1) South Africa (Steve Nash)

There have now been over 50 NBA players who were born in Canada and even though Nash is closely associated with our neighbors to the North, he was actually born in Johannesburg, South Africa, to an English father and a Welsh mother. They moved to Canada when he was 18 months old to avoid raising him in the shadow of apartheid, eventually settling in the picturesque coastal city of Victoria. He grew up mostly playing soccer and hockey before taking up basketball as a teenager and finding that he instantly excelled at it. After leading his high school team to the British Columbia provincial title, Nash came south to America, enrolling at Santa Clara University in California. Though he was born in South Africa and has lived (and paid taxes) in the United States for the last quarter century, Nash holds only British and Canadian citizenship. He has represented Team Canada numerous times in international competition, most notably at the 2000 Olympics.

2) Colombia (Jaime Echenique)

When Echenique suited up for three minutes for the Wizards in December of 2021, Colombia became the 89th and latest country to produce an NBA player. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Echenique became a superstar as a teenager despite the previous lack of Colombian excellence in basketball. He was recruited by numerous top European clubs but fulfilled a promise to his father by attending college, first at Trinity Valley Community College in Texas and later at Wichita State. Echenique graduated in 2020 and finally did play pro in Europe, suiting up for Acunsa GBC of the Spanish La Liga and catching the eye of the Wizards, who signed him to their summer league team in 2021. Though he’s struggled with the effects of a knee injury suffered while playing in Spain, Echenique made the Wizards G-League roster, the Capital City Go-Go, and got the call up to the main squad on December 30, 2021. A longtime soccer powerhouse, Colombia has little basketball history but did host the 1982 FIBA World Championships. Their second most prominent player to American fans is likely Juan Palacios, who played under Rick Pitino at Louisville.

3) Slovakia (Richard Petruska)

He didn’t leave much of mark on the NBA court but Petruska did leave a dent in the NBA’s signature trophy. Part of the ’93-’94 Rockets that won the NBA title, the Slovakian born Petruska was handed the Larry O’Brien in the postgame locker room celebration and dropped it, leaving a noticeable indent. That ignominious moment was ultimately the highlight of his pro career, which lasted just that one season, averaging 2.4 points and 1.4 rebounds per game in 22 appearances (none of them in the postseason). But Petruska did make a good kind of history as well, representing a brand new country of Slovakia, which was created in 1992 following the dissolving of Czechoslovakia. No Slovakian has followed him to the NBA in the three decades since, while the Czech Republic has produced five NBA players, including 2011 lottery pick Jan Vesely. Petruska continued his career with teams in Italy, Turkey, and Spain, before retiring in 2003 to become a coach. As for that trophy, it’s in the possession of former Rockets owner Leslie Alexander and still sports the dent.

4) Luxembourg (Alvin Jones)

With a square kilometer area smaller than Rhode Island and a population lower than Oklahoma City, the tiny, landlocked nation of Luxembourg has unsurprisingly failed to produce much athletic talent. They do have a national basketball team, which managed to qualify for the European championships several times in the ’40s and ’50s. They’ve also produced an NBA player, something that many much larger, more populous countries can’t claim. Jones was born in Luxembourg City in 1978 but raised in the U.S., attended high school in Florida, and matriculated at Georgia Tech under Bobby Cremins. The 76ers drafted Jones in the second round in 2001, with the second-to-last pick. There was a possible NBA career path for him as a shot blocking specialist but Jones wound up lasting just 23 games in one season, averaging 1.1 points and 1.6 rebounds per game. He returned to Europe after that, playing professionally in Spain and Germany.

