one specific aspect of your game that you feel has grown a lot since you were last playing in the NBA?
Fall: “Skill-wise, I would say. First of all, my shot, free throws — a lot of it was because I had a lot of shoulder tightness, especially when I was in college. I had shoulder surgery. This summer, I really focused on that. Defensively, just being able to get out there a little bit more and recover faster, really work on my body and just making simple plays. My IQ has improved so much.”
ClutchPoints: One of the guys on the Sixers, Guerschon Yabusele, played in the NBA a while ago then spent some time overseas and now is back. What is it like to see a former NBA player being able to make it back to the league
Tacko Fall: “I know Guerschon well because the first year I got to Boston, he was there. We played Summer League together. It was really good to see a guy out of the league playing for a few years — he played in China then went to Europe — finally was able to find his way back. I think it just shows that if you put in the work, it's possible.”
CP: As far as this 76ers team, what do you think of their chances this year and what do you think of Joel Embiid?
Fall: “I love Joel. He's one of my favorite players. Just him being an African, I really looked up to him for a while and I've known him, too. I‘m really excited to see what they can do this year. I mean, Boston will be really hard to beat. But they have Joel. They have [Paul George]. Tyrese [Maxey], I think, is gonna take the next step. I'm really looking forward to the games.”
CP: I was just gonna ask you about the Celtics — obviously, your first NBA team. What has it been like to watch them from afar become champions and put themselves in this position where they can be a really good contender for a while now?
Fall: “I was really proud 'cause I was part of the process of getting there. I've seen the work that happened in the background, all the sacrifices that a lot of those guys have made. To be able to finally win a championship meant a lot to Boston. It meant a lot to those guys. It meant a lot to us. I was really happy to see that. I was actually at [the series-clinching Game 5]. It was amazing, winning the championship in Boston.”
CP: How often do you keep in touch with either coaches, front office [members], former teammates? How much do you keep in touch with all those guys?
Fall: “All the time. Some of those guys are some of my closest friends, Jaylen [Brown] is my daughter's godfather, so I speak to Jaylen often. I speak to Jayson [Tatum] often. Grant [Williams] is not there anymore but he's a really good friend of mine. I'm still very close to the organization.”
CP: Sitting back now with another team but facing NBA competition — getting to see that firsthand, at least — how do you reflect on that looking back on your entire career from college to the NBA to other professional situations? What is it like to be this close again?
Fall: “It just brings more fire. It's like, ‘Okay, you know you belong.’ And just seeing it. You just don’t see it being in China, trying to visualize it. It's right in front of you. It's up for grabs. For me, it's just extra motivation.”
The 76ers and Breakers are set to tip off at 7:00 P.M. EST. Tacko Fall may only be able to watch from the bench but simply being around the NBA again exposes him to the league he used to be in — and fuels his desire to return.