List of Famous Basketball Players
Kyle Lowry
Kyle Terrell Lowry is an American professional basketball player for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). With the Raptors, he has been a six-time NBA All-Star and was named to the All-NBA Third Team in 2016. Lowry won an NBA championship with Toronto in 2019, their first title in franchise history. He was a member of the U.S. national team that won a gold medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Blake Griffin
Blake Austin Griffin is an American professional basketball player for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners, when he was named the Consensus National Player of the Year as a sophomore. Griffin was selected first overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2009 NBA draft, and has since been a six-time NBA All-Star and a five-time All-NBA selection.
Marc Gasol
Marc Gasol Sáez is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A center, he was drafted 48th overall by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2007 NBA draft. After having his rights traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in February 2008 in a deal that sent his older brother Pau to the Lakers, he signed with the team and remained with the franchise until being traded to the Toronto Raptors in 2019, where he won his first NBA championship. He is a two-time All-NBA Team member, a three-time NBA All-Star, and an NBA champion. In 2013, he was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
Dirk Nowitzki
Dirk Werner Nowitzki is a German former professional basketball player. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), he is widely regarded as one of the best power forwards of all time and is considered by many to be the greatest European player of all time.
Andrew Wiggins
Andrew Christian Wiggins is a Canadian professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks before being drafted with the first overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, making him just the second Canadian to be taken number one overall in the NBA draft. After being traded before his first season, he earned NBA Rookie of the Year honours for the 2014–15 season, playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Wiggins is also a member of the Canadian national team. In February 2020, after spending his first five and a half seasons with Minnesota, Wiggins was traded to Golden State.
Joel Embiid
Joel Hans Embiid is a Cameroonian professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). After one year of college basketball with the Kansas Jayhawks, he was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft by the 76ers. Multiple foot and knee injuries delayed his debut for two seasons until 2016–17, when he was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team despite playing only 31 games. Embiid has received three All-Star selections. He has nicknamed himself "the Process" in response to a refrain from 76ers fans during the Sam Hinkie era to "trust the process".
Nemanja Bjelica
Nemanja Bjelica is a Serbian professional basketball player for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents the senior Serbian national basketball team internationally. Bjelica was an All-Euroleague First Team selection as well as the Euroleague MVP in 2015. Bjelica started his NBA career as a 27-year-old rookie which he signed in 2015 and previously played for the Timberwolves for 3 seasons before signing with the Kings in 2018 offseason.
Ricky Rubio
Ricard Rubio Vives is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Rubio became the youngest player ever to play in the Spanish ACB League on October 15, 2005, at age 14. He made his EuroLeague debut on October 24, 2006, at age 16, becoming the first player born in the 1990s to play in a EuroLeague game. He is the fifth-youngest player to make their debut in the EuroLeague, since the year 2000. On June 25, 2009, he was drafted with the fifth pick in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft by the Timberwolves, making him the first player born in the 1990s to be drafted by the NBA. The Timberwolves had an agreement in principle with his former Spanish team, DKV Joventut, to buy out his contract, but Rubio backed out of the deal. On August 31, 2009, Joventut traded the rights to Rubio to FC Barcelona, and Rubio signed a six-year contract with FC Barcelona the following day. In 2011, Rubio joined the Minnesota Timberwolves, and spent six seasons in Minnesota before being traded to the Utah Jazz in June 2017. He signed with the Phoenix Suns in July 2019, before returning to Minnesota in 2020.
Dennis Schröder
Dennis Schröder is a German professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has previously played for SG Braunschweig and Phantoms Braunschweig in Germany, before spending his first five seasons in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks and two years with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Paul George
Paul Clifton Anthony George is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is a six-time NBA All-Star and five-time member of the All-NBA Team, as well as a four-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team.