5) Iceland (Petur Gudmondsson)

Handball has a long tradition as Iceland’s most popular sport and it was Gudmondsson’s first athletic pursuit before suffering a broken arm that forever affected his throw. He turned his attention to basketball, and his natural athleticism and 7’2″ frame eventually caught the eye of NBA scouts. Gudmondsson’s career started with the Trail Blazers, who drafted him in the third round in 1981, but his most interesting stint was backing up Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the ’85-’86 Lakers. Gudmondsson appeared in just eight games down the stretch for Los Angeles but impressed Pat Riley enough to make the playoff roster and play decent minutes. Unfortunately, his career took a tailspin from there, with a herniated disc necessitating back surgery that left him never the same. The Lakers traded him to the Spurs in 1987 as part of the Mychal Thompson deal and after two years in San Antonio, he closed out his career back in his native country. Not only is Gudmondsson the first and only Icelander to reach the NBA, he was actually the first European NBA player without U.S. high school basketball experience.

6) Angola (Bruno Fernando)

Charles Barkley famously quipped at the 1992 Olympics that he didn’t “know nothing about no Angola” but the Southern African nation has a long, proud basketball tradition. The sport was first introduced there in 1930, when the region was under Portuguese colonial control, and grew exponentially in popularity after it gained independence in 1975. Though Angola has been arguably the most successful African national team of the post-Dream Team era, with five Olympic berths and 10 AfroBasket championships (in 15 appearances), it did not produce an NBA player until Fernando reached the league in 2019. Born and raised in Angola’s capital of Luanda, Fernando wowed NCAA scouts at the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championships and wound up spending time at the IMG Academy and Maryland before the Hawks drafted him in the second round in 2019. While the nation can finally lay claim to NBA talent, the Angolan national team has fallen off a bit in international competition, failing to qualify for the last three Olympics and getting eliminated before the semifinals of the last two FIBA AfroBasket tournaments.

7) Hungary (Kornel David)

Basking in the glow of Toni Kukoc’s success, Jerry Krause attempted another European coup in 1997 with David. The Hungarian joined Bulls training camp for the ’97-’98 season and flashed some skill but was one of the final cuts. Rather than hang around and play in the CBA (the D-League did not exist until 2001), David returned to his home city of Budapest and signed with a local pro team. If he stayed in the U.S., he likely would have signed with Chicago during the season and earned a championship ring, as the team suffered numerous injuries in its rotation. Instead, David made his Bulls debut in ’98-’99, becoming the first Hungarian NBA player but on one of the worst teams in league history, reeling in the wake of Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Phil Jackson’s departures. A 6’9″ forward with solid play making skills, David put up decent numbers in his first two seasons with the Bulls and Cavaliers but failed to find consistent playing time in later stints with the Raptors and Pistons. After finishing out his playing career back in Europe, David returned to the U.S. and became an international scout for several NBA teams. Though David is the only player from Hungary to reach the NBA, Adam Hanga is the only Hungarian to be drafted, going in the second round to the Spurs in 2011 but subsequently spending his entire pro career in Spain.

8) Republic of the Congo (Serge Ibaka)

When Ibaka was seven years old, his native country broke out in a civil war. When his mother soon after passed away and his father was captured as a political prisoner, Ibaka moved in with an uncle in France to advance his burgeoning basketball career. Soon after, he became the first NBA player from the Republic of the Congo after the Thunder drafted him in the first round at the age of 18 in 2008. Supremely athletic and preternaturally instinctive defensively, Ibaka became a key part of the Kevin Durant-led Thunder teams that contended for titles year in and year out in the ’10s. He’s since become a defensive and rebounding gun for hire, spending time with the Clippers, Bucks, Magic, and Raptors, with whom he won a championship in 2019. Nicknamed “Air Congo” for his leaping ability, Ibaka has actually represented Spain in international competition ever since receiving Spanish citizenship while playing professionally there in 2011. Ibaka’s home nation, the Republic of the Congo, gained independence from France in 1960, was previously known as the People’s Republic of the Congo, and is alternatively referred to as Congo-Brazzaville. It is not to be confused with its similarly named neighbor, the much larger and more economically stable Democratic Republic of the Congo, which was formally known as Zaire, gained its own independence from Belgium in 1960, and has produced six NBA players, including Hall of Fame inductee Dikembe Mutombo.

