Basketball is the second most followed and practiced sport in Spain after football.

Spain has been fortunate to have incredible generations of basketball players. Players who have given Spain great success, both nationally and internationally, and who have even competed in the NBA.

Spain has lived historic moments in basketball, especially in recent years, thanks to great signings that have placed the Spanish National Team among the most competitive in the world.

In this article, we will mention some of the best Spanish basketball players who have been protagonists and whose names will always be remembered in the history of our country.

Ready to discover the 8 best Spanish basketball players of all time?

P.S.: The players will be ordered according to their maximum height. At the end of the post, I’ve added a table with each player’s height and professional basketball career.

1. Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol was born on the 6th of July 1980 in Barcelona. In 1999, he started playing professionally for FC Barcelona. During those years, he was twice the ACB champion and once the champion of the Copa del Rey (2000-2001).

Pau became the second Spanish athlete to play in the NBA, and during that first season, he won the Rookie of the Year recognition. He was the first non-American player to win it!

A few years later, in 2006, Pau was the first Spaniard chosen to play in an All-Star Game in Houston. After his trade to the Lakers in February 2008, Pau won two NBA championships (2009 and 2010).

As the excellent player he was, he represented on several occasions to the Spanish national team. In 2006 he helped Spain to win the Gold at the World Championship. Pau has been able to win multiple distinctions, including three Olympic medals in Beijing (2008), London (2012), and Rio de Janeiro (2016).

Pau has won three European Championships (2009, 2011, and 2015), where he was named MVP in two of the three golds. During the 2017 Eurobasket, he became the all-time leading scorer. In the summer of 2021, his fifth Olympic Games, he competed in the Tokyo Games.

Throughout his career, he has also been recognized with other distinctions, such as the Prince of Asturias Award for Sports, received by the Spanish Basketball Team in 2006, or the Princess of Asturias Award in 2015. From 2017 to 2020, he was vice president of the NBPA (NBA Players Association).

In 2021 Pau announced his retirement. That same year, he was awarded the “Gran Cruz de la Real Orden del Mérito Deportivo” and the “Cruz de Sant Jordi,” one of the highest honors the Government can bestow upon a person.

2. Marc Gasol

Marc Gasol was born on the 9th of January 1985 in Barcelona. He is the younger brother of Pau Gasol, both Marc and Pau are some of the greatest legends of Spanish basketball.

Marc started playing basketball at CB Cornellá, but when his brother Pau signed for the NBA in the USA, he went with him. He went to the University of Memphis, where he became the leading scorer of the team, as well as the best player.

After a few years, he returned to Spain to continue his professional career in his home country. He started playing for F.C. Barcelona, the team with which he debuted in the ACB league in 2003. Still, in the first year, he had very limited participation. After three seasons playing here, he signed for Akasvayu Gerona.

He has been an NBA player for 13 consecutive seasons. Of his most outstanding achievements are the championship title achieved in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors. He also won the title of the NBA Best Defensive Individual (2013). As well as his inclusion in the league’s best five in 2015. His three selections to the All-Star game (2012, 2015, and 2017) and numerous personal records.

Just like his brother, he was in the Spanish national team from 2006 to 2021, a group in which he was World Champion in 2006 and 2019, Olympic runner-up in Beijing (2008) and London (2012), and twice European Champion (2009 and 2011). He was also a European runner-up in 2007 and won the bronze medal in the last Europeans (2013 and 2017).

After his final season with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2021, Marc left the NBA with records that only a few professionals have been able to achieve.

3. Fernando Martín Espina

Fernando Martin was the first Spaniard to play in the NBA, a pioneer who also had to face the hostility that still existed in that competition towards foreign players. But let’s travel in time to get to know this fantastic basketball player.

He was born on the 25th of March 1962 in Spain, Madrid. He started playing basketball in Estudiantes, with which he won a Spanish Youth Championship.

