Okay, so the other day, I got this idea to check out how many Jewish players are actually in the NBA. It’s not something you hear about every day, right? So I started digging into it, and let me tell you, it was quite the journey.
First, I went to Google, just to get a general idea. Typed in “Jewish NBA players” and started reading. I found out about this guy, Dolph Schayes. Turns out, he’s like a legend, considered one of the greatest Jewish basketball players ever. They even put him on the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team. Who knew?
Then, I stumbled upon some articles talking about how basketball used to be way more popular among Jewish folks back in the day. Before all the big names we know now, there were a bunch of Jewish players making a name for themselves. It was pretty cool to learn about that history.
- I found a list of, like, 165 Jewish American basketball players.
- The names were a mix of familiar and totally new to me.
But here’s the kicker – right now, there aren’t that many Jewish players in the NBA. I think I found only one current player who’s openly Jewish, Deni Avdija. There’s also Domantas Sabonis, who’s converting to Judaism. And another guy, Ryan Turell, is trying to become the first Orthodox Jewish player in the NBA. It’s interesting because, apparently, a lot of the NBA team owners are Jewish, but not many players.
So, I started making a list, going through different websites, and trying to piece together who’s who. It wasn’t easy, I’ll be honest. Some sources were saying one thing, others were saying something else. It took a lot of cross-referencing and double-checking to make sure I wasn’t getting bad info.
After a few hours of this, I felt like I had a pretty good handle on it. It was definitely an eye-opening experience. I went in thinking it would be a quick search, but it turned into this whole exploration of basketball history and Jewish representation in the sport.
My takeaway?
There’s a lot more to sports than just what you see on TV. There are all these stories and histories behind the scenes that you’d never know unless you go looking for them. It made me appreciate the game a little more, knowing about all these different players and their backgrounds.
