The 26-year-old has taken a big leap in his second season in the EuroCup
Trento big man Jordan Bayehe can thank his sister’s phone for the start of his career
Player Spotlight
8 Mins read
Jordan Bayehe was just 14 years old when he went to a P-Square concert in the Cameroonian capital of Yaoundé. Little did Bayehe know that the aftermath of the Nigerian R&B duo's concert would be the start of a basketball career that brought him to Italy and the BKT EuroCup. And that is mainly thanks to his sister’s cellphone.
Bayehe at that time was only interested in football, but he was spotted by a basketball coach after the show. The coach asked the young Jordan for his number.
“I didn’t have a phone, so I gave him my sister’s number,” Bayehe recalled. “He called her after three months, during the summer, and brought me to the court for the first time. My first day was tough because I used to play football. But he kept pushing me, came to my house to talk to my parents, and believed in me when nobody else did – not even me.”
Fast-forward 12 years and Bayehe has become a major part of the game plan for Dolomiti Energia Trento inside the paint. The 2.04-meter center is spending his second year in Trento and has averaged 8.0 points on 63% shooting on two-pointers to go with 4.0 rebounds in 18 minutes as the club’s backup center.
“Every day is one step forward for us because we are a young team. We have to improve every single day,” said Bayehe, who turned 26 in mid-October.
Bayehe said he has made a big step forward from last season when he made his debut in the EuroCup, averaging 3.9 points and 4.1 rebounds, in addition to collecting 5.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in the Italian League.
“Now I’m a different player. I have more confidence. I can play facing or back to the basket. I shoot more and I’m more versatile. Last year I was mostly a pick-and-roll player; now I have more options. My goal is to become a multidimensional player,” Bayehe said.
He worked out this past summer after talking with his individual development coaches as part of his preparations for the FIBA AfroBasket 2025 in August.
“I decided what kind of player I want to be. With the national team coach, we discussed adding pick-and-pop to my game. When I returned to Trento, my coach also shared his vision for how I could impact the team.”
Bayehe played a big role in Cameroon’s strong performance at AfroBasket 2025 in Angola, averaging 9.0 points and 4.5 rebounds as the country reached the semifinals for the first time since 2009.
“I think we deserved to win AfroBasket. We lost against Angola at the last second. It was a crucial moment. Then we lost the third-place game to Senegal – they deserved to win,” said Bayehe.
“We’re top four in Africa right now. Our goal is to become the best team in Africa. With NBA players joining, we can make history in African basketball.”
Bayehe’s bond to his home country remains strong since leaving for Italy at age 16. He landed at the famed academy Stella Azzurra and stayed in Rome for six years. After spending the next two years in the Italian second division with the Roseto Sharks, Bayehe joined top-flight club Cantu in 2020.
The club failed to stay in the league and were relegated to the Serie A2. Bayehe stayed with the team for the 2021-22 season, however – a decision which helped him in his development as a 22-year-old.
“I signed a two-year contract, and I didn’t play much in my first year in Serie A. Going to the second division with the goal to go up again to the first division, I had the opportunity to play for a big team in A2 and play a lot. I was young, and for me, playing a lot was the best,” said Bayehe, who averaged 8.8 points and 5.7 rebounds that season.
“I learned that every game counts because everybody expects a big team like Cantu to win in the second division. There’s full pressure from fans and the club, which made me more focused on the court,” he said.
Cantu ended up reaching the 2022 semifinals of the second division playoffs but lost in Game 5 to Scafati to miss out on promotion.
“It was so bad for me because everybody in Cantu thought we could go up. But at the end, in basketball, the details count. In Game 5 we played away – it’s not easy to win a Game 5 on the road. We lost by 13 points, but they deserved to win.”
In the summer of 2022, Bayehe left Cantu to join top flight side Brindisi.
“I was ready to play in the first division. Mentally, as a basketball player, I was more prepared. At Brindisi, everything was different. I knew the first division, I talked with the coach all summer – he told me what he expected from me. Our first goal was to reach the playoffs, and we did. My first year in Brindisi was easier than my first year in Cantu because I was more prepared to be a first-division player,” said Bayehe, who contributed 4.0 points and 3.6 rebounds.
After one more season in Brindisi, Bayehe then moved to Trento in 2024 and now has his sights on taking his game to the next level.
And when asked what he would message he would give his 14-year-old self, Bayehe said: “The best choice I did in my life was giving my sister’s number to my first coach. That decision changed my life – everything started from there.”