Which Olympic Basketball Stars Could Join the NBA?

The success of men’s basketball in the 2024 Olympics has opened the eyes of many fans to the fact that there are great teams and players across the planet. While Team USA swept to the gold medal with a win over France in the final, maybe you were impressed by some of the tournament’s best non-NBA players and wondered whether they might end up in the American league.

Willy Hernangomez - Spain

At 7-foot tall, this center is an imposing physical presence in the Spanish team. He broke through at Real Madrid and joined the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2015 NBA draft before being traded to the New York Knicks. His time playing at Madison Square Garden appeared to start well and was Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month early in his career as he led rebounding for newcomers to the league. He ended his first season in the NBA All-Rookie First Team.

Willy then bounced around a few American teams without realizing his obvious potential. In 2023, he signed a three-year deal with Spanish team FC Barcelona. He was recently reported to be dissatisfied with his role at Barcelona and will have been disappointed that the highly-rated Spanish team dropped out of the Olympics in the qualifying round. Will Willy return to the NBA at some point? After seven years in the American league, he stated that he was happy with the support he received on his return to Spain, so it seems unlikely at the moment. 

Bruno Caboclo - Brazil

This 28-year-old power forward from Brazil started his career with Pinheiros before joining the Toronto Raptors in the 2014 NBA draft. This selection is still best remembered for Fran Fraschilla saying that he was "two years away from being two years away" when reporting it. Bruno never quite made the breakthrough expected of him in the NBA and returned to Brazil, where he was more successful.

After moving around a few teams in different countries, he joined Partizan Belgrade of the Serbian League in 2023. He averaged 9.4 points over the 2023-24 season, which was ultimately unsuccessful for the team. Given his globe-trotting career to date, it would be easy to imagine Bruno being interested in a move back to the US, but the latest news reports suggest that he is considering an offer from Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv. At the Olympics in Paris, his 33 points vs Japan was one of the top individual performances.

Wenyen Gabriel - South Sudan

Wenyen was born in Sudan but moved to the US as a youngster. His college basketball was played for the Kentucky Wildcats, and he was one of the country’s most highly-ranked young players at one point. Despite this, he went undrafted in 2018 but then joined the Sacramento Kings to play in the Summer League. After briefly joining the Portland Trail Blazers, Wenyen moved to the New Orleans Pelicans followed by the Brooklyn Nets and other US teams.

He then went to Puerto Rico with the Vaqueros de Bayamón and it was recently announced that he’s signed for Maccabi Tel Aviv to play in the Euroleague and the Israeli Basketball Premier League. If you want to follow his career, you can now easily find online content for foreign basketball leagues and stream games. You might also want to check the current basketball odds for leagues around the world. You’ll see live betting odds as well as the numbers for upcoming games. Choose from options like moneyline, spread, and total bet when looking for games to bet on in the Euroleague and elsewhere.

Carlik Jones - South Sudan

Carlik was born in the US and grew up in Ohio, becoming one of the highest-rated college players while performing for the Radford Highlanders and then the Louisville Cardinals. He went undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft but then joined the Dallas Mavericks to play in the NBA Summer League. After moving around a few teams, he was named as the NBA G League’s Most Valuable Player in 2022 while playing for the Chicago Bulls. 

The point guard played in China and was rumored to be moving to Maccabi Tel Aviv this season but surprised everyone by signing for Partizan Mozzart Bet of the Serbian league instead. Carlik revealed after the World Cup that he had some offers from the NBA but that the move to Serbia felt right and that Partizan appears to be the ideal team for him. At 26 years old, he might still have time to move back to the American league in the future.

Summary

At the moment none of the non-NBA players who performed well in the 2024 Olympics seems set to join the American basketball league. Yet, some of them have already played here before heading abroad to try their luck elsewhere, so it wouldn’t be a major surprise to see one or more players from this list reaching the NBA at some point.