Hispanic Players in the NBA

Growing up in a hispanic home where most of my friends were african american or also hispanic. I never played basketball a lot besides in the neighborhood with friends. I guess my first real experience with basketball was playing for my middle school Reed Middle School located in Duncanville, Texas. This was a very fun experience for me.

I was of course the only hispanic on the team and judging from the height of my parents and of course most hispanics I never really saw too much of a future in basketball for me.

This got me wondering how many hispanics do we see in the NBA or even NCAA basketball for that matter? Most of the NBA today consist of predominately african americans or european players from across the pond.

That being said there are actually a few hispanics within the NBA that have made a name for themselves while also being contenders.

My favorite hispanic player who is in the NBA would have to be this guy right here. His name is JJ Barea (Jose Juan Barea) his from the small island of Puerto Rico! He is listed as 6’0ft which from some reports that I have read is actually a lie. Most players have been quoted as saying that he is alot shorter than listed.

He will be my favorite hispanic player because he helped the Dallas Mavericks get their very first NBA title back in 2011. He sadly doesn’t play with Dallas anymore but plays in Milwaukee but I will forever root for him and his undersize/underdog playing style. Here is to you JJ!

Some other players I wouldn’t mind talking about are the Lopez brothers.

Yes I know what your thinking these guys look alike and yes you are also right they are twins. Brook Lopez (on the left) and Robin Lopez (on the right) were in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Their father named Heriberto Lopez was a native of Cuba hence Lopez as their last name.

Different from JJ Barea in height obviously, these guys play inside as big man post players where JJ was more of a point guard player which is typical for shorter and smaller NBA players.

Brook Lopez is the better of his brothers and plays with the Brooklyn Nets while Robin plays with the Portland Trailblazers mostly as a come of the bench player just like JJ.

These guys I would definitely call outliers. Most hispanic people I know range from the 5’8 to 6’2 range these guys are both a towering 7 ft even. No wonder they stuck to basketball. I’m sure all the homies back in LA were kicking soccer balls around these big guys growing up.

These guys are just a few hispanic players in the NBA. One other thing I would like to mention is the reception to basketball in hispanic countries or cities.

My main example will be the San Antonio Spurs. Now personally I hate the Spurs because I’m a Mavericks fan. But I do notice that the Spurs have a very large hispanic following here in Texas. One thing I would have to point out is that San Antonio’s demographic of hispanics makes up over half of the population in San Antonio.

I could honestly never see a big following of NBA teams in hispanic counties besides the Spurs one reason I would have to say is they are very close to South Texas or the valley where there are an abundance of Mexicans or hispanic people.

But at least the NBA tried to have a basketball game in Mexico featuring the San Antonio Spurs and the Milwaukee Timberwolves who have JJ Barea. I see what you tried to do there NBA unfortunately smoke broke out in the arena where the guy was to be held and they had to post pone the game.

Overall, I’m happy there are at least some hispanic NBA players in the NBA thriving and playing well besides the ones I mentioned above I would have to throw in Pau Gasol his not twin brother Marc and Jose Calderon. You guys keep the dream alive even though the last 3 guys are Spaniards I’ll still claim yall as hispanic just cause.

Thanks for reading now heres a link to watch JJ Barea literally try to go underneath some defenders legs in a basketball game. Enjoy!