We’ve reached our first Basketball Hall of Famer on this list. To be fair, most of his acclaim was garnered by the great work he did behind the Iron Curtain in the Soviet Union. That being said, center Arvydas Sabonis was an excellent player once he did arrive in Portland in 1995. He was originally drafted by the Trail Blazers No. 24 overall in the 1986 NBA Draft.
Sabonis was starring overseas for Zalgiris in modern-day Lithuania. He led the Soviet Union to a gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Games and a bronze medal in the 1992 Barcelona Games while representing newly formed Lithuania. A brilliant scorer and arguably the most gifted passing big man of all-time, Sabonis would not come to the United States until 1995 at age 31.
As a rookie, Sabonis would make the All-Rookie first team. He finished runner-up to future Portland Damon Stoudamire for NBA Rookie of the Year and runner-up for NBA Sixth Man of the Year to Toni Kukoc. Sabonis averaged 14.5 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game as a rookie. He would play seven NBA seasons with the Trail Blazers over eight years before retiring for good after the 2002-03 NBA season at age 38.
Sabonis would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2011 due to his accomplishments internationally and with the Trail Blazers. In seven seasons with the Trail Blazers, Sabonis averaged 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game in 24.2 minutes per contest. Today, you can see his son Domantas Sabonis play an important role in the Indiana Pacers’ frontcourt. Let’s just say Sabonis’ impact on basketball as a global game is greater than we can even begin to realize.