Language of basketball: How international NBA players think about the game

GIANNIS ANTETOKOUNMPO COULDN’T keep quiet and confused. His coach would not permit it.

Early in Antetokounmpo’s NBA profession, he was nonetheless studying English and infrequently felt intimidated by how briskly the phrases flew out of the mouths of his Milwaukee Bucks coaches and teammates. Antetokounmpo particularly struggled with slang and basketball terminology after spending the primary 18 years of his life in Greece.

O.J. Mayo, the 2008 No. 3 decide taking part in for Milwaukee on the time, gave Antetokounmpo a number of films akin to “Friday” and “Friday After Subsequent” to assist him decide up on a few of the widespread vernacular utilized by the gamers. However that did not assist when then-Bucks coach Jason Kidd referred to as on Antetokounmpo in movie periods.

“I used to be like, ‘Coach, I do not perceive what you are saying,” Antetokounmpo recalled lately to ESPN. “He stored saying, ‘Cease utilizing that you do not perceive what I am saying as an excuse.'”

Kidd and his teaching workers printed out a sheet full of basketball terminology and gave it to Antetokounmpo to review. They scheduled frequent periods through which a coach would blurt out a time period from the sheet and order Antetokounmpo to show what it meant.

“I assumed it could be simpler for us to show him English than him train us Greek, despite the fact that we would have discovered a few phrases,” Kidd joked a dozen years later. “It labored out fairly properly.”

Antetokounmpo, a two-time MVP and 10-time All-Star, is one among many NBA gamers whose native language isn’t English. It has turn into a world league, that includes 135 gamers from 43 nations aside from America to begin the season, based on the league, a lot in order that the brand new NBA All-Star Recreation format options one worldwide and two American squads.

A few of these gamers arrived within the NBA already snug talking English, which is taught in lots of European colleges, and used it to speak with teammates from English-speaking nations whereas taking part in on professional groups abroad. Others needed to be taught the language on the fly. Whereas the NBA has turn into extra worldwide through the years, the vast majority of the league’s gamers are American and grew up studying and talking a single language.

As merely put by LA Clippers veteran Nicolas Batum, who’s from France: “The language of basketball is English.”

THE LANGUAGE IN which a participant thinks about and processes the sport varies from participant to participant — and typically adjustments for a person participant relying on his circumstances and environment.

Philadelphia 76ers heart Joel Embiid, a seven-time All-Star who grew up in Cameroon primarily talking French however can be fluent in Basaa, discovered English after coming to the U.S. as a excessive schooler.

“Fascinating query,” he mentioned. “I by no means thought of it.”

After pondering the query, Embiid surmised his ideas on the ground are a mixture of English and French however primarily the previous as a result of it is the language through which he communicates together with his teammates. 13 of the gamers on the 76ers’ roster have been born in the US.

San Antonio Spurs heart Victor Wembanyama, a Frenchman making his second All-Star look, had additionally by no means thought of which language the basketball soundtrack in his thoughts is ready to. He slid again in his locker following a highway sport in Memphis and thought of it for a second.

“My ideas are in French, however the vocabulary is in English,” mentioned Wembanyama, who spoke English fluently lengthy earlier than he was the No. 1 decide within the 2023 draft. “It is like each basketball time period we use, it is in English and we observe it in English, and I speak to my teammates in English. However the thought course of is in French.”

Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic additionally mentioned he interprets ideas from his native language to English on the fly whereas on the ground. He studied English as a baby in Serbian colleges however wasn’t snug with the language when he started his profession with the Denver Nuggets in 2015-16.

“After I got here right here, I positively did not have an possibility,” Jokic mentioned. “Oh, my first yr was hilarious. It was actually enjoyable as a result of I needed to say one thing and I [couldn’t] even say the protection or no matter. So it took me some time.”

That 2015-16 Nuggets group had seven gamers born exterior the U.S., however they spoke totally different native languages, so English — the language of the opposite 12 gamers who performed for Denver that season — was the plain default.

Ivica Zubac, the Croatian huge man who was traded from the Clippers to the Indiana Pacers on the deadline, mentioned he needed to prepare his thoughts to work in a different way. Minnesota Timberwolves heart Rudy Gobert, the Frenchman who’s a four-time Defensive Participant of the Yr, deliberately labored to rewire his thoughts in the identical method — though Gobert mentioned his “deep ideas, self-talk” nonetheless continuously come by in French. Communication is very vital of their roles as defensive anchors.

“It’s a must to talk in English,” Zubac mentioned. “Every little thing I see and suppose I bought to speak. And if I thought of it in Croatian after which must translate it in my head to English, then say it, it could be too sluggish.”

