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5 Most Uncommon Journeys to the NBA

5 Most Uncommon Journeys to the NBA

Making it to the NBA is the dream of all basketball players. From when they start playing, they are told that they need to practice, work hard, and be team players if they want to make it. But the reality is that few do. Though the road is clear: high school, college, pro, it is all an uphill climb, and most will never make it. Imagine now how the odds are stacked against those who do not even see the road. Below are 5 players who, despite the bumps and detours, found their own way to the NBA.

1. Thon Maker

Photo: Kevin Sousa – USA TODAY Sports

Hometown: South Sudan/ Perth, Australia

From escaping a civil war in South Sudan to becoming an NBA lottery draft pick, one might say Thon Maker’s journey to the NBA was quite the rollercoaster.

At the age of five, Maker was forced to flee a war-torn Sudan, leaving his parents and life behind. He was sent to Perth, Australia as a refugee in the hope that he would have a safer life. In Perth, Maker began to develop his basketball skills. He started training late, at the age of 14, but he learned quickly and was soon forced to move to Sydney in order to find players that could compete with his combination of size and skill. Maker’s unusual journey to the pros did not end here, however. He moved again at the end of 2011 in search of stiffer competition, this time, to the United States. In the US, Maker attended two schools in Louisiana, before finally settling in Martinsville, Virginia. One would think that once a foreign player has moved to America for basketball, he has finally made it.

Wrong. Once again, Maker found himself packing up and moving, this time travelling north of the border to play for one of the best prep schools in Canada. It was at this school, Orangeville Prep, that Maker’s mixtape went viral. The The 7’1 boy wonder gained Internet fame for his freakish athletic abilities and also for sparking wide media attention regarding his “eligibility” issues.  In the end, he became the first player to be drafted out of high school in over a decade, proving that there is more than one way to get to the NBA.

2. Mirza Teletovic

Photo: Jerome Miron – USA TODAY Sports

Hometown: Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Mirza Teletovic was born and raised in Bosnia during the Bosnian War of the 1990s. Growing up in a city under seige, Teletovic shared what it was like to live in these circumstances while trying to develop a basketball career.

“I was seven years old when the war started. First you start seeing that there’s no food, then grenades come down, the whole city is shaking, and you hear people screaming. Every day, your parents come in and say ‘our neighbor died, our cousin died’. Always somebody dying. One day, I asked my mother, ‘Is anybody alive?’ It was very, very rough for us. It left, I will say, a memory…All my friends and me are playing [basketball] and then you hear the sirens like the grenades start falling down and just run to your house and hide. If I have to die, I die. For basketball, I will do anything.”

As a kid growing up in difficult and dangerous conditions, it was either basketball or despair. Teletovic chose to play ball and went pro at 15. He has never looked back.In 2012, he signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a 27 year old Free Agent, proving to the world that not only could he make it, he could do it on his own terms.

 

3. Serge Ibaka

Photo: USA TODAY Sports

Hometown: Brazzaville, Republic of Congo

With both his parents renowned for their basketball skills, Serge Ibaka’s story should have been different. It could have started with his parents giving him his first basketball and helping him develop step by step. Unfortunately, for Ibaka, this was not the case. Although he did start playing at a young age, he did not have the guidance and support of his parents. After his mother’s death and the untimely political imprisonment of his father, Ibaka and his 17 siblings were on their own, and Ibaka knew he had to turn to basketball.

At the age of 17, Ibaka was finally able to leave the war-torn country of his birth and made his way to France, a world leader in youth basketball development. It was here that Ibaka began to seriously hone his skills. Ibaka moved to Spain a year later, teaching himself to speak fluent Spanish and becoming a Spanish citizen. Finally, he found himself in the proper circumstance to be exposed to NBA scouts. Once the stage was set, all Ibaka had to do was perform. And perform he did. Ibaka was drafted in 2008, to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

4. Jimmy Butler

Photo: Kim Klement – USA TODAY Sports

Hometown: Houston, Texas

“His story is one of the most remarkable I’ve seen in all my years of basketball. There were so many times in his life where he was set up to fail. Every time, he overcame just enormous odds. When you talk to him—and he’s hesitant to talk about his life—you just have this feeling that this kid has greatness in him.”

An NBA executive said this about Jimmy Butler prior to the 2011 NBA draft. Born and raised in America, the home of basketball, how could the journey have been so difficult? In fact, Jimmy Butler has faced the kind of adversity that very few US born players have experienced. Butler’s father abandoned the family when he was just an infant and by the time he was 13, his mother has kicked him out of the house. Butler stated in a 2011 interview that she told him, “I don’t like the look of you. You gotta go.” Butler bounced between the homes of various friends, unable to find a stable situation. Eventually, he was taken in by friend, Jordan Leslie and his family.

This new family gave Butler a foundation from where he could develop as a man and as a player. Because of the upheaval in his life, Butler never gained much attention for basketball. He was not known to scouts and recruiters and had to attend Tyler Junior College in Texas. At Tyler, Butler  improved as a player, finishing his freshman season with more than respectable numbers. He averaged 18.1 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game. Finally, people noticed and some of the bigger basketball universities in the country came knocking. Again though,  listed the 127th best junior college prospect, Butler found himself overlooked by the bigger names. He accepted a scholarship to mid-major Marquette University and started his career there as a bench player. Butler worked his way through the team ranks, and eventually led Marquette to an NCAA tournament appearance in his Junior season. Due to his incredible work ethic, toughness, and grit, Butler gained the attention and interest of NBA scouts and found himself being selected with the 30th, and final pick, of the first round of the 2011 NBA draft.

5. Steven Adams

Photo: Mark D. Smith – USA TODAY Sports

Hometown: Rotorua, New Zealand

Anyone pursuing a basketball career from New Zealand is already the underdog. After all, there has only ever been one Kiwi-born player to grace the hardwood of an NBA arena. Now compound that with Adams’ 17 siblings, poverty, illiteracy, and the death of his father, and you have an unlikely journey to the NBA.

Steven Adams is the youngest of 18 children. His father was already well into his 60s when he was born, and he passed away when Adams was just a boy.  Not motivated to attend school, Adams ended up illiterate and directionless. Without the guidance of his parents, Steven sought out new role models to look up and listen to. At just 14, and already a staggering 6’5”, Steven decided to put his future into his older brother, Warren’s hands. Warren Adams had played basketball himself for the New Zealand National team. Through connections, he managed to get his little brother in contact with former teammate, Kenny McFadden who was an American who had moved to New Zealand to play professionally. McFadden saw the potential and arranged for Steven to attend one of the best prep schools in the country, Scots College in Wellington, on a full scholarship.

Adams had to adapt to the prep school ways. He said, “I’d never worn a tie before. I was a bushman.” With the help of teachers and coaches, Adams became “addicted to getting better.” By the time he was 18, and 6’11”, he was getting noticed for his combination of size, strength, and hard-working mentality. After graduating from Scots College, Adams would make a big change of scenery as he found himself moving to America, enrolling at Notre Dame Prep. He didn’t stop there, however, as Adams used stability to gather momentum and eventually earn a scholarship to Pittsburgh University, where he continued to perfect his game. The Oklahoma City Thunder selected Adams with the 10th pick of the first round of the 2013 NBA draft, and the boy from “way down under” who had lacked direction and focus had finally made it.

These five cases are examples of players overcoming extreme odds and adversity in order to make their NBA dreams come true. It shows that if you’ve got the will, commitment, and the dedication, then nothing is completely out of reach.

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