The Most Famous

BASKETBALL PLAYERS from Puerto Rico

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This page contains a list of the greatest Puerto Rican Basketball Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,757 Basketball Players, 2 of which were born in Puerto Rico. This makes Puerto Rico the birth place of the 48th most number of Basketball Players behind Japan, and Kazakhstan.

Top 3

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

Photo of Carlos Arroyo

1. Carlos Arroyo (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 36.51, Carlos Arroyo is the most famous Puerto Rican Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages on wikipedia.

Carlos Alberto Arroyo Bermúdez (born July 30, 1979) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player. He played in the National Basketball Association with the Toronto Raptors, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, and Boston Celtics. In the 2008–09 season, he played for Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Basketball Premier League, winning the league's championship, and being named the Final's Most Valuable Player. In 2009 he also was the Israeli Premier League Assists Leader. He has also played professionally in Puerto Rico, Spain, and Turkey. Arroyo was a member of the senior Puerto Rican national basketball team that defeated the United States at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. He also represented Puerto Rico at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan. In May 2019, Arroyo was picked by Trilogy to play in the Big3, a 3-on-3 basketball league founded by rapper Ice Cube. He played in that league for one season, and then turned his focus to music, releasing the international hit song, "Baila Reggaeton".

Photo of J. J. Barea

2. J. J. Barea (b. 1984)

With an HPI of 32.53, J. J. Barea is the 2nd most famous Puerto Rican Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

José Juan Barea Mora (born June 26, 1984) is a Puerto Rican former professional basketball player and current head coach for the Mets de Guaynabo of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). He played college basketball for Northeastern University before joining the Dallas Mavericks in 2006 and becoming only the seventh Puerto Rican to play in the NBA. He went on to win an NBA championship with the Mavericks in 2011 before signing with the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he played for the next three seasons before returning to Dallas. He has also played in the NBA Development League and the Baloncesto Superior Nacional. Barea was a member of the Puerto Rican national team that won the gold medal in the 2006 and 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games. He was the starting point guard for Puerto Rico when they won the gold medal in the 2011 Pan American Games and the silver medal in the 2007 Pan American Games.

Photo of Dayshalee Salamán

3. Dayshalee Salamán (b. 1990)

With an HPI of 0.00, Dayshalee Salamán is the 3rd most famous Puerto Rican Basketball Player.  Her biography has been translated into different languages.

Dayshalee Salamán (born 17 August 1990) is a Puerto Rican basketball player for Obras Sanitarias and the Puerto Rican national team. She participated at the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. She is openly lesbian.

People

Pantheon has 3 people classified as Puerto Rican basketball players born between 1979 and 1990. Of these 3, 3 (100.00%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Puerto Rican basketball players include Carlos Arroyo, J. J. Barea, and Dayshalee Salamán. As of April 2024, 1 new Puerto Rican basketball players have been added to Pantheon including Dayshalee Salamán.

Living Puerto Rican Basketball Players

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Newly Added Puerto Rican Basketball Players (2024)

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