Top 5 international players selected in the 2021 NBA Draft
International players have been part of the NBA Draft since the late 1970s, and the 2021 edition brought us, again, a solid group of non-American talent. Nine international players were drafted in the first round of the 2021 NBA Draft and nine others came in the second round.
Top five international talents selected in the 2021 NBA Draft
In recent decades, international stars like Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginóbili, or Tony Parker were able to build Hall-of-Fame careers in the NBA, and the international talent seems to be growing by the dribble.
Look at men's basketball at the 2021 Olympics and you'll see how many other attractive talents are on teams different from the US, like Slovenian Luka Doncic, for example.
The three most recent NBA MVP awards have been won by non-American players (Giannis Antetokounmpo from Greece and Nikola Jokic from Serbia), and the reigning Finals MVP is also an international superstar (Antetokounmpo).
NBA franchises understand that talent is not reserved to only American prospects, and the NBA Draft shows it. While some of the foreign players in the NBA Draft came from the collegiate level or the G League Ignite, there were eight coming from professional basketball teams from all over the world.
In this article, we will give you a quick look at the Top five international players selected in the 2021 NBA Draft.
Without further ado, let us start.
#5 Chris Duarte (Dominican Republic)
Dominican guard Chris Duarte was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 13th pick of the 2021 NBA Draft. Coming from Oregon, the 24-year-old is coming off two great seasons at Oregon, where he showed off his great shooting skills.
In the 2020-21 season, Duarte averaged 17.1 points per game on 53/42/81 shooting splits. He was named to the All-Pac-12 first team, Pac-12 All-Defense team and also featured in the third All-American team and won the Pac-12 Player of the Year award.
#4 Joshua Primo (Canada)
The San Antonio Spurs took Canadian Joshua Primo with the 12th pick of the 2021 NBA Draft. The Canadian guard is coming off a year in Alabama and is ready to show his shooting skills at the highest level.
Primo is an 18-year-old, 6' 6'' guard who put up 8.1 points per game at Alabama in 30 appearances (19 starts). He made 43% of his field goals, 38% from the three-point line and shot 75% from the free-throw line.