With the first team, he was runner-up in the Spanish League. When he was just 18 years old, he signed with Real Madrid. With this team, he was four times League champion (1982, 1984, 1985, and 1986), three times Cup champion (1985, 1986, and 1989), twice European Cup Winners Cup (1984 and 1989), and once in the Korac (1988).

He made his debut at the age of 19 with the Spanish National Team under the direction of coach Antonio Díaz Miguel. He won a European runner-up medal (Nantes, 1983) and the silver medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games (1984).

In 1986-1987, he went to play with the Portland Trail Blazers, but he barely played. So, in 1987 he decided to return to Real Madrid, where he played until his death.

He played 76 international games and was considered one of the best basketball players of the time. He won many awards and recognitions.

But on the 3rd of December, he couldn’t play the game against the CAI Zaragoza due to an injury, but he went to support his team (Real Madrid). On his way, he had a car accident. He died in Madrid at just 27 years old. Since his death, no other player has worn the number 10 jersey for Real Madrid.

4. Rudy Fernández

Rudy Fernández was born on April 4, 1985, in Palma de Mallorca. Since he was a kid, he had a strong passion for basketball, implemented by his parents as they were basketball players. He started his career in Joventut de Badalona in the youth categories, marking a before and after. Rudy had an excellent projection, and the ACB and national teams began to count on him in 2003.

His professional career continued, and it was not until 2006 that he had great success. He was able to qualify for the Euroleague. At the end of the World Cup, he became the sixth man of the best Spanish basketball team up to that moment. In 2008 he won the Copa del Rey and was named MVP of the tournament.

Rudy was an NBA player for 4 seasons, from 2008 to 2012. He played against Pau Gasol, where he became the eighth Spaniard in the best league in the world. In 2009, Rudy was the first European player in history to be nominated to participate in an NBA slam dunk contest.

In 2011 Rudy played for a few months with Real Madrid. Yet, he had to finish the season with the Denver Nuggets. He later returned to Real Madrid, where he plays nowadays.

He has been part of the Spanish National team since 2004. On August 15, 2004, against China, he played his first game in official competition at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Since then, he has been proclaimed European champion (2009, 2011 and 2015, 2022), twice Olympic runner-up in Beijing (2008) and London (2012), and World champion (2006 and 2019).

With Pau Gasol, he played in five Olympic Games (2004-2020), a record of participation shared with several players.

Now, Rudy continues his professional basketball career for Real Madrid.

5. Juan Carlos Navarro

Juan Carlos Navarro, also known as “La Bomba” (“The Bomb”), was born in Barcelona on June 13, 1980. He joined FC Barcelona when he was just a kid, at 12 years old. In 1977, he made his debut, becoming the first team player when he was 19.

Since that moment, his performance in the basketball world has been exceptional. He became one of the team’s most important players, culminating in 2003, the best season in the history of FC Barcelona. In the season of 2007/08, he played with the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA alongside Pau Gasol. And in the 2009/10 season, he was chosen MVP of the Final Four. He spent most of his sporting career with FC Barcelona.

He was able to win 23 titles, including 8 Leagues, 7 Cups, 5 Supercups, and 2 Euro leagues, being the top scorer in the Euroleague, among other records, which makes him one of the most important players. He later became captain of FC Barcelona.

He was part of the Spanish National team and captain (2000-2017). With a total of 253 games, being the basketball player with the most international caps in the history of Spain. He won 10 medals between the three major championships, 6 having been proclaimed, among other successes, world champion (2006), 2 times European champion (2009 and 2011), and double Olympic runner-up in Beijing (2008) and London (2012).

On June 10, 2018, he announced his retirement as a professional basketball player.

6. Alfonso del Corral

Alfonso del Corral was born on the 1st of June, 1956. He is a fascinating and professional person. He has triumphed not only in the sports world but also in the medical world. Let’s talk about him and his career step by step.

