United States men's national basketball team

The USA Basketball Men's Senior National Team, commonly known as the United States Men's National Basketball Team, represents the United States in international men's basketball. The USA team is the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in all eighteen Olympic tournaments it has entered, coming away with fifteen golds. Two of its gold medal-winning teams were inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in August 2010 – the 1960 team, which featured six Hall of Famers (4 players, 2 coaches), and the 1992 "Dream Team", featuring 14 Hall of Famers (11 players, 3 coaches).The United States is currently ranked first in the FIBA World Rankings.

United States and Argentina are the only two national teams in the FIBA Americas zone that have won the quadruple crown: FIBA World Championship Gold medal, Olympic Gold Medal, FIBA Americas Championship Gold medal and Pan American Gold Medal.

Traditionally composed of amateur players, a 1989 rule change by FIBA allowed USA Basketball to field teams with professional players. The first such team, known as the "Dream Team", won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, being superior in all matches.

With the introduction of professionals, the team was able to spark a second run of dominance after capturing only a bronze medal in 1988. A team of professional players competed at the 1994 FIBA World Championship, finishing first. In 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012, and 2016 the USA again captured gold medals at the Olympics.

Facing increased competition, the USA failed to win a medal at the 2002 FIBA World Championship, finishing sixth. The 2004 Summer Olympic team lost three games on its way to a bronze medal, a record that represented more losses in a single year than the country's Olympic teams had suffered in all previous Olympiads combined.

Determined to put an end to these failures, USA Basketball initiated a long-term project aimed at creating better, more cohesive teams. The USA won its first seven games at the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan before losing against Greece in the semi-finals, ending the competition with the bronze medal. The USA won gold two years later, though, at the 2008 Summer Olympics with a dominant performance. This success was followed up at the 2010 FIBA World Championship, where despite fielding a roster featuring no players from the 2008 Olympic team, the USA did not lose a single game en route to defeating host Turkey for the gold medal. The USA continued this streak of dominance by going undefeated and capturing gold once more at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, and 2016 Summer Olympics.

Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in Oakland, California. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The team was established in 1946 as the Philadelphia Warriors based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, a founding member of the Basketball Association of America (BAA). In 1962, the franchise relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area and was renamed the San Francisco Warriors. In 1971, the team changed its geographic moniker to Golden State, California's state nickname. Since 1972, the team's home court has been the Oracle Arena in Oakland. The team is nicknamed the "Dubs."

The Warriors have reached eight NBA Finals, winning four NBA championships in 1947, 1956, 1975 and most recently in 2015 when they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers. Golden State's four NBA championships are the fifth most in history behind only the Boston Celtics (17), Los Angeles Lakers (16), Chicago Bulls (6) and San Antonio Spurs (5). Wilt Chamberlain and Stephen Curry have both been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player while playing for the Warriors, for a total of three MVP awards. Golden State holds the NBA record for best regular season with 73–9 and most combined wins in a season (regular season and postseason) with 88 wins.

Dwyane Wade

Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (/dweɪn/ dwain; born January 17, 1982) is an American professional basketball player for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has established himself as one of the most well-known and popular players in the league. Wade had the top-selling jersey in the NBA for nearly two years, leading the league in jersey sales from the 2005 NBA Playoffs, until the midpoint of the 2006–07 season.

After a successful college career at Marquette, Wade was drafted fifth overall in the 2003 NBA draft by the Miami Heat. He was named to the All-Rookie team and the All-Star team the following twelve seasons. In his third season, Wade led the Heat to their first NBA championship in franchise history and was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP. At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Wade led the United States men's basketball team, commonly known as the "Redeem Team", in scoring, and helped them capture gold medal honors in Beijing, China. In the 2008–09 season, Wade led the league in scoring and earned his first NBA scoring title. With LeBron James and Chris Bosh, Wade guided Miami to four consecutive NBA Finals from 2011 to 2014, winning back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. In 2016, Wade departed the Heat in free agency to play for the Chicago Bulls.

Derek Fisher

Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9, 1974) is an American basketball coach and former player. He most recently served as the head coach of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played professionally in the NBA for 18 seasons, spending the majority of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, with whom he won five NBA championships. He has also served as president of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA).

Fisher played college basketball for the Arkansas–Little Rock Trojans, earning the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year in 1996. Selected by the Lakers with the 24th pick in the 1996 NBA draft, he spent his first eight seasons with the franchise, winning three consecutive league championships (2000–2002) with teammates Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal and coach Phil Jackson. After the 2003–04 NBA season he signed as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors, later being traded to the Utah Jazz, whom he helped lead to the Western Conference finals. Due to his daughter's health, he asked to be released from his contract in 2007. He rejoined the Lakers and won two more NBA titles with Bryant and Jackson.

In 2012 he was traded to the Houston Rockets, where he bought out his contract and was waived at his request. He then joined the Oklahoma City Thunder for the remainder of the season, playing for the 2012 NBA championship in his eighth Finals appearance. After signing with the 2012–13 Dallas Mavericks he played only nine games before being injured and asking to be released from his contract. He later rejoined the Oklahoma City Thunder for another late season push. He re-signed with them in the off-season and played in a team-high 81 regular-season games for the team in 2013–14. The following season, he was hired as the head coach of the Knicks by Jackson, who had become the team's president.

