Naturalized players – national basketball bonus or distortion? Latvia has a painful history

It is common practice in European national basketball to attract a foreign player, who helps to achieve the set goals in a longer or shorter period of time. The rules of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) stipulate that each national team can use one naturalized player per game. In most cases, these are US basketball players who are rewarded with a salary or at least a European passport, which makes it easier to find work in the market of this continent. The Latvian men’s national team has not had a naturalized player for a long time, but in recent history, several painful losses have been experienced, in which the foreigner brought success to the opponents.