Curated playlist
Olympic medalists in basketball
- Pau GasolPau Gasol first wanted to be a doctor and cure AIDS. Magic Johnson's 1991 announcement changed the boy's plans.
- Manu GinóbiliManu Ginóbili was picked 57th in the NBA draft and still reached the Hall of Fame.
- Nikola JokićNikola Jokić's 2014 NBA draft pick appeared on a news ticker under a Taco Bell ad. He went 41st overall.
- Arvydas SabonisArvydas Sabonis was drafted by Portland in 1986 but did not play in the NBA until 1995. He was 30 by then.
- Becky HammonBecky Hammon went to Spurs practices on a knee injury and left as a coach.
- Rudy GobertRudy Gobert earned his nickname, the Stifle Tower, before playing an NBA minute.
- Victor WembanyamaVictor Wembanyama was a small boy when a youth coach named Michaël Allard noticed a tall figure sitting on the bench at an under-11 game in 2013. Allard worked for the club Nanterre 92, and he assumed he was looking at a fellow coach. The…
- Andrei KirilenkoAndrei Kirilenko's nickname, AK-47, came from the city where the rifle was first made. He was born there in 1981.
- Vlade DivacVlade Divac was traded for a teenage Kobe Bryant. The Lakers center had arrived from Yugoslavia speaking no English.
- Šarūnas MarčiulionisThe Grateful Dead backed Lithuania's basketball team with tie-dyed jerseys. Šarūnas Marčiulionis lined up the sponsors.