Antetokounmpo mentioned he grew to become snug with English basketball jargon by his third season and mastered the language whereas courting his spouse, Mariah, an American, quickly thereafter. His inner monologue goes from Greek to English relying on whether or not he is taking part in for his nationwide group or within the NBA.

“I believe [about] the sport within the place that I play,” Antetokounmpo mentioned.

His unconscious fluctuates equally. His desires bounce between the languages based mostly on which one he is talking most frequently on the time.

“I am at all times waking up and I am like, ‘Am I the one individual that this occurs to or does it occur to different individuals?'” Antetokounmpo mentioned.

He isn’t alone, even amongst NBA superstars.

“This occurs once I’m dreaming,” mentioned Los Angeles Lakers guard Luka Doncic, the six-time All-Star who spoke Slovenian, Serbian and English whereas rising up in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and discovered Spanish whereas spending most of his teenage years taking part in for Actual Madrid Baloncesto in Spain. “If I am within the U.S., it is plenty of English. Then, if I am again residence, I dream in Slovenian.

“It is sort of the identical with basketball. It is wherever I am at within the second.”

Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson tried to satisfy his gamers the place they have been at whereas serving as an assistant coach for France’s nationwide group throughout preparation for the Paris Olympics in 2024. Atkinson studied French, nevertheless it definitely would not come naturally to him, leading to comparable translation delays in communication that worldwide gamers have skilled when coming to the NBA.

The gamers appreciated his effort, nevertheless it was rapidly obvious that it wasn’t essentially the most environment friendly method of speaking.

“Hey Kenny, you tried,” Batum recalled telling Atkinson. “[Speak] English.”

That is how Batum has been speaking with teammates since properly earlier than he was chosen within the 2008 draft. He began working towards with the professional group of the French membership LeMans when he was 15 years previous. With gamers from around the globe on the roster, a lot of the communication between teammates — and basketball terminology — was in English.

Kristaps Porzingis, who grew up in Latvia and performed professionally in Spain earlier than arriving within the NBA in 2015, mentioned he would not even know the way to say plenty of basketball phrases in his native language. That is as a result of Latvians simply use basketball terminology borrowed from People.

“Basketball language is sort of a totally different language,” mentioned Porzingis, who was lately traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Golden State Warriors. “Even after we return to [the] nationwide group and stuff, plenty of stuff we are saying in English anyway.”

THE INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS who’re accustomed to talking English basketball terminology earlier than arriving within the NBA are inclined to battle with the cultural transition as a lot because the language. A number of gamers recalled early issues speaking of their every day lives off the court docket, particularly those that came visiting with no grasp of English.

“While you come over, the basketball half was straightforward,” Batum mentioned. “It’s a must to be taught all of the methods exterior. I bear in mind my first time once I bought right here, I needed to go to the financial institution and I used to be scared as s—. However on the observe court docket, I used to be nice.”

Houston Rockets heart Alperen Sengun, an All-Star for the second straight season, relied closely on an interpreter after leaving Turkey for the NBA in 2021. Orhun Gungoren, a Turkish former professional basketball participant, lived with Sengun and was always by his facet.

Gungoren served as an interpreter for each media interview Sengun did. He additionally facilitated communication with him throughout practices, group conferences and movie periods as Sengun discovered English.

“I used to be sort of understanding a bit bit [of] no matter they are saying,” Sengun mentioned. “I wasn’t simply speaking a lot. And I believe that was the entire level in my first yr, simply attempting to know it.

“I sort of had zero English once I got here to the U.S. So my first yr was like, I’d say I barely was speaking English. I used to be simply bulls—ting.”

Sengun realized that utilizing Gungoren as a crutch was slowing down the method of studying a brand new language, stunting his growth as a participant. After about six months, he deliberately went locations with out Gungoren, forcing himself to speak in English. His English improved quickly. Gungoren ultimately transitioned into a job on the Rockets’ teaching workers.

When Sengun performs for the Turkish nationwide group, he goes again to speaking virtually solely in his native language. There’s one exception.

“Perhaps simply if I speak trash, that is English,” Sengun mentioned. “Trash speaking is best in English.”

In the course of the Paris Olympics, Wembanyama stunned observers by celebrating a clutch bucket in group play with an English expletive.

“Let’s f—ing go!” Wembanyama shouted after making the dagger bucket in France’s time beyond regulation win over Japan.

“That is a basketball participant factor,” Wembanyama instructed reporters when requested about forgoing French in that second. “I believe in Mongolia, Australia or the North Pole, they are saying it.”

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Dave McMenamin and Michael C. Wright contributed to this story.