When you think of Caribbean athletic excellence, what comes to mind? Usain Bolt’s accomplishments as the fastest man in history? His technique is only matched by his incredible swagger. ‘The Windies’ cricket team was the undisputed best in the world from the mid-70s to the late 90s off the back of bombastic play from captain Clive Lloyd, Viv Richards, Andy Roberts, and Michael Holding.
Maybe you even think of the legendary Jamaican bobsled team – an underdog story that captured the hearts of neutrals worldwide and inspired the movie ‘Cool Runnings.’
Most don’t associate basketball with the Caribbean. However, the uber-popular sport has steadily grown in popularity around the world, including in the Caribbean. The 2023 NBA finals between the Denver Nuggets and the Miami Heat averaged 11.64 million viewers across its five games. Over the years the game has become more international, with more stars coming from outside of the United States. The three most recent MVP winners were all born and played for countries outside of America — Cameroon, Serbia, and Greece, respectively.
While we’re yet to see a Caribbean national team with top-end star power, the NBA is familiar with talented Caribbean basketballers. Like many other sports, some of basketball’s most iconic athletes were either born in the Caribbean or are second generation immigrants born to Caribbean parents.
Tim Duncan
Nicknamed the big fundamental. The San Antonio Spurs superstar is almost unanimously considered the best Power Forward of all time. Duncan was born and raised in St. Croix, one of the islands that make up the US Virgin Islands. He was one of the game’s premier defensive anchors, and is equally as celebrated as a stoic leader off the court. Duncan originally had dreams of winning an Olympic Gold in the swimming pool, but fate had other plans. In 1989 Hurricane Hugo struck the island, destroying the pool in his hometown. He lost his mother to brain cancer shortly afterwards, but not before promising her that he’d attend college. Basketball filled the void swimming left and was an outlet. Duncan would later attend Wake Forest University and win the prestigious John R. Wooden Award — awarded each year to the most outstanding collegiate player. Drafted first overall, Duncan had an illustrious career with the San Antonio Spurs winning five titles, two MVPs, and making 15 All-Star appearances.
Al Horford
A second generation basketball player for the Boston Celtics, this versatile big man is a storied veteran who has long escaped his father’s shadow. Born in Puerto Rico to Arelis Reynoso and Alfredo “Tito” Horford, Horford attended the University of Florida and played for the Gators for three years. Horford graduated with honors in 2007 with a degree in anthropology.
Horford went third overall in the 2007 draft and was a key contributor to the Atlanta Hawks right away finishing runner-up in Rookie of the Year voting to none other than Kevin Durant. Horford has made five All-Star appearances throughout his career. He has represented the Dominican Republic National team in the FIBA AmeriCup, the Centrobasket, and FIBA World Cup qualifiers. In 2011, Al Horford married former Dominican Republic Miss Universe, Amelia Vega.
Skal Labissière
While currently out of the league, Haitian-born Skal Labissière continues to ply his trade in the G-League, the NBA’s development competition. Labissière was born on March 18, 1996 in Port-au-Prince to Lesly and Ema Labissière. He survived the devastating 2010 earthquake that razed his family home and buried a teenage Labissière under rubble for three hours. There was a fear he would not walk again, but he recovered after three weeks.
After the earthquake, Labissière moved to Memphis. While originally monolingual, only speaking Haitian French, he quickly learned English and became fluent. In high school, he played varsity basketball and was ranked by many sites as a top two recruit.
Labissière spent one year in college before declaring for the 2016 NBA draft where he was selected 28th overall.
Patrick Ewing
Born in Jamaica and migrated to the United States at age 11, Patrick Ewing is one of the sport’s preeminent centers. A New York Knicks legend, Ewing played college basketball at Georgetown University where he won a national championship in 1984 and was named the national player of the year the following year.
Ewing was drafted with the first overall pick in the 1985 NBA draft for the New York Knicks and played for the organization for 15 consecutive seasons. Ewing was an 11-time NBA All-Star and a three-time All-Defense team selection.
While Ewing is infamous for never winning an NBA championship, he led his team to two NBA finals. Ewing enjoyed a brief career as an actor starring in the original Space Jam film and The Exorcist III.