9) Martinique (Ronny Turiaf)

Part of the same generation of French stars that produced Tony Parker and Boris Diaw, Turiaf was born not in the mainland but in the Caribbean territory of Martinique. He relocated to Paris as a teenager to attend the prestigious National Institute of Sport, which also counts Parker, Diaw, Clint Capela, and Evan Fournier amongst its alumni. Turiaf wound up at Gonzaga, where he earned WCC Player of the Year honors in ’04-’05, then was a second round draft pick of the Lakers. But a subsequent medical examination found a dangerously enlarged aorta, necessitating open heart surgery and leaving him sidelined for about six months. He eventually suited up for the Lakers for three seasons, including some minutes as a backup center in the 2008 NBA Finals, before moving on to later stints with the Warriors, Knicks, Wizards, Heat, Clippers, and Timberwolves. With the ’11-’12 championship Heat, Turiaf was a late season signing but wound up starting in seven playoff games, replacing a struggling Joel Anthony (before getting supplanted himself by Chris Bosh, as the Heat successfully went small ball in the Conference Finals and NBA Finals). As Martinique does not field a national team, Turiaf suited up internationally for France, including at the 2012 Olympics.

10) South Korea (Ha Seung-Jin)

Listed at 7’3″ and 305 pounds, Seung-Jin was one of the largest players in NBA history. He was also the first Korean to ever player in the league, suiting up for the Blazers in ’04-’05 at the age of 19. Thanks to his size and surprising athleticism, Seung-Jin caught the eye of scouts as a teenager and was drafted by Portland in the second round in 2004. He spent most of his rookie season moonlighting in the CBA but eventually made the Blazers roster in January and played in 19 games. After failing to break out in a second season, Seung-Jin returned to his native country, ending his NBA career with just 1.4 points and 1.5 rebounds per game. But his time in the Korean Basketball League was far more successful, getting named to their equivalent of the All-NBA team three times and earning playoffs MVP while leading Jeonju KCC Egis to the 2011 championship. Not only was Seung-Jin the first Korean NBA player, he was also the first non-Chinese Asian player ever drafted. 

11) Austria (Jakob Poeltl)

Though they’re neighbors with powerhouses Italy and Germany, and the sport has been played in their country since the end of World War II, Austria has found limited success in basketball. In fact, the country has never qualified for an Olympics or FIBA World Cup and has made only one EuroBasket appearance in the last 60 years, a last place finish in 1977. But Austria has a basketball claim to fame that many European nations still lack: not only an NBA player, but a lottery pick in Poeltl. Born in Vienna to two volleyball playing parents, Poeltl (pronounced “purr-tuhl”) made a name for himself with a dominant performance at the 2013 U-18 European Championships (though his Austrian team still finished just 1-7 in the tournament) and eventually accepted a scholarship from Utah over Arizona and Cal. Still a raw prospect, he grew into his body during his NCAA career, eventually becoming a top NBA prospect with his 7’1″ frame and defensive prowess. As the ninth pick of the Raptors in 2016, Poeltl struggled to live up to expectations early on but just finished his best season to date, averaging 13.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game in ’21-’22 as the Spurs’ starting center.

12) Morocco (Mike Flynn)

When Flynn first took the court in ’76-’77 with the Pacers after two years in the ABA pre-merger, Morocco became just the ninth country to be represented by an NBA player, following the United States, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, England, Russia, and Trinidad and Tobago. 80 more countries have been added to that list since but no further Moroccans. Though he was born in Casablanca, Flynn was raised in Indianapolis, won “Mr. Indiana” as the state’s best high school player in 1971 and played college ball at Kentucky (as one of the first big recruits of the Joe B. Hall era) before reaching the Pacers via the 1975 ABA Draft. His pro career lasted just three seasons, all with the Pacers, one in the ABA and two in the NBA, with career averages of 6.2 points and 2.2 assists per game. Flynn was the first African NBA player and remained the only one for nearly a decade, until Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984.

