The Most Famous

BASKETBALL PLAYERS from Nigeria

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This page contains a list of the greatest Nigerian Basketball Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,757 Basketball Players, 3 of which were born in Nigeria. This makes Nigeria the birth place of the 39th most number of Basketball Players behind Sweden, and Mexico.

Top 7

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

Photo of Hakeem Olajuwon

1. Hakeem Olajuwon (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 55.45, Hakeem Olajuwon is the most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 50 different languages on wikipedia.

Hakeem Abdul Olajuwon ( ə-LAY-zhoo-on; Yoruba: [olaɟuwɔ̃]; born January 21, 1963), nicknamed "the Dream", is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. From 1984 to 2002, he played center in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Houston Rockets, and in his last season, the Toronto Raptors. He led the Rockets to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995. Olajuwon was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2016. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest centers, as well as one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Olajuwon traveled from his home country to play for the University of Houston under head coach Guy Lewis. His college career for the Cougars included three trips to the Final Four. Olajuwon was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the first overall selection of the 1984 NBA draft, a draft well known for its immense talent, which also included players such as Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and John Stockton. He combined with the 7-foot-4-inch (224 cm) Ralph Sampson to form a duo dubbed the "Twin Towers". The two led the Rockets to the 1986 NBA Finals, where they lost in six games to the Boston Celtics. After Sampson was traded to the Golden State Warriors in 1988, Olajuwon became the Rockets' undisputed leader. He led the league in rebounding twice (1989, 1990) and blocks three times (1990, 1991, 1993). Despite very nearly being traded during a bitter contract dispute before the 1992–93 season, he remained in Houston. He became the first non-American to be an NBA All-Star and start in an NBA All-Star Game, the first non-American to win the NBA MVP, the first non-American to win NBA Defensive Player of the Year, and, in the 1993–94 season, became the first player in NBA history to win the NBA's MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Finals MVP awards in the same season. His Rockets won back-to-back championships. The Rockets' 1994 championship against the New York Knicks was the first in franchise history, with Olajuwon avenging his college championship loss to Patrick Ewing. The following year, after a lackluster regular season, Olajuwon's Rockets swept Shaquille O'Neal's Orlando Magic in 4 games in the NBA Finals. In 1996, Olajuwon was a member of the Olympic gold medal-winning United States national basketball team, and he was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History. In October 2021, Olajuwon was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He ended his career as the league's all-time leader in blocks (3,830) and is one of four NBA players to record a quadruple-double.

Photo of Ademola Okulaja

2. Ademola Okulaja (1975 - 2022)

With an HPI of 37.06, Ademola Okulaja is the 2nd most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Ademola Okulaja (10 July 1975 – 17 May 2022) was a German professional basketball player. The last team he played for were the Brose Baskets of the Basketball Bundesliga. After his playing career, he became an agent for NBA player Dennis Schröder. A 2.06 m (6' 9") forward, Okulaja received 172 caps for the German national team, serving as a team captain for many years and winning bronze at the 2002 World Championships. He played college basketball in the United States at North Carolina and flirted briefly with the NBA before moving on to a successful career in Europe.

Photo of Michael Olowokandi

3. Michael Olowokandi (b. 1975)

With an HPI of 35.57, Michael Olowokandi is the 3rd most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Michael Olowokandi (born 3 April 1975) is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in London, he played collegiately for the Pacific Tigers in Stockton, California. Nicknamed "The Kandi Man," Olowokandi was selected as the first overall pick of the 1998 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. He played professionally until 2007, when he was forced to retire due to severe hernia and knee injuries.

Photo of Festus Ezeli

4. Festus Ezeli (b. 1989)

With an HPI of 25.22, Festus Ezeli is the 4th most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Ifeanyi Festus Ezeli-Ndulue (born October 21, 1989) is a Nigerian-American former professional basketball player. He previously played five seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ezeli played college basketball for Vanderbilt before being selected with the 30th overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft by the Golden State Warriors. He won an NBA Championship with the Warriors in 2015. Ezeli last appeared in the 2016 NBA Finals and did not play basketball due to his knee surgery in the 2017 season, then coming back in 2021.

Photo of Josh Okogie

5. Josh Okogie (b. 1998)

With an HPI of 21.80, Josh Okogie is the 5th most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Joshua Aloiye Okogie (born 1 September 1998) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball at Georgia Tech, and was selected 20th overall in the 2018 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves. He also represents the Nigeria national team.

Photo of Precious Achiuwa

6. Precious Achiuwa (b. 1999)

With an HPI of 20.82, Precious Achiuwa is the 6th most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Precious Ezinna Achiuwa (born September 19, 1999) is a Nigerian professional basketball player for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended high school in the United States, where he was a consensus five-star recruit and named a McDonald's All-American. Achiuwa played college basketball for the Memphis Tigers, earning conference player of the year honors as a freshman in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in 2020. He was selected by the Miami Heat in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft with the 20th overall pick. After his rookie year ended in Miami, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors during the 2021 offseason.

Photo of Solomon Alabi

7. Solomon Alabi (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 15.52, Solomon Alabi is the 7th most famous Nigerian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Makafan Solomon Alabi (born March 21, 1988) is a Nigerian former professional basketball player. He moved to the United States at the age of 17 to attend Montverde Academy. Alabi played college basketball for the Florida State Seminoles where he was a two-time Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) All-Defensive team selection in both his freshman and sophomore years. He was selected by the Dallas Mavericks as the 50th overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft and played two seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Toronto Raptors. Alabi played one season in the NBA Development League and finished his career overseas with stints in Greece, Taiwan, the Philippines and Japan.

People

Pantheon has 7 people classified as Nigerian basketball players born between 1963 and 1999. Of these 7, 6 (85.71%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Nigerian basketball players include Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Olowokandi, and Festus Ezeli. The most famous deceased Nigerian basketball players include Ademola Okulaja. As of April 2024, 4 new Nigerian basketball players have been added to Pantheon including Ademola Okulaja, Josh Okogie, and Precious Achiuwa.

Living Nigerian Basketball Players

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Deceased Nigerian Basketball Players

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Newly Added Nigerian Basketball Players (2024)

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