How many Latinos have won the NBA Finals?

On the eve of the matchup between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks, take a look at all the regional basketball players who have achieved glory.

Throughout history, hundreds of Latin Americans have shined in the National Basketball Association (NBA) but only a few have gone one step further by becoming champions of the world’s most important basketball tournament. Meet eight players from Latin America who have a Ring, or more, on their record.

Alfred “Butch” Lee was the first Latino to play in the NBA. The Puerto Rican was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in 1977, but it was with the Los Angeles Lakers that he became a champion: in the 1979/80 season he was part of the squad that defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in the Finals, thus winning his Only Ring .

Carl Herrera joined this privileged list in 1994, when he was a player for the Houston Rockets and became a two-time NBA champion. In the 1993/94 season they defeated the New York Knicks, while in 1994/95 they defeated the Orlando Magic. The Venezuelan also knows how to wear the jersey of the San Antonio Spurs, Vancouver Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets.

Emanuel Ginobili is the best Argentine in the history of American basketball and is considered by some to be the best in the entire Latin American region. The Bahian was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs in 1999 but only joined the team in 2002, thus beginning the before and after of his life.

In his first season, Manu gradually earned his spot on the team that ended up winning the Finals against the Brooklyn Nets. The Argentine spent 15 years competing at the highest level and in total won four NBA Rings: 2002/03 vs. Brooklyn Nets; 2004/05 vs. Detroit Pistons; 2006/07 vs. Cleveland Cavaliers and 2013/14 vs. Miami Heat. These two have the added bonus of facing LeBron James, one of the greatest players in history, in the final games.

Another Argentine is as follows: Fabricio Oberto, Manu Ginobili’s teammate, was an important part of the Spurs that swept the Cavs in the 2007 Finals In this way, the pivot became the fourth Latin American in history to reach the NBA is top.

We had to wait four more years for another basketball player from this part of the world to achieve glory. Juan José Barea, a native of Puerto Rico, was part of the Dallas Mavericks squad that defeated LeBron’s Miami Heat, who still can’t be champions, thus earning the franchise’s first and only finalist title this year.

The sixth person on the list is the Brazilian Leandro Barbosa, who was part of the Golden State Warriors team that became the NBA champion in 2015, also against LeBron’s Cavs, which frustrated the King’s dream of celebrating a title of his own city.

Playing as a shooting guard, Barbosa averaged 10.6 points per game, 2.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists while shooting 45.9% from the field, becoming a key part of a team that included figures like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson who changed the sport forever.

The seventh basketball player to join this list is the most unusual of all. Anderson Varejao, born in Brazil, was part of the Cleveland squad that was crowned in the 2015/16 season, but the center was cut by the Ohio team and went to Golden State, the eventual runner-up of the tournament.

When the 2016/17 season began, the Brazilian was offered his Ring for making the champion squad, but Varejao refused to accept the award. “If I go somewhere else and win a championship, it’s not going to be the same. I want to win a championship in Cleveland,” he declared at that time, although he would eventually end up accepting the award.

The last to join this privileged list is the Mexican Juan Toscano-Anderson, who won the 2021/22 Finals with the Golden State Warriors against the Boston Celtics, thus becoming the first player born in Mexico to lift the Larry O ‘Brien trophy throughout the story.