Fisher is the all-time NBA record holder in playoff games played. While playing for the Lakers, he hit a buzzer beater with 0.4 second left in game 5 of the 2004 Western Conference Semifinals against the San Antonio Spurs, which the NBA lists as the 18th-greatest playoff moment of all time.

On August 2, 2016, Fisher uploaded a video to his Facebook page of him working out with the hashtag #Imnotdoneyet, leading many to believe Fisher may try to make a comeback to the NBA, as ESPN.com reported in an article.

Magic Johnson

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American retired professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 13 seasons. After winning championships in high school and college, Johnson was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers. He won a championship and an NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in his rookie season, and won four more championships with the Lakers during the 1980s. Johnson retired abruptly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV, but returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, winning the All-Star MVP Award. After protests from his fellow players, he retired again for four years, but returned in 1996, at age 36, to play 32 games for the Lakers before retiring for the third and final time.

Johnson's career achievements include three NBA MVP Awards, nine NBA Finals appearances, twelve All-Star games, and ten All-NBA First and Second Team nominations. He led the league in regular-season assists four times, and is the NBA's all-time leader in average assists per game, at 11.2. Johnson was a member of the 1992 United States men's Olympic basketball team ("The Dream Team"), which won the Olympic gold medal in 1992. After leaving the NBA in 1992, Johnson formed the Magic Johnson All-Stars, a barnstorming team that travelled around the world playing exhibition games. Johnson was honored as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.

Johnson became a two-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame—being enshrined in 2002 for his individual career, and again in 2010 as a member of the "Dream Team". He was rated the greatest NBA point guard of all time by ESPN in 2007.His friendship and rivalry with Boston Celtics star Larry Bird, whom he faced in the 1979 NCAA finals and three NBA championship series, are well documented.

Since his retirement, Johnson has been an advocate for HIV/AIDS prevention and safe sex, as well as an entrepreneur,philanthropist, broadcaster and motivational speaker. His public announcement of his HIV-positive status in 1991 helped dispel the stereotype, still widely held at the time, that HIV was a "gay disease" that heterosexuals need not worry about; his bravery in making this announcement was widely commended. Named by Ebony magazine as one of America's most influential black businessmen in 2009, Johnson has numerous business interests, and was a part-owner of the Lakers for several years. Johnson also is part of a group of investors that purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012 and the Los Angeles Sparks in 2014.

Mirza Teletović

Mirza Teletović (born September 17, 1985) is a Bosnian professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He also represents and captains the Bosnia and Herzegovina national basketball team. Standing at 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m), he plays at the power forward position.

Early life

Teletović lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War of the 1990s. He grew up in Mostar, a city the subject to an 18-month siege when he was a child. When Teletović shared his account of the war, he said,

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 youth, Teletović spent some of his time playing soccer, as well as learning kickboxing and karate. However, he felt most comfortable with playing basketball, as he played the sport at a local basketball court not far from his home.

Professional career

Europe

Sloboda Tuzla

Teletović made his professional debut with the club Sloboda Tuzla, of the Basketball Championship of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the 2002–03 season. In his first season with the club, he averaged 7.2 points and 2.7 rebounds per game, while in his second season, he increased his stats to 26.4 points and 6.6 rebounds per game over 17 games in the league.

Telindus Oostende

In 2004, Teletović moved to the Belgian Basketball League club Telindus Oostende and stayed for two seasons. He also played in Europe's second-tier level, continental-wide ULEB Cup competition, averaging 6.7 points and 2 rebounds.

Saski Baskonia

He joined the Euroleague club Saski Baskonia (known as Tau Cerámica at the time), of the Spanish ACB League, in 2006. He played his first game in the Spanish League on October 1, 2006, in a game against Pamesa, where they won on the road by 95–94. In his first season in Euroleague, Europe's first-tier level, continental-wide competition, he averaged 5.3 points and 2.8 rebounds per game. He declared eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft, but went undrafted.

In the next three seasons with the Spanish club, he became a starting player, and eventually became the captain of Baskonia, and one of the cornerstones of the team. In 2008, he won the Spanish League Rising Star Award. A year later, in 2009, when the club became known as Caja Laboral, he was named the MVP of the mid-season three game Spanish King's Cup tournament.

Over 10 games in the 2011–12 Euroleague season, he averaged a career-high 21.7 points and 6 rebounds per game. However, Caja Laboral didn't reach the Top 16 round. In June 2012, Teletović reached a contract buyout agreement with Baskonia, for an amount of €2 million, in order to play the next year in the NBA.

NBA

Brooklyn Nets

On July 16, 2012, Teletović signed a three-year deal with the Brooklyn Nets. He made his NBA debut on November 5, 2012 in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. On March 1, 2013, Nets head coach P. J. Carlesimo said that he intended to put Teletović in the Nets rotation, along with giving him consistent minutes. He went on to tie his season-high of 14 points against the Washington Wizards in the team's second last game of the season on April 15. He managed just one playoff appearance for the Nets in their 4–3 first round series loss to the Chicago Bulls.

