Add making up for lost time to TJ Bamba’s long list of skills.

When the 25-year-old member of the Nuggets’ Summer League squad first moved to Denver after finishing his freshman year of high school at KIPP Academy, a charter school in the Bronx, he had yet to play organized basketball.

“I was just playing on the streets. I was playing football and baseball. I was a seasonal player. Whatever I could do, whatever was around. My friends, they always played basketball, so that’s what got me into basketball,” Bamba said Tuesday after practice at Ball Arena.

“Once I came out here for my sophomore year of high school, that’s the first year I took basketball serious. … When I came out here, I didn’t know where basketball was going to take me. I just spent countless hours in the gym at (Abraham) Lincoln High School not too far from here.”

Bamba’s done a pretty good job of catching up so far. The potential was obvious as a sophomore, but he had a lot to learn and split time between the Lancers’ junior varsity and varsity teams. His shooting form and ballhandling needed improvement, as did his understanding of spacing and playing within a system.

“Really, really hardworking both on and off the court, but he was really raw from the basketball standpoint,” Dre Calloway, now the coach at Northfield, told the Denver Gazette on Friday. “He had the measurables to be a really good basketball player — long arms, athletic, played hard — but his skill set was a little behind. I think he had a good understanding of that.”

***

When Bamba moved to Denver, the goal was to become a college basketball player. The level didn’t matter after he saw his older friends back in New York City receive recruiting interest.

“I wanted to be able to change my life in that way,” Bamba said.

A handful of games into his junior year, the 6-foot-5 guard accomplished his initial goal when Northern Colorado became the first to offer a scholarship. That didn’t stop the work.

“Once he received that official offer from Northern Colorado, he kept his foot on the gas and wanted to do more. He was always a kid that was eager to learn, always was a kid that was a sponge. He understood there was a reason why he played both JV and varsity as a sophomore, understanding that he needed double the reps,” Calloway said.

“It really started to click for him when his hard work was noticed by Northern Colorado.”

The former three-star prospect went on to receive offers from McNeese State, Illinois-Chicago, Kent State and Washington State, according to his 247Sports profile. He chose the Cougars and spent three seasons in Pullman. After finishing his junior year as a top-10 scorer in the Pac-12, he entered the transfer portal and landed at Villanova, where he started 33 games. He decided to spend his fifth and final collegiate season at Oregon, where he started all 35 games and was a finalist for the Lefty Driesell Award — given to college basketball’s best defender — before going undrafted in 2025.

Bamba’s still raw by NBA standards, but he remains an eager student.

“He’s super physical, super athletic,” Denver’s Summer League coach J.J. Barea said Wednesday.

“You can see when you talk to him, he’s trying to learn as fast as he can. He’s doing great. He’s only going to get better.”

***

Bamba didn’t work out for the Nuggets during the predraft process last year. He signed with the Nets and averaged 4.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals across five games in Las Vegas.

After his first Summer League stint, Bamba signed with Rasta Vechta, a German club that competes in the Basketball Bundesliga. That’s where he had his first interaction with the Nuggets after a scout attended one of his games.

“They wanted me to come out here. I did a minicamp with them, did good. After that, that’s all she wrote,” Bamba said.

“I’m here working.”

Vechta is a long way from home — literally and figuratively. The town of roughly 35,000 people pales in comparison to the Bronx and Denver. It’s more comparable to Pullman than anywhere else Bamba has lived.

“I’m from the Bronx. That’s a fast-paced city. There’s a lot of bright lights,” he said.

“It was like a small town, but I loved it. I loved the people. I loved the organization. They taught me a lot about myself. I went from kind of like a young man to a man.”

While Vechta lacked in glitz and glamour, it was good for something else. Bamba said he is better mentally, physically and spiritually for the experience.

“Trust your work, the good days, the bad days, no matter what don’t let it waver your confidence. Always believe in yourself and just keep going. If you’re nice, you’re nice. Trust your work — always. There’s going to be 1-for-8 games; there’s going to be 7-for-8 games. No matter what, just believe in yourself, be a team player, be selfless,” Bamba said, describing the main takeaway from his first professional season.

“What you put in, you’ll get out. I’m a firm believer in that, and I just trust my work. … I definitely came out on top and better for it.”

***

The season in Germany was hardly Bamba’s lone experience abroad, but it was a lot different.

In elementary school, Bamba’s parents sent him to a boarding school in Senegal, where he learned Arabic and studied the Quran. He was a practicing Muslim during his time at Lincoln.

“There’s been times where we would practice or have basketball workouts during Ramadan, and he wouldn’t be able to eat, but he would still go for two hours (at) 100 percent,” Calloway said, adding that Bamba would ask permission to be a few minutes late to practice when prayer was the priority.

“He’s real disciplined, and I think that’s what has led him this far.”

While Bamba’s parents, Mahmoud and Sanah, stayed back in New York, the principles they instilled in their son showed up early in Denver. Calloway first remembered meeting Bamba at an open gym that was open to all of Lincoln’s students.

“Everybody in the world comes out to open gyms to come play, and it’s open to everybody. He came and introduced himself, was real respectful, shook my hand — firm handshake — looked me straight in the eyes,” Calloway recalled. “You could tell he came from a good background (where) somebody told him how to greet people and let them know who he was.”

Before long, Bamba was asking if he could get into the Lancers’ gym before school and after school and on days when the school wasn’t technically open.

***

Over the course of a decade, Bamba went from being a young kid who hoped to change the course of his life with a free education to a Division I prospect and standout performer in the Pac-12, Big East and Big Ten conferences. He’s early in his professional career, but there’s no telling what’s possible if he continues to make up for lost time.

“He took that to heart, and grinded at it and grinded at it. He went from a kid that just wanted to play varsity basketball and become some type of college basketball player to a fringe NBA player,” Calloway said.

“It’s been a pleasure to see the journey, and I think, down the line with the right opportunity, he’ll register some NBA minutes, for sure.”

Bamba didn’t get an opportunity in Denver’s first Summer League game on Friday. He might have to wait a little longer to show the Nuggets what he can do against outside competition, but he enjoyed the opportunity to be back in the city where his basketball career took shape.

“I was just talking to my high school coach Dre Calloway about it. I was telling him it’s a full-circle moment. When I came out here, I didn’t really play basketball,” Bamba said.

“It’s crazy. Years later down the line, I’m here back in Denver but with the Denver Nuggets organization. It’s a blessing, and I definitely want to take advantage of it and make the most of the opportunity.”

Bamba has a history of doing just that.