Basketball’s Shared Vocabulary: How International Stars Adapt to English on the NBA Floor
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Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo still remembers the moment language became a non-negotiable part of his rookie education. Early in his career, the Greece-born star struggled to follow rapid-fire English instructions from Bucks coaches and teammates. When then-head coach Jason Kidd called on him during film sessions, Antetokounmpo admitted he did not understand. Kidd answered with a study sheet packed with basketball terms and daily quizzes that required the teenager to demonstrate each concept on command.
Antetokounmpo’s experience is common in a league that opened this season with 135 players from 43 countries outside the United States. While many arrive with classroom English, the game’s jargon — and the speed at which it is spoken — can be a hurdle. “The language of basketball is English,” LA Clippers veteran Nicolas Batum, a French native, said.
Thinking in Two Tongues
How that language is processed varies. Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid, raised in Cameroon speaking French and Basaa, said his on-court thoughts now mix French with mostly English because 13 of his teammates are American. San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama hears English terminology in his head but frames it with French sentence structure. Three-time MVP Nikola Jokić translates Serbian thoughts into English calls on the fly, a skill he lacked when he arrived in Denver in 2015.
Croatian center Ivica Zubac and Minnesota Timberwolves big man Rudy Gobert, from France, intentionally trained themselves to think in English to speed up defensive communication. “If I thought about it in Croatian and then translated, it would be too slow,” Zubac said.
Off-Court Lessons
Language challenges often extend beyond practice. Batum recalled being comfortable on the floor but intimidated the first time he walked into an American bank. Houston Rockets center Alperen Şengün leaned on an interpreter after leaving Turkey in 2021, then began venturing out alone to force rapid improvement. “My first year, I barely spoke English,” Şengün said. “I was just bull——–.”
National-team duty can flip the switch back. Antetokounmpo thinks in Greek with Greece and in English with Milwaukee, and Dallas guard Luka Dončić says his dreams alternate between English and Slovenian depending on where he spends the most time. For Şengün, trash talk remains an English staple even when he re-joins Turkey.
A Global Game, One Dictionary
Boston center Kristaps Porziņģis, who grew up in Latvia and played professionally in Spain before entering the NBA in 2015, said many Latvian coaches simply use English terminology because no native equivalent exists. During France’s preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympics, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson initially tried French before players urged him to stick with English for clarity.
Whether reciting Kidd’s vocabulary sheet, calling coverages in Denver or shouting an expletive after a clutch Olympic bucket, international players keep discovering that the NBA’s lingