How Many Bulgarians Have Played in the NBA?

Basketball is an international sport that grows in popularity every year. The sport started in the United States from an invention by James Naismith in 1861, and a couple of decades later, the sport was accepted by few local schools and the project basketball took off since then.

Nowadays, basketball is one of the most popular sports in the world reaching an estimated fan base of more than 500 million.

Since basketball started in the United States, it is safe to say that the National Basketball Association (NBA) has become the biggest, most competitive, and most elite basketball competition in the world.

With multi-billion-dollar arenas, huge salaries, and impressive basketball communities, this is truly one of the most popular sports in the world. This inspired many people to join the basketball culture writing books, movies, and TV series.

If you want more information, make sure you check out the Top 10 basketball movies.

Every athlete dreams about advancing into the NBA, but very few manage to reach this elite championship, especially from overseas. With that said, we decided to highlight some of the most popular basketball players from Bulgaria that got the chance to play in the NBA.

Cedric Simmons

His name doesn't sound Bulgarian, and that has to do with the fact that Simmons is actually an American-born Bulgarian professional basketball player that currently plays for Olympiacos B.C.

Simmons was selected back in the 15th pick back in the 2006 NBA draft by New Orleans Hornets. After that, he managed to sign a deal with the Hornets where he played for a year, after moving to Cleveland Cavaliers. Later he was traded to Chicago Bulls in a three-team trade, which didn't last long after...