When he was a kid, he found his passion for basketball, and for over 10 years, he played in different clubs. He started playing in Vallehermoso, a lower section of Real Madrid. After playing for 2 years there, he went to play for other clubs, such as Estudiantes and Inmobanco. He played a historical season in the collegiate team, managing to be runner-up. It was at this moment that he started playing with Real Madrid. In this club, his achievements included 2 Spanish Leagues and 2 King’s Cups, a Korac Cup, and a European Championship. He played here until the end of his basketball career in 1989.

Some characteristics that made him one of the best basketball players of the time were that he was a very calm person and he played very concentrated, as well as his tremendous physical strength.

He combined high-competition sports with his medical career, his doctoral thesis, and his residency at the Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid.

After a successful sports career, in 1989, Ramón Mendoza allowed him to become his teammates’ doctor, and thus led the basketball section of Real Madrid as medical director from 1994 to 2007.

Nowadays, he is the director of the Traumatology, Orthopedics, and Sports Medicine Unit at the Ruber Internacional Hospital in Madrid and is considered a great doctor.

7. Sergio Llull

Sergio Llull was born on the 15th of November 1987 in Menorca. When he was a kid, he started playing basketball in the La Salle Mahón basketball team. In the 2003-04 season, he was signed by Bàsquet Manresa. Since this year, he has started winning different awards in his professional career as a basketball player. In the 2005-06 season, he made his debut in the ACB League with Manresa.

At 19 years old, he signed for Real Madrid. In 2008 he was one of the nominees to win the ACB Revelation Player award. A year after, he was selected by the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Draft. The Nuggets immediately traded the player to the Houston Rockets. He didn’t want to participate in the NBA (even though they tried it several times), so he decided to return to his home country and continue playing for Real Madrid.

With Real Madrid, he has won 2 Euroliga (2015,2018), 7 ACB League (2007- 2022), 6 Copa del Rey (2012-2020), 8 Spanish Super Cup (2012-2022), and was able to achieve 1 Intercontinental Cup in 2015.

Sergio was international with the national team, with which he won a gold medal in Zaragoza. A European champion in the final of Eurobasket (2009, 2011, 2013). Olympic runner-up at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Olympic bronze at Rio in 2016. He didn’t win, but he was able to participate in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Due to a muscle injury, he could play in the EuroBasket of 2022-

Llull continues playing for Real Madrid, and he has been named best national player of the season, decided by the jury of the Spanish Basketball Gala.

8. Ricky Rubio

Ricky Rubio was born on the 21st of October, 1990. He started debuting in professional basketball when he was 14 years old and was the youngest player in the league.

When he was 18, he participated in the Beijing Olympics. He won the bronze medal and became the youngest medalist in the history of basketball.

In 2006, Rubio led the Spanish Cadet National Team to victory in the European Championship. The following year, he received the ACB league’s revelation award, becoming the youngest player to be included in the league’s top five.

A few years later, in 2009, he went to Barcelona, where he played for the following seasons. When he played in Barcelona, they were champions of the Catalan league, winning the final against DKV Joventut, Rubio’s former club. They also won the ACB Supercup, the Euroleague, and the FIBA Eurocup, among many other wins. And it was like this how Ricky Rubio had won all the European titles before he was 21.

In 2011, at 21 years old, he went to Minnesota following his dream of playing in the NBA. But far from reality, a few months after, he was injured, and it kept him 9 months away from the courts. Consequently, he couldn’t attend the London Olympic Games (2012).

In 2019, he signed a three-season contract with the Phoenix Suns. In this team, he has been able to win thousands of awards. That same year, Ricky Rubio was proclaimed world champion with the Spanish National Team and named the most valuable player of the tournament (MVP).

At the moment, Ricky continues showing off, but this time in the Cleveland Cavaliers team.

Here’s a table with the 8 Spanish stars who made history in basketball:

Are you more into basketball or football?

Who is, for you, the best basketball player in history?

We must recognize that Spain has an incredible and super-competitive basketball team! And I am not saying this because I’m Spanish, just because it is true! You just have to watch one of our games to see how good our players are!