13) Ireland (Pat Burke)

If you think basketball is a surprising choice for a guy from Dublin, consider that Burke’s first love was actually ice hockey. Though he was born in Ireland, Burke’s family moved to the United States when he was still a toddler and his sports affinities became Americanized. He switched from hockey to basketball after a teenage growth spurt (he eventually grew to 6’11”) and was a star for Mariner High School in Cape Coral, Florida and then at Auburn. Un-drafted in 1997, Burke had to wait five years for his NBA shot but got it in 2002, when he signed with the Magic and played 62 games in the subsequent season, including eight as the starting center. Burke also later spent two seasons with the Suns in the heart of the “Seven seconds or less” era and logged some minutes in the 2006 Conference Finals loss to Dallas. In between, he had some star turns with Panathinaikos and Real Madrid, earning a EuroLeague title in 2000 in the former. While Ireland’s national team has never qualified for a EuroBasket or FIBA World Cup tournament, they did make a surprise Olympics appearance in 1948.

14) Estonia (Martin Muursepp)

Unlike its fellow former Soviet Baltic state Lithuania, Estonia has failed to establish a strong basketball tradition since regaining its independence in 1991. It did produce not only an NBA player but a first round draft pick in Muursepp, who was born in the capital city of Tallinn in 1974. Already a pro in his native country’s top league by age 15, Muursepp moved on to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel, where his smooth game stood out to NBA scouts. He was drafted by the Jazz with the 25th pick in 1996 and then traded on draft day to the Heat for a future first rounder. After just 10 games in his rookie season, Muursepp was then traded again, this time to the Mavericks as part of the Jamal Mashburn deal. He put up decent stats for Dallas off the bench in ’97-’98 but during the 1998 lockout returned to his native Estonia and never came back to the NBA. Interestingly, his rights did persist and were part of a crucial trade in 1998, when the Mavericks sent him as part of a package to the Suns in exchange for Steve Nash. Muursepp continued his career in Europe for another decade-plus, including a stint with the powerhouse Russian squad CSKA Moscow. He’s been the only Estonian NBA player for over a quarter century and counting now but he may have company on this list soon, as his countryman Henri Veesaar is projecting as a potential 2024 draft pick.

“But whether it was culture shock (he spoke little English), too much American food (the theory of many in the Suns organization), or steroids (a rumor that persists to this day and has never been definitively confirmed or denied), [Georgi] Glouchkov failed to stay in shape and lasted just one unsuccessful season in the NBA.”

15) Cape Verde (Edy Tavares)

The NBA has placed an increased emphasis on Africa in recent years, with a new academy and a new pro league aimed at cultivating talent across the continent. They are certainly hoping to find more success stories like Tavares, who discovered the sport at age 17 and was in the NBA just five years later. He hails from Cape Verde, an archipelago nation near the coast of Senegal with a population of just over 500,000. It’s a popular vacation destination for Germans and one such tourist stumbled upon the seven foot Tavares working in a convenience store and recommended him to his friend, a scout for the Spanish team Gran Canaria. Despite his lack of experience, the preternaturally talented and supremely athletic Tavares quickly worked his way up to the Liga ACB and was eventually drafted in the second round by the Hawks in 2014. His NBA career was brief, just 13 games over two seasons with Atlanta and Cleveland, but Tavares has since become a key player for Real Madrid, earning a EuroLeague championship in 2018. He also led the Cape Verde national team to a surprise semifinals appearance in the 2021 FIBA AfroBasket tournament.

