Website Chooses Two-Time NBA Champion As Greatest International Player

Zachary Draves | Sep 4, 2024

February 19, 2022; Cleveland, OH, USA; NBA great Hakeem Olajuwon during the 2022 NBA All-Star Saturday Night at Rocket Mortgage Field House. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images / Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

International players in the NBA are growing each year but the best apparently entered the league during the 1980s.

Houston Rockets great Hakeem Olajuwon was chosen as the greatest foreign player by HoopsHype.com. He received a 100 percent share of the vote out of all the other players listed which included Dikembe Mutumbo, Dirk Nowitzki, and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The list included 78 players.

Olajuwon, who is from Nigeria, teamed with fellow Hall of Famer Clyde Drexler at the University of Houston. He was a big factor on a team that later become known as "Phi Slamma Jamma".

In 1984, Olajuwon was the top pick in one of the most consequential drafts in NBA history. It also featured Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and John Stockton.

Olajuwon played 17 of his18 seasons with the Rockets. He won Finals MVP in both of his championships (1994 and1995) seasons.

He was the league MVP in 1994. He made the All-NBA 1st Team six times and was a 12 time All Star.

In 1996, he represented the United States at the Atlanta Olympics as the team won the gold medal.

He closed out his career with a brief stint with the Toronto Raptors from 2000-2001 before retiring in 2002. In 2008, he was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.

Zachary Draves is a contributor to Back In the Day Hoops On SI. He can be reached at zdraves1013@gmail.com and on Instagram @zdraves0633.

Follow our updates and coverage on Facebook

X: @BackInTheDayNBA