The Most Famous

BASKETBALL PLAYERS from Russia

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This page contains a list of the greatest Russian Basketball Players. The pantheon dataset contains 1,757 Basketball Players, 28 of which were born in Russia. This makes Russia the birth place of the 7th most number of Basketball Players behind Spain, and France.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Russian Basketball Players of all time. This list of famous Russian Basketball Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Russian Basketball Players.

Photo of Sergei Belov

1. Sergei Belov (1944 - 2013)

With an HPI of 57.71, Sergei Belov is the most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 37 different languages on wikipedia.

Sergei Alexandrovich Belov (Russian: Серге́й Алекса́ндрович Бело́в; 23 January 1944 – 3 October 2013) was a Russian professional basketball player, most noted for playing for CSKA Moscow and the senior Soviet Union national basketball team. He is considered to be one of the best European basketball players of all time, and was given the honour of lighting the Olympic Cauldron with the Olympic flame during the 1980 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, in Moscow. In 1991, Belov was named by FIBA as the Best FIBA Player ever. He became the first international player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on 11 May 1992. Belov was named to the FIBA All-Time EuroStars Team in 2007. He was also inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007 and was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors in 2008. In 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball.

Photo of Alexander Gomelsky

2. Alexander Gomelsky (1928 - 2005)

With an HPI of 52.74, Alexander Gomelsky is the 2nd most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Alexander Yakovlevich Gomelsky (Russian: Александр Яковлевич Гомельский; 18 January 1928 – 16 August 2005) was a Russian professional basketball player and coach. The Father of Soviet and Russian basketball, he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 and the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. Alexander Gomelsky was awarded the Olympic Order by the International Olympic Committee in 1998. In 2008, he was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors.

Photo of Vladimir Tkachenko

3. Vladimir Tkachenko (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 51.00, Vladimir Tkachenko is the 3rd most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Vladimir Petrovich Tkachenko (alternative spelling: Vladimir Tkatchenko) (Russian: Владимир Петрович Ткаченко; born 20 September 1957) is a retired Soviet and Russian professional basketball player. Tkachenko won two Summer Olympic Games medals and three FIBA World Cup medals with the senior men's Soviet Union national team. He was also named both the Euroscar and the Mr. Europa in 1979. His pro club career lasted 16 years. He was named to the FIBA All-Time EuroStars Team in 2007. He became a FIBA Hall of Fame player in 2015.

Photo of Alexander Belov

4. Alexander Belov (1951 - 1978)

With an HPI of 48.49, Alexander Belov is the 4th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Alexander Alexandrovich Belov, commonly known as Sasha Belov (November 9, 1951 – October 3, 1978), was a Soviet basketball player. During his playing career, he played at the center position. Belov is most remembered for scoring the game-winning basket of the gold medal game of the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games, which gave the gold medal to the senior Soviet national team. In 1978, when just 26 years old, Belov died of cardiac sarcoma, a type of cancer. Belov was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. He was enshrined into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball.

Photo of Gennadi Volnov

5. Gennadi Volnov (1939 - 2008)

With an HPI of 46.05, Gennadi Volnov is the 5th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Gennadi Georgievich Volnov (alternate spelling: Gennady, Russian: Геннадий Георгиевич Вольнов, November 28, 1939 – July 15, 2008) was a Russian basketball player who played for the senior Soviet Union national team from the late 1950s, to the early 1970s. He was born in Moscow. In 2018, he was named one of the 101 Greats of European Basketball.

Photo of Tatyana Ovechkina

6. Tatyana Ovechkina (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 45.07, Tatyana Ovechkina is the 6th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  Her biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Tatyana Nikolaevna Ovechkina (Russian: Татьяна Николаевна Овечкина; maiden name: Kabayeva; born 19 March 1950) is a former Russian basketball player who played for the Soviet Union women's national basketball team that won two Olympic gold medals, the 1975 World Championships and six European Championships. Today, she runs the Russia women's national basketball program.

