BASKETBALL PLAYERS from Japan

Top 2

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Japanese Basketball Players of all time. This list of famous Japanese Basketball Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Rui Hachimura (1998 - )

With an HPI of 35.79, Rui Hachimura is the most famous Japanese Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages on wikipedia.

Rui Hachimura (Japanese: 八村 塁, Hepburn: Hachimura Rui, born February 8, 1998) is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and has played for the Japan national team. He plays both the small forward and power forward positions. After being selected ninth overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2019 NBA draft, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2020. Born in Toyama Prefecture, Hachimura achieved success at the youth level in Japan, leading Meisei High School to three straight All-Japan High School Tournament titles and being a top player for the Japanese under-17 and under-19 national teams in FIBA competition. He joined Gonzaga in 2016 as the fifth Japanese-born men's NCAA Division I player and in 2017 became the first Japanese national to play in the NCAA Division I men's tournament. As a sophomore, he earned first-team All-WCC honors. He was named a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year.

2. Yuta Tabuse (1980 - )

With an HPI of 34.00, Yuta Tabuse is the 2nd most famous Japanese Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Yuta Tabuse (田臥 勇太, Tabuse Yūta, born October 5, 1980) is a Japanese professional basketball player for Utsunomiya Brex of the B.League. A point guard, Tabuse is 1.75 metres (5 ft 9 in) and 75 kilograms (165 lb). He was the first Japanese-born player to appear in a National Basketball Association (NBA) game. Tabuse has enjoyed popularity in Japan since his high school playing days, when he led his school to three straight national championships, and has been referred to as "the Michael Jordan of Japan" for his celebrity status.