16) Uruguay (Esteban Batista)

They now lag far behind rivals like Argentina and Brazil but Uruguay was once the class of South America in international basketball competition, making appearances in the first six Olympic tournaments and earning a bronze medal in 1952 and 1956. The country has been less successful in the more modern era, failing to qualify for the last nine Olympics and the last nine FIBA World Cups but they have one claim to fame in Batista. Born in the capital of Montevideo, Batista started his pro career in his home nation before moving on to stints with various teams in Spain. A bit of a throwback power forward, at 6’10” and 275 pounds with a strong array of post moves, Bastista lacked elite athleticism and defensive skill and went un-drafted in 2005. He did manage to catch on with the Hawks in the ’05-’06 training camp and soon after made his debut as the first Uruguayan in the NBA. Over two seasons with Atlanta, Batista appeared in 70 games and even made three starts but averaged just 1.7 points and 2.5 rebounds per game. He was almost part of the ’07-’08 Celtics championship roster but was one of that team’s final preseason cuts. Batista then moved on to Europe, playing for teams in Israel, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and Russia before closing out his career back home in Uruguay in the nation’s top pro league.

17) Norway (Torgeir Bryn)

In 1924, the International Olympic Committee deemed that only sports played on ice or snow could be included in the Winter Olympics program. Thus, basketball joined the Olympics in 1936 as a summer event and the sport may have missed out on potential exponential growth in Norway. The Scandinavian nation has dominated the Winter Olympics over the years, winning the most overall medals by far, and sports like cross-country skiing and speed skating are arguably just as popular domestically as soccer. Basketball has failed to catch on and the results reflect that, with the national team failing to ever qualify for a EuroBasket, let alone an Olympics or FIBA World Cup, while the top pro league is new, having started play in 2000. Oslo’s Bryn therefore defied all odds, not just making the NBA but doing so in 1989, before the Dream Team opened up the floodgates of international interest and scouting. After a star turn with Texas State, Bryn signed with the Clippers ahead of the ’89-’90 season and made three appearances, averaging 1.3 points per game. He tried to return to the NBA via the CBA for several years but finally absconded back to Europe in 1993, spending over a decade with teams across various pro leagues in the continent. In fact, Bryn stayed active for so long that in 2007, at the age of 43, he played in a Norwegian league game with his son, Martin.

18) Iran (Hamed Haddadi)

Iran rose up the ranks as a powerhouse national team in the FIBA Asia region in the mid ’00s and at the center of it, literally and figuratively, was Haddadi. With a massive frame (7’2″) and an impressive offensive skill set, Haddadi almost instantly took his place as the greatest Iranian player of all time. In 2008, he led the Iran national team to its first Olympics appearance in 60 years and his incredible performance in that tournament (averaging 16.6 points, 11.2 rebounds, and 2.6 blocks per game) set off a bidding war amongst NBA teams. There was a complication in a U.S. regulation that no American company can deal with an Iranian national but the Grizzlies eventually got clearance from the State Department. Over five seasons with Memphis and the Suns, Haddadi averaged just 2.2 points and 2.5 rebounds per game in limited playing time but won over home and road fans alike with his gregarious personality and on-court hustle, becoming a public face of the thawing U.S.-Iran relations of that era. Since his NBA era ended in 2013, Haddadi has spent his remaining career back in Iran and in the Chinese Basketball Association (he earned CBA Finals MVP honors for the Sichuan Blue Whales in 2016).

19) Dominica (Garth Joseph)

Not only is Joseph the only Dominican player in NBA history, he’s also the only player to come from the College of Saint Rose. The small Division III school in upstate New York landed Joseph in 1994, when its then head coach was in the Caribbean on a basketball goodwill tour. Joseph certainly stood out, at 7’2″ and over 300 pounds, and dominated opponents, setting program records in scoring and rebounding. After a few seasons playing professionally in Greece and then various second-level U.S. leagues, Joseph got a shot with the Raptors in ’00-’01, ultimately compiling just two points, two rebounds, and one block over four appearances. He later played in pro leagues in Iran, China, Egypt, and France before returning to his native Dominica, to finish out his career in 2010 leading the delightfully named Glam X-Men to a championship in the Dominican National Basketball League. 

