Embiid to play for USA: What other naturalized players have played for the national team?

Basketball is a popular sport that brings together players from all over the world. Sometimes, players may choose to represent a different nation than their country of birth or the one they originally played for. Once they have expressed their new nation at least once, they become eligible to be listed as a player for that country.

However, there are some players whose citizenship status is not recognized by FIBA, the international governing body of basketball. These players are treated the same way as naturalized players, as per FIBA eligibility rules. Let’s see which of the most popular players born outside the U.S. had defended the Stars and Stripes international basketball supremacy throughout history.

Ernest Grunfeld

Ernest Grunfeld is an American-Romanian former basketball player and NBA general manager born on April 24, 1955. He is the all-time leading scorer at the University of Tennessee and won gold medals in the 1975 Pan American Games and the 1976 Summer Olympics while playing for Team USA. He started his professional career with the Milwaukee Bucks as a player and later became a general manager for the New York Knicks, the Bucks, and finally, the president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards. Grunfeld was born in Romania, moved to the U.S. in 1964, and has Jewish origins.

Patrick Ewing

Patrick Aloysius Ewing Sr. is a former professional basketball player and coach, born on August 5, 1962. He is Jamaican-American and last coached for the Georgetown University men’s basketball team. Ewing played most of his career as the starting center for the New York Knicks in the NBA and then briefly played for the Seattle SuperSonics and Orlando Magic. He is considered one of the greatest centers of all time and played a vital role in the New York Knicks’ success in the 1990s.

Patrick Ewing is a former college basketball player who played for Georgetown University. During college, he led the team to the NCAA Championship Game three times in four years. Ewing played in the NBA for seventeen years, mainly for the New York Knicks. He was an eleven-time all-star and was named to seven All-NBA teams. Additionally, he won Olympic gold medals in 1984 and 1992. Ewing was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 and as one of the 75 Greatest Players in NBA History in 2021. In 2008 and 2010, he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his career and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team, respectively. The New York Knicks retired his number 33 in 2003.

Hakeem Olajuwon

Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon, nicknamed “the Dream,” is a former Nigerian-American professional basketball player who played center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets and, in his last season, the Toronto Raptors from 2001 to 2002. He is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players and centers ever. Olajuwon led the Rockets to consecutive NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2016.

Olajuwon was the first non-American to start in an NBA All-Star Game, the first non-American to win the NBA MVP award, the first non-American to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, and the first player in NBA history to win the NBA’s MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season (1993-1994). He was also a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning United States national basketball team in 1996 and was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. In October 2021, Olajuwon was honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Tim Duncan

Timothy Duncan is a former American basketball player who spent his entire 19-year career with the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is regarded as among the most outstanding and effective power forwards ever. Duncan was born on April 25, 1976, and grew up in Saint Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. He played basketball for St. Dunstan’s Episcopal in high school and went on to play for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in college. After being selected by the San Antonio Spurs with the first overall pick in the 1997 NBA draft, Duncan won five NBA championships and was a two-time NBA MVP. He was a 15-time NBA All-Star inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2020. In 2021, he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Duncan was picked for the U.S. national team for the World Basketball Championship in 1998, but the NBA lockout meant the team was replaced. He played well in the 1999 Olympic Qualifying, but a knee injury kept him from the 2000 Olympics. He joined the USA team in 2003 and led them to the 2004 Summer Olympics, where they won bronze.