On November 29, 2013, Teletović recorded his first career double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds against the Houston Rockets. On January 24, 2014, he scored a career-high 34 points in a 107–106 win over the Dallas Mavericks.On February 2, 2014, he recorded his second double-double of the season with 13 points and 11 rebounds against the New Orleans Pelicans.

On December 3, 2014, Teletović scored a season-high 26 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds in a 95–93 overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs. On January 23, 2015, he was ruled out for the rest of the 2014–15 season after he was diagnosed with bilateral pulmonary embolus. He made an earlier than expected return for the Nets on April 22, playing four minutes and grabbing two rebounds in Game 2 of the team's first-round series loss to the Atlanta Hawks.

On June 18, 2015, the Nets tendered a qualifying offer worth $4.21 million to make Teletović a restricted free agent. However, on July 9, the Nets withdrew their qualifying offer and parted ways with him.

Phoenix Suns

On July 17, 2015, Teletović signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract with the Phoenix Suns.He made his debut for the Suns in the team's season opener against the Dallas Mavericks on October 28, recording 5 points and 5 rebounds in a 111–95 loss.On November 29, he scored a season-high 20 points off the bench in a 107–102 win over the Toronto Raptors. He tied his season-high on December 7, scoring 20 points, including a go-ahead basket with 0.3 seconds left, to cap the Suns' furious fourth-quarter rally from 16 down in a 103–101 win over the Chicago Bulls. On December 16, he surpassed that mark, scoring a team-high 24 points in a loss to the Golden State Warriors. On January 12, 2016, he reached double figures for a career-best sixth straight game, scoring 19 points in a loss to the Indiana Pacers. On February 19, he scored a season-high 25 points in a loss to the Houston Rockets. Six days later, he topped that mark with 30 points in a loss to his former team, the Brooklyn Nets. On March 23, in a win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Teletović set the Suns' single-season record for most three-pointers made off the bench, surpassing Danny Ainge's 150 made three-pointers during the 1992–93 season. On April 5, in a loss to the Atlanta Hawks, Teletović set an NBA single-season record for most three-pointers made off the bench, surpassing Chuck Person's 164 made three-pointers during the 1994–95 season with the San Antonio Spurs. Teletović finished the season with a 181 three-pointers, with 179 made while coming off the bench.

Milwaukee Bucks

On July 8, 2016, Teletović signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. On November 5, 2016, he scored 22 points and matched his career high with seven three-pointers in a 117–91 win over the Sacramento Kings.

National team career

Teletović plays for the national basketball team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He has played at the EuroBasket 2003, EuroBasket 2005, EuroBasket 2011, and EuroBasket 2013. In the EuroBasket 2011 tournament, he averaged 13.8 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, however, Bosnia and Herzegovina finished in 17th place out of 24 teams in the tournament.

In the EuroBasket 2013 qualification, Teletović averaged 24.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game and helped Bosnia and Herzegovina finished first in group D. During the final tournament, Teletović averaged 21.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game, with both points and rebounds per game being career highs for Teletović at the EuroBasket. Bosnia and Herzegovina was not able to advance to the second round despite its 3–2 record, leading to a 13th-placed finish. In the EuroBasket 2017 qualification, he averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Werner Nowitzki (German pronunciation: [ˈdɪʁk ˈvɛʁnɐ noˈvɪtski]) (born June 19, 1978) is a German professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). An alumnus of Röntgen Gymnasium and the DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and immediately traded to the Mavericks, where he has played since. Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), Nowitzki is considered one of the greatest power forwards in basketball history.

Nowitzki led the Mavericks to 15 NBA Playoffs (2001–2012; 2014–2016), including the franchise's first Finals appearance in 2006 and only championship in 2011. He is a 13-time All-Star, a 12-time All-NBA Team member, and the first European player to start in an All-Star Game as well as the first to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player Award (2007). Nowitzki is the highest-scoring foreign-born player in NBA-history, currently being ranked 6th in all-time scoring with over 29,000 regular-season points. He is also one of seven players who achieved a 50–40–90 season (2007). He is the first Maverick voted onto an All-NBA Team and holds several all-time Mavericks franchise records. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Nowitzki are the only players to achieve four consecutive 30-point, 15-rebound post-season games (2001–2002)

Nowitzki led the German national basketball team to a bronze medal in the 2002 FIBA World Championship and silver in EuroBasket 2005, and was the leading scorer and MVP in both tournaments. He was named the Euroscar European Basketball Player of the Year by the Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport for five years running from 2002 to 2006 and again in 2011. He was also named the Mister Europa European Player of the Year by the Italian sports magazine Superbasket in 2005, and the FIBA Europe Men's Player of the Year twice in 2005 and 2011.

On December 18, 2011, Nowitzki was named the 2011 German Sports Personality of the Year, the first basketball player to receive the award. On December 10, 2012, he became the first non-American player to receive the Naismith Legacy Award.