17-year-old Elliot Cadeau, more or less unknown to the basketball audience, will make his national team debut in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.

But he's not just any 17-year-old.

This summer, the respected sports channel ESPN released its list of the best basketball players in the US born in 2004, and then Cadeau was ranked in seventh place.

He was also ranked as the best point guard on the list.

Elliot Cadeau has both Swedish and American passports.

He grew up in the USA and his mother is from Skåne and his father from Haiti.

Now he has chosen to play for Sweden, instead of the USA, which is the world's best basketball nation.

- I want to do something unusual and play for Sweden.

Because no one else from the USA goes to Sweden and plays for the national team.

So I'm different, says Elliot Cadeau to SVT Sport.

He lives in New Jersey and studies at Bergen High School.

He has big goals in sight.

Both with the Swedish national team and his own career.

- My goal is the NBA.

And it does not feel impossible.

If I work hard, I can get there, he says.

He knows there is a long way to go, and a lot of sacrifice will be required along the way.

- I train every day, and I have to love the training.

My friends go out partying like all other young people.

But I go home early and sleep.

Sometimes I want to be like a normal guy, but I want to play in the NBA, I can not be normal.

I have to be special, says Eliiot Cadeau to SVT Sport.

Has a congenital hearing impairment

Elliot Cadeau is also special in that he plays with a congenital hearing impairment and is deaf in the right ear.

- Sometimes I may not be able to hear what the coach is saying, but I'm usually in my own bubble.

And it feels good to me, then I'm more calm, he says.

Cadeau has previously represented the Swedish U18 national team, but now games against the seniors await when Sweden meets Finland and Slovenia in the World Cup qualifiers before the World Cup 2023.

And Cadeau has big plans for his game in blue and yellow.

- My big goal is to take Sweden to the Olympics.

It would be more special than playing for the USA, because the USA still goes to the Olympics every time, he tells SVT Sport.