The 2023-24 season of the NBA tipped on October 24, and it’s sure to be another eight months of exciting, high-level basketball. Yes, Team USA might have gotten themselves embarrassed at this summer’s FIBA World Cup, but there’s still no doubt that the United States basketball league is where it’s at if you’re looking for jaw-dropping basketball from the world’s biggest stars.
This season will be the 78th official season in the NBA. It took 39 seasons for an African player to break into the league, but Hakeem Olajuwon finally did it in 1984. Many more African players – about 78 of them in total – have played in the world’s premier basketball league ever since. Some of these ballers have gone on to achieve exceptional feats in the game. Here is a list of the greatest African basketballers and the remarkable records they hold in the NBA:
Hakeem Olajuwon
Nigerian basketballer Hakeem Olajuwon was the first African to play in the NBA and is arguably the best African to ever grace the big stage. He played most of his 18 seasons in the NBA for the Houston Rockets and won two championships for them en route to becoming one of the greatest players of all time. What’s most striking about Olajuwon’s story is that he didn’t even start playing basketball till age 15 – football and handball were his athletic pursuits growing up in Lagos, Nigeria.
He has since been inducted into several halls of fame and had his jersey retired by the Rockets following his retirement in 2002, cementing his status as one of the greatest African basketballers ever. Here are the impressive NBA records held by ‘The Dream’:
• First player to be named NBA MVP, NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and NBA Finals MVP in the same season (1993-94 season)
• Most blocked shots in NBA history (3,830)
• Only player in NBA history to record 200 blocks and 200 steals in the same season (1988-89)
• Only player to record more than 3,000 blocked shots and 2,000 steals in a career
• Only player in NBA history to lead his team in all 5 categories (points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks) to the NBA title (1994 NBA Playoffs)
• Only player to retire in the top eleven all-time leaders for scoring, rebounding, steals, and blocks
Dikembe Mutombo
Before becoming the finger-wagging nightmare that offensive players dreaded, Dikembe Mutombo was on a very different path. The Democratic Republic of the Congo native moved to America in 1987 with a heart set on becoming a doctor. However, he found immense success during his college basketball days, where he became known for his shot-blocking abilities. In 1991, he was drafted by the Denver Nuggets and started a storied career in the NBA that saw him play for six teams in 18 years.
It ended with him becoming the first foreign player to have his jersey retired by two teams, the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks. Dikembe Mutombo fully deserves his place among the game’s most dominant centres, and these records prove why he is high up on the list of greatest African basketballers:
• Second most blocked shots in NBA history (3,289)
• Most Defensive Player of the Year wins (4)
• First player to lead the NBA in blocked shots for three consecutive seasons (1993-94 to 1995-96) and one of only two players to do so
• Most blocks in a single NBA playoff series (38 for Denver Nuggets vs Utah Jazz, 1994)
• Most offensive rebounds in a single NBA playoff series (45 for Philadelphia 76ers Vs Milwaukee Bucks, 2001)
Joel Embiid
This 2023-24 season will mark Joel Embiid’s 10th season in the NBA, but the Cameroonian is almost certain to go into the history books of the greatest African basketballers. Just like his fellow West African Hakeem Olajuwon, Embiid didn’t pick up basketball till the age of 15 and already had plans to play volleyball professionally.
His rise to becoming the current NBA MVP is made even more impressive by the rough, injury-plagued start that saw him miss the entire first two seasons after he got drafted. Joel Embiid’s story is still unfolding, but here are some of the records the Philadelphia 76ers talisman already holds:
• First foreign player to lead the NBA in scoring (2021-22 and 2022-23)
• First player in NBA history with at least 50 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 5 blocks in a single game (59 points, 11 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 blocks vs. Utah Jazz, 2022
• One of only seven players to record 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 200 blocks in his first 100 NBA games
• Third centre in NBA history with three 50+ point games in a season (2022-23)
Giannis Antetokounmpo
Born in Greece to Nigerian parents, Giannis endured a difficult upbringing marked by financial constraints for which he and his brothers had to do menial jobs. Basketball was an escape for the Greek-Nigerian, and it soon brought fame and fortune, too. The “Greek Freak” debuted in the NBA in 2013.
Although he did not have an electrifying start, he exponentially improved in the following seasons. Ten years later, the one-time NBA champion already has the career of that rivals any of the other greatest African basketballers on this list – and he’s not done yet. Here are some of the records that set this unbelievable power forward apart:
• The first player in NBA history to finish a regular season in the top 20 in all five statistics of total points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks (2016-17)
• One of only three players in NBA history to win the MVP award and Defensive Player of the Year award in the same season (2019-20)
• Only non-American to win the All-Star MVP
• Only player in NBA history to average at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steals and 1 blocks in multiple seasons
• Only player in NBA history to have 200 points, 100 rebounds, and 50 assists in a playoff series
• Only player in NBA history to average at least 31 points, 14 rebounds and 6 assists in a single postseason.
• Most points in an NBA Finals closeout win (50 points for Milwaukee Bucks, 2021)
There you have it, the list of greatest African basketballers to ever grace the NBA and the stunning records they currently hold. Hakeem Olajuwon and Dikembe Mutombo have written their stories, but Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo still have about ten years more to expand on theirs, beginning with the 2023-24 season.
Embiid will be desperate to lead the 76ers to their first title since 1983, while Giannis will hope to repeat his 2020-21 feat and propel the Bucks to another second title. Pascal Siakam, Gabe Vincent, Chimezie Metu, and many other Africans in the NBA will be looking to make their marks as well. It’ll all unfold in the next eight months, and we’ll be here for all of it!