Photo of Andrei Kirilenko

7. Andrei Kirilenko (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 44.85, Andrei Kirilenko is the 7th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Andrei Gennadyevich Kirilenko (Russian: Андрей Геннадьевич Кириленко; born February 18, 1981), nicknamed AK-47, is a Russian basketball executive and former professional basketball player. At age fifteen, Kirilenko began playing professional basketball in the Russian Basketball Super League. He played for CSKA Moscow from 1998 to 2001, winning the Russian league MVP award in 2000. In 1999, the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association selected Kirilenko with the twenty-fourth overall pick of the NBA draft. He became the first Russian player selected in the first round of an NBA draft and the youngest European player ever chosen in the NBA draft. Kirilenko joined the Jazz in 2001 and played for the team until 2010. He made the NBA All-Rookie First Team, was an NBA All-Defensive Team pick three times, played in the 2004 All-Star Game, and led the NBA in blocked shots in the 2004–2005 season. During the 2011 NBA lockout, Kirilenko returned to Russia to play for CSKA Moscow, leading the team to the 2012 EuroLeague Final. That year, he was named the EuroLeague MVP, earned an All-EuroLeague first team selection and won the EuroLeague Best Defender award. Kirilenko returned to the NBA for the 2012–2013 season to play for the Minnesota Timberwolves before finishing his NBA career as a member of the Brooklyn Nets in 2014. At the 2000 Summer Olympics, Kirilenko became a regular member of the Russian national team. With Russia, he won the EuroBasket title in 2007, earning MVP honors in the process. In 2011, he and his team won a bronze medal. He was selected to the All-Tournament Team on both occasions. Kirilenko was named FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year twice and won a Euroscar Player of the Year award in 2012. Kirilenko was elected president of the Russian Basketball Federation in 2015.

Photo of Viktor Zubkov

8. Viktor Zubkov (1937 - 2016)

With an HPI of 43.98, Viktor Zubkov is the 8th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Viktor Alekseyevich Zubkov (Russian: Виктор Алексеевич Зубков; 24 April 1937 – 16 October 2016) was a Soviet professional basketball player and coach. At a height of 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in), he played at the center position. He is considered to be one of the most distinguished players of Soviet and European basketball in the 1950s and 1960s. He won two silver medals at the Summer Olympic Games, while representing the senior men's Soviet national team. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991.

Photo of Alexey Shved

9. Alexey Shved (b. 1988)

With an HPI of 41.11, Alexey Shved is the 9th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Alexey Viktorovich Shved (Russian: Алексей Викторович Швед; born December 16, 1988) is a Russian professional basketball player for Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association. Standing at 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in), he plays at both the shooting guard and point guard positions. After helping lead CSKA Moscow to the EuroLeague final in 2012, Shved spent three years in the NBA, before returning to Europe and earning an All-EuroLeague Second Team selection in 2018. As a member of the Russian national team, he won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, as well as a bronze medal at EuroBasket 2011.

Photo of Timofey Mozgov

10. Timofey Mozgov (b. 1986)

With an HPI of 38.95, Timofey Mozgov is the 10th most famous Russian Basketball Player.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Timofey Pavlovich Mozgov (Russian: Тимофей Павлович Мозгов, IPA: [tʲɪmɐˈfʲej mɐˈzɡof], born 16 July 1986) is a Russian former professional basketball player. Mozgov won an NBA championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016, becoming one of the first Russians to do so, alongside Sasha Kaun. As a member of the Russian national team, he won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, as well as a bronze medal at EuroBasket 2011. Mozgov signed with the Lakers in 2016 before being traded to the Nets in the 2017 offseason. In the 2018 offseason, he was traded to the Magic before returning to Khimki in 2019.

People

Pantheon has 37 people classified as Russian basketball players born between 1928 and 1997. Of these 37, 32 (86.49%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Russian basketball players include Vladimir Tkachenko, Tatyana Ovechkina, and Andrei Kirilenko. The most famous deceased Russian basketball players include Sergei Belov, Alexander Gomelsky, and Alexander Belov. As of April 2024, 9 new Russian basketball players have been added to Pantheon including Viktor Zubkov, Anastasia Logunova, and Evgeniia Frolkina.

Living Russian Basketball Players

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Deceased Russian Basketball Players

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Newly Added Russian Basketball Players (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Basketball Players were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 5 most globally memorable Basketball Players since 1700.