Basketball History: 5 Greatest players of all time outside the NBA

Year in and year out, the unvarying yet exciting NBA calendar keeps the fans hooked to the game they love. But often in the course of regular league action, we seem to forget that there's way more to basketball than what meets the eye. The NBA champions are frequently referred to as the best squad in the world while the megastars of the game regarded as the best basketball players the world has to offer.

It's true that most of the game's elite from across the globe flock to the States to showcase their skills at the biggest stage. However, there remain a huge bunch of accomplished ballers who never show up due to a variety of reasons. Some opt out due to monetary inclinations, others hoop dreams turn to nightmares due to untimely deaths, while the rest decide to stack paper playing for their home country.

Let's skim through the list of arguably some of the most gifted ballers never to have made it to the league.

#1 Hank Gathers

Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble led Loyola Marymount to national prominence.

College basketball in the late '80s was dominated by the 6-foot-7 Gathers. During the 1988-89 season, he averaged as high as 33 points along with 13.7 rebounds per game for Marymount.

Skimming through his numerous achievements in college, one would find the 1989 WCC Player of the Year, 2x WCC Tournament MVP (1988, 1989), 1990 Consensus All-American Second Team, 3x All-WCC First Team (1988, 1989, 1990) and 2x All-WCC Tournament (1988, 1989).

Coupled with Bo Kimble, the LMU led Division I in scoring in 1988 (110.3 points per game), 1989 (112.5), and 1990 (122.4). Gathers was destined to be catapulted into NBA stardom when he first discovered that he had an abnormal heartbeat in 1989. He was reluctant to take the required medication as he thought it slowed down his movement on the court.

During the 1990 WCC tournament quarterfinals, Gathers collapsed on the court due to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and passed out playing the game he loved. He died only months before what would have been a No.1 draft pick for him in the NBA draft that year.

#2 Joe "The Destroyer" Hammond

Hammond's name is etched amongst the greatest Rucker Park legends.

Hammond got his middle name through his natural tendency to destroy all kinds of defences.

The Rucker Park in Harlem is the most famed outdoor court in the world. In what veteran observers call the greatest streetball game ever played in 1970, Joe walked into a game in the second half and dropped 50 points on Dr J in a double-overtime loss.

Hammond also set a Rucker Park single-game record with 82 points. New York Times described him as being the best streetball player ever.

Legend has it that while in high school, Joe Hammond turned down a $50,000 offer from the Lakers and a three-year deal with the ABA because he was making more cash balling in the streets.

Unfortunately, he took up the drug game for the long haul and as a result is currently a recovering addict having done a couple of bids in prison as well. In 2010, Hammond filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Foot Locker and Nike for using his name and image of merchandise without his permission.

#3 Dimitris Diamantidis

Diamantidis played for one team through all 12 years of his pro career

In retrospect, nobody could've guessed how great he could be when he went undrafted in 2002.

Diamantidis dedicated all of his career to Panathinaikos Athens playing a major role in the team racking up nine Greek League championships. Out of his 12 seasons with the squad, Dimitris won Greek League MVPs in half of them. The 6-foot-5 Greek is EuroLeague's leader in assists and steals. In the 2006 FIBA World Cup where Greece stunned the USA in the semis, Diamantidis finished as the steals leader of the competition.

Placed amongst his uncountable accolades in also the award for "Greek Athlete of the Year" in 2007. By the time he retired in 2016, he was rightfully considered one of Europe's GOATs and made the 2001-10 EuroLeague All-Decade Team.

He received the Euroleague Basketball Legend award in 2016.

#4 Richard "Pee Wee" Kirkland

Kirkland turned down an offer to play for the Chicago Bulls

Just like all the other streetball legends, Kirkland made more money hustling than the NBA could ever offer. During the '60s and '70s, Pee Wee would famously stop by the Rucker in a Rolls Royce and drop an effortless 50 on his opponents. There are rumours that he pulled the first-ever crossover and spin to the basket.

When he balled at Norfolk State, Coaches like John Wooden and Red Holzman were highly interested in his skills while Sports Illustrated dubbed him as "The fastest man in college basketball". Many believe he had an invaluable opportunity to play with the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at UCLA, but he preferred what the gangster lifestyle had to offer.

There is no doubt he would have turned into an elite NBA player, had he chosen a different path. Later, Pee Wee appeared in the 2012 documentary 'Doin’ It in The Park'.

#5 Earl "The Goat" Manigault

"The Goat" is arguably the most well-known streetball legend of all-time

The 6-foot-1 jumping jack had a 52-inch vertical which he often used to win bets on the street. A few of them including grabbing money off the tops of backboards and reverse-dunking 36 times. He was a dunking legend, posterizing greats like Connie Hawkins and Kareem on a regular basis at the Rucker.

During his time at the NYC Junior High School, he set a scoring record of 57 points in a game. Colleges all over the country wanted to recruit him but things never worked out for "The Goat". Unfortunately, Earl got caught up in heroin addiction which led to prison stints and eventually, death due to heart failure at the age of 53 in 1998.

The respect for him knew no bounds; the playground at 99th and Amsterdam in New York is named Goat Park in his memory and one of the squads for the Boost Mobile Elite 24 is named in his honour. The 1996 HBO movie 'Rebound' immortalised Manigault's legacy with Don Cheadle starring as The Goat.