By TERRY LYONS, Editor-in-Chief, Digital Sports Desk
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ISTANBUL – Attending a Basketball without Borders camp for the first time since 2005 (Basketball w/o Borders – Asia (Beijing as host) with Yao Ming is making quite an impression. The B w/o B camp concept, created in 2000-2001, and staged in Summer of 2001 (in Treviso, Italy), was done in conjunction with the United Nations. The UN’s Zach Messite played a significant role and approached the NBA with hopes to create a program to encourage healthy living amongst the youth of the world.
That evolved into a sports diplomacy mission as well, with the 2001 camp re-uniting players of five former Yugoslavian provinces via each region sending their top players to be instructed by the likes of Vlade Divac (Serbian) and Toni Kukoc (Croatian). The players had not been on speaking terms since playing as one team at the 1990 FIBA Worlds, a tournament they won. The war erupted and divided the nation znd the players.
We (at the NBA) did our small part in re-uniting them.
Pivoting from the “Doctors Without Borders” program already being run, Messite came up with the idea of “Basketball without Borders.” Commissioner David Stern and Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik gave the green light and we were off to the event planning stages. For PR and my staff back then, Helen Wong carried the torch. On Basketball Ops, it was Kim Bohuny and Bret MacTavish. NBAE, Security and NBA events staff plugged in and it was “on.”
At the time, the NBA was already working on the continent of Africa and was staging a camp tagged “Africa 100.” It was a “no-brainer” to rename that effort and the NBA began a continent-by-continent approach to staging the camps, eventually adding The Americas and Asia.
This year, the concept changed to bring the world to Istanbul with the top player prospects all in one place.
FIBA is instrumental in helping to identify the best and most deserving players without allowing any politics to get into the choices. The FIBA U-17 World Championships and their qualifiers also help scout the up & coming players.
Fast forward 25 years and the stats are staggering … check it out!
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HERE NOW, THE NOTES: This year’s camp is happening because of the following NBA and FIBA players/coaches/trainers all volunteering their time:
NBA Players
Dominick Barlow – Philadelphia 76ers, USA
Saddiq Bey – New Orleans Pelicans, USA
Thomas Bryant – Cleveland Cavaliers, USA
Bub Carrington – Washington Wizards, USA
Brook Lopez – LA Clippers, USA
Khris Middleton – Washington Wizards, USA
Jalen Suggs – Orlando Magic, USA
Jabari Walker – Philadelphia 76ers, USA
NBA Coaches and Personnel
Kenny Atkinson – Cleveland Cavaliers, USA
Caron Butler – Miami Heat, USA
Dahntay Jones – LA Clippers, USA
Jannero Pargo – Indiana Pacers, USA
Lamar Skeeter – Charlotte Hornets, USA
Greg St. Jean – Los Angeles Lakers, USA
Ekpe Udoh – Atlanta Hawks, USA (ties to Nigeria)
James White – Minnesota Timberwolves, USA
NBA and FIBA Legends
Vlade Divac – NBA and FIBA Legend, Serbia
Danilo Gallinari – NBA and FIBA Legend, Italy
Camp Directors
Chris Ebersole – Los Angeles Lakers USA
Prosper Karangwa – Philadelphia 76ers, Canada/Rwanda
Adam Simon – Miami Heat, USA
Mike Zarren – Boston Celtics, USA
Strength and Conditioning Personnel
Isaiah West – Brooklyn Nets, USA
Emily Zaler – Philadelphia 76ers, USA
Athletic Trainers
Dan Shimensky – Denver Nuggets, USA
Casey Smith – New York Knicks, USA
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That list is an amazing combination of people who are all spending their time in the No. 1 world class city of Istanbul – which happens to be home HQ for our NBA Basketball School – Türkiye. To say the synergy is working would be an understatement.
Now consider these historical numbers for B w/o B:
- B w/o B has been a platform for more than 4,900 participants from 149 countries and territories since 2001.
- As of 2026, there are 155 former campers advancing to the NBA or WNBA.
- The NBA and FIBA have staged 86 B w/o B camps in 56 cities across 36 countries on six continents.
