Enjoy Basketball: International Legendary Moments

Welcome to Enjoy Basketball!

The game we love is becoming more and more global by the second. This season, over 100 players from 40+ foreign countries will play in the NBA. From yesterday's Hakeem and Dirk to today's Giannis and Jokic to tomorrow's Luka and Shai, international players have beautifully painted the canvas of NBA history. Today, we dive into some of the lesser-appreciated international guys to celebrate their achievements!

Arvydas Sabonis, USSR/Lithuania

Arvydas Sabonis is widely considered the best basketball player to never spend his prime in the NBA. In fact, many European NBA players who witnessed his prime claim he would've been the best center in the NBA for years.

Though he quickly became an all-world talent playing in the Soviet Union, Cold War politics dictated his fate. The USSR did not allow him to leave the country, especially for the United States, making him burn his prime years outside the world's best basketball league. Tragic - just watch this guy!

Still, the spotlight shone on him greatly as in 1988 he lead the USSR to the gold medal in basketball! It was this success of the United States' rival which provoked the US to waive the amateur requirement for Olympic basketball players, unlocking the 1992 Dream Team. In the next two Olympics, Sabonis lead Lithuania to Bronze medals in 1992 and 1996, both magnificent feats.

In 1995, nine years after the Trail Blazers selected him in the 1986 NBA Draft, Sabonis made his debut as a 31 year old rookie. Immediately he wowed. His nifty passing out of the post has strokes of Jokic while his crafty post moves are reminiscent of Embiid. Sadly, his body decayed after a few seasons, so the NBA never saw the true Sabonis.

His legacy remains as one of the better big men of all time, Olympic champion, Hall of Famer, and father to NBA All-Star Domantas Sabonis.

Manu Ginobili, Argentina

Manu is definitely the most popular guy on this list. Of course, you know of his 4 rings with Duncan, Parker, and coach Popovich. You know he was a bucket and one of the greatest sixth men of all time. You may even know that he killed a bat mid-game with his bare hands.

But Ginobili's appearance on this list is strictly to celebrate his performance in the 2004 Olympics. As an international player, trumping a fully-functioning Team USA for an Olympic gold is undoubtedly the most meaningful feat one can achieve. Not only does it evoke one's patriotism, but defeating Team USA is far more impressive than beating any NBA championship team.

Ginobili did exactly this. In 2004, Manu lead Team Argentina to victory over Team USA in the Athens Olympic semifinals and eventually to a gold medal win over Italy. To give context, Ginobili and Luis Scola were the only Argentinian players who had played any remotely meaningful NBA minutes before! Plus, they went up against Allen Iverson, Tim Duncan, a young LeBron James, and a slew of other NBA all-stars! Talk about David vs Goliath!

In the game, Ginobili scored a whopping 29 points. For context, the next most on his team was 13 and most on Team USA was Stephon Marbury with 18. Truly, Manu accomplished the most impressive feat in international player history.

Andrei Kirilenko, Russia

Today, we cherish guys who can both guard out on the perimeter and alter shots at the rim. Draymond and Giannis have recently won DPOY's for it. But before them, Andrei Kirilenko was that man. Plus, "AK47" has to be a top 5 NBA nickname of all time.

A Russian protege, the Jazz drafted him 24th overall in 1999, but he didn't come over to the States until 2001 as the Stockton-Malone duo was fading. In 2004, he made his lone all star game by putting up 16 points per game and being one of the most versatile defenders in NBA history.

In 2004, Kirilenko joined Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, and Julius Erving as the only players to record 200 blocks and 150 steals in a season. In the same year, he lead the Jazz in points, rebounds, steals, blocks, free throws, and threes. Truly a Swiss Army knife. Russian army knife? Whatever, he was incredible. Just don't look at his marriage policy.

Kevin Durant says to choose between him and Nash/Marks duo

Per Shams Charania, Kevin Durant had an honest meeting with Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai which brought to light some new dramatic developments. In a very professional and respectful manner, Durant informed Tsai that the only way to renew his trust in the Nets organization was to fire General Manager Sean Marks and Head Coach Steve Nash. In response to this ultimatum, Tsai shockingly put out this public Tweet:

What are your thoughts on this? Very respectable to back your staff in such a public manner, but then what is the best course of action with this KD drama? There doesn't currently seem to be a scenario in which any NBA team gives up fair value for Durant. Regardless, in the power struggle between players and management which has dominated the last 10 seasons, Joe Tsai scores one big for owners.

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3 former NBA lottery picks who deserve another shot in the league - Ethan Fuller (Basketball News)

That'll be it for us here at Enjoy Basketball! We hope you appreciated our dive into some of the less publicized achievements of some of the greatest foreign basketball players of all time! Before you start the day, take a moment to give thanks that you don't have to be in Joe Tsai's shoes for the next few weeks.

- Conor Geelan

Trivia answer: Darius Johnson-Odom holds the record for most games played without ever scoring a point. He played in 7 games from 2012-2014, but only got 6.5 total minutes and shot a remarkable 0-11 from the field and 0-2 from the free throw line.

Trivia Question: There have been 4 foreign-born players to win an NBA Finals MVP award. Who are they? (FYI we are not counting Tim Duncan, who is from the U.S. Virgin Islands!)