20) Tanzania (Hasheem Thabeet)

It’s one of the 25 most populous nations on Earth but Tanzania has produced only one NBA player and it was due to a series of miracles that Thabeet made it that far. Much more of a soccer fan growing up, he took to basketball late, at age 15, and was almost accidentally discovered by a French scout two years later. Despite knowing little English and possessing limited organized basketball experience, Thabeet was soon after one of the biggest stars in the NCAA, earning All-American honors and Big East Player of the Year while at Connecticut. With a shot blocking ability that seemed nearly ordained (“Hasheem” is Arabic for “destroyer of evil”), Thabeet was the second overall pick of the Grizzlies in 2009 and had dreams of becoming the African equivalent to Yao Ming. Unfortunately, he was ultimately a bust, lasting just five seasons in the NBA, finishing with career averages of 2.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. He has made several comeback attempts since through the G-League but has only found success overseas, playing in Japan, Taiwan, and his native Tanzania. 

21) Denmark (Lars Hansen)

Similar to Steve Nash, Hansen is a Canadian national team legend who came to the country as a child but started his life elsewhere. In Hansen’s case, he was born in Coopenhagen before his family relocated to Vancouver when he was a toddler. Baseball was his first love but basketball became an obsession during a family trip to the U.S., when he first watched an NBA game on TV. Soon enough, Hansen was a star the University of Washington and then a third round pick in the 1976 NBA Draft. His one NBA season was ’78-’79 with the championship winning SuperSonics, though Hansen wasn’t on the postseason roster after averaging 5.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game in the regular season. When a training camp stint with the Kings didn’t work out the subsequent summer, Hansen absconded back to Europe, playing several successful seasons in Spain before retiring young, at age 29. In addition to being the only Danish born player in NBA history, Hansen was also the first Canadian to win a title.

22) Chinese Taipei (Joe Alexander)

A Taiwanese, an Israeli, a West Virginia Mountaineer, and an NBA player walk into a bar and the bartender asks “what can I get you, Joe Alexander?” A third culture kid born in Chinese Taipei and then raised in the U.S. and later mainland China, Alexander first took up basketball at the International School of Beijing before closing out his high school career in Maryland. He eventually landed a scholarship at West Virginia and unexpectedly developed into an All-American and one of the top prospects heading into the 2008 NBA Draft. Selected eighth overall by the Bucks, Alexander became the first Taipei born player in the NBA and just the second non-Chinese Asian player. Sadly, that NBA career was a bust, lasting just one season with the Bucks, eight additional games with the Bulls, and never coming close to living up to his billing as the most athletic prospect in his draft class. But the urbane Alexander found success in Europe, especially Israel, where he was such a star for Maccabi Tel Aviv that they granted him Israeli citizenship (it helped that his maternal grandmother was Jewish).

23) Portugal (Neemias Queta)

One of the eight founding members of FIBA in 1932, Portugal has a long basketball history but not much success along the way. Its national team has qualified for EuroBasket just three times, never finishing higher than ninth, and the FIBA World Cup and Olympics have been just distant dreams. Like most kids growing up in Portugal, Queta was therefore much more enamored with Ronaldo than Kobe but his older sister led him to basketball. It wasn’t long before Queta was bound for America, landing a scholarship at Utah State, where he developed into one of the nation’s best defensive players. Drafted by the Kings in the second round in 2021, he started off in the G-League but soon after made his NBA debut. In addition to being the first Portuguese NBA player, Queta is also the first of Bissau-Guinean descent, as his parents migrated to Portugal from Africa before he was born.

24) Antigua & Barbuda (Norvel Pelle)

Even setting aside his Antiguan heritage, Pelle’s route to the NBA is an unusual one. One of the top 100 recruits of his high school class, he was ruled academically ineligible for the NCAA and attempted to make the jump straight to the NBA. But he had to withdraw from the 2013 draft due to foot issues and instead started off in the G-League. Pelle then put in stints in Lebanon, Taiwan, and Italy before finally reaching the 76ers in ’19-’20, a full six years after first declaring draft eligibility. It was an appropriately circuitous route for a man who was born in Antigua & Barbuda, moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands as a kid, then to Los Angeles as a teenager, and holds Lebanese citizenship in addition to Antiguan and American.

25) Tunisia (Salah Mejri)

Not only is Mejri the first Tunisian player in NBA history, he was additionally the first in the EuroLeague when he suited up for Real Madrid in 2013. Like many players on this list, Mejri’s NBA history making opportunity was largely a function of his size, as he is a menacing shot blocker at 7’2″ and 235 pounds. After starting his career in Tunisia’s top pro league (which dates all the way back to 1956), Mejri won a EuroLeague title with Real Madrid in 2015 before making the jump to the NBA. Though he was already 29 years old by the time of his debut with the Mavericks, he lasted four seasons with the team, playing in 204 games, including 22 starts at center, averaging 3.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game. Mejri has since returned to Real Madrid for the ’19-’20 season, then logged stints in pro leagues in China, Kuwait, and Lebanon. In addition to his pro career, Mejri also transformed the Tunisian national basketball team, leading them to their first FIBA World Cup appearance in 2010, first AfroBasket title in 2011, and first Olympics appearance in 2012.

26) St. Vincent and the Grenadines (Adonal Foyle)

As an eighth overall pick who averaged just 5.9 points and 7.0 rebounds per game at his career peak, Foyle is largely remembered as an NBA bust but his career and life add up to so much more. Maybe his stats weren’t worthy of his lottery pick status but Foyle lasted 12 seasons in the NBA, the first 10 with the Warriors team that drafted him. He averaged two-plus blocks per game in four different seasons, finishing as high as fifth in the NBA in the stat category in ’02-’03, and still easily holds the Warriors franchise record for total blocks. Born in Canouan, one of the islands that makes up St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, Foyle moved to New York as a high schooler and then attended Colgate, where he broke Alonzo Mourning’s all-time NCAA record for career blocks (and is still third on the list). There’s no doubt he was drafted a little high in the lottery in 1997 but that was largely a function of a Warriors franchise in complete disarray. You certainly can’t blame just Foyle for the fact that in his decade on the roster, the team made just one playoff appearance. In addition to his contributions on the court, Foyle also became a political activist and charitable philanthropist in both his birth nation and his adopted one. In 2014, the Warriors named him a franchise ambassador and in 2009 he was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.

27) Bulgaria (Georgi Glouchkov)

You may have never heard of Glouchkov but he’s a key NBA figure as not just the first player from Bulgaria but the first ever from the Eastern Bloc, which is the satellite states under Soviet influence until the early ’90s. Glouchkov first suited up for his national team as a teenager and at the 1985 FIBA EuroBasket tournament, he supposedly outplayed Soviet superstar Arvydas Sabonis in a knockout stage game. In attendance that day was Suns international scout Dick Percudani and Phoenix took a seventh round flyer on the Bulgarian big man in the subsequent NBA Draft. Amidst much fanfare, Glouchkov made his debut early in the ’85-’86 season and showed some flashes of the skills that earned him the nicknames “Air Georgi” and “The Balkan Banger.” But whether it was culture shock (he spoke little English), too much American food (the theory of many in the Suns organization), or steroids (a rumor that persists to this day and has never been definitively confirmed or denied), Glouchkov failed to stay in shape and lasted just one unsuccessful season in the NBA. He signed with an Italian team in 1986 and spent the remainder of his career in Europe before retiring in 1997. While Glouchkov’s NBA career was unremarkable, it set the stage for the future groundbreaking accomplishments of Sabonis, Vlade Divac, and Drazen Petrovic.