- More than 50 former B w/o B campers were among the record 135 international players on opening-night rosters last season, including 2026 NBA All-Stars Deni Avdija (Portland Trail Blazers; Israel; B w/o B Europe 2018; B w/o B All-Star 2019), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander(Oklahoma City Thunder; Canada; B w/o B All-Star 2016), Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets; Canada; B w/o B All-Star 2015) and Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers; Cameroon; B w/o B Africa 2012).
The Players participating as campers here in Istanbul are the Top 78 17-year old men’s players in the world. The NBA stages similar camps for women, including a wonderful annual event at the NBA All-Star Game.
Jose Dias – Angola
Facundo Mathieu – Argentina
Enzo Roth – Argentina
Riak Akhuar – Australia
John Aryang – Australia
Yahya Basaran – Australia
Antonio Browne – Australia
William Troy Hamilton – Australia
Manu Agbason – Azerbaijan
Hassan Oshobuge Abdulkadir – Bahrain
Aaron Ona Embo – Belgium
Imran Subasic – Bosnia
Lucas Moro – Brazil
Victor Santos – Brazil
Isaiah Clarke – Canada
Noah D’Acre – Canada
Kenyon St. Louis – Canada
Kingston Thomas – Canada
Boran Yue – China
Zhanfeng Zhou – China
Marek Houska – Czech Republic
Martin Sibal – Czech Republic
Martin Simko – Czech Republic
Neora Francis Ossete Toly – Democratic Republic of the Congo
Lucas Troels-Smith – Denmark
Malvin Duran – Dominican Republic
Robert Kangur – Estonia
Mathias Fabien – France
Messi Yangala – France
Mansour Bayo – The Gambia
Mamadou Samba – The Gambia
Herbert Roland Senghore – The Gambia
Lucai Anderson – Germany
Paul Plato – Germany
Caspar Vossenberg – Germany
Angelos Zoupas – Greece
Vince Gaspar – Hungary
Lapo Santini – Italy
Minty Jean-Philippe Dylan Oka – Ivory Coast
Gabrielius Buivydas – Lithuania
Jokubas Kukta – Lithuania
Kristupas Sabeckas – Lithuania
Luca Balducci – Mexico
Yair Olano – Mexico
Luka Malovic – Montenegro
Marko Popovic – Montenegro
Tawhiri Cate – New Zealand
Liam Keogh – New Zealand
Zach Rampton – New Zealand
Justin Akengbowa – Nigeria
Kalu Miracle Ebubechukwu – Nigeria
Prince Carino – Philippines
Lukasz Lysek – Poland
Miguel Sousa – Portugal
Dwight Gaines – Puerto Rico
Ameer Hausawi – Qatar
Azam Yakan – Qatar
Serigne Saliou Mbodji – Senegal
Petar Bjelica – Serbia
Matija Lukic – Serbia
Ognjen Simjanovski – Serbia
Lun Jarc – Slovenia
Taejoon Park – South Korea
Emmanuel Aguer Majak – South Sudan
Eghosa Odeje – Spain
Troy Hilamani Kaufusi – Tonga
Abderahmen Bouguerra – Tunisia
Adem Rafrafi – Tunisia
Besir Briant – Turkey
Darius Karutasu – Turkey
Ruzgar Opcun – Turkey
Demir Ozturk – Turkey
Omer Sik – Turkey
Dmytro Datsenko Ukraine
Oliver Bishop – United Kingdom
Maxx Tjongondjoza – United Kingdom
Kevin Gutierrez – Venezuela
Julio Vasquez – Venezuela
Remember those names, maybe to be seen at an NBA or college basketball arena near you someday soon.
And, remember Matija Lukic – Serbia who won the “Kim Bohuny” MVP award.
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TIDBITS & NUGGETS: What’s the new motto! – “When in Istanbul, attend a FIBA World Qualifying Tournament game!” – That big game was played Friday night at 9:00pm (local) and it coincided with FIBA World Cup qualifying games being played all over the world.
Türkiye drubbed Lithuania, 94-66, after jumping out to a 27-13 1st Quarter lead and they never looked back.
For the USA Basketball qualifying squad, the venue was in Chile and the USA Men’s World Cup Qualifying (Window 4) Team handling their business in front of a capacity crowd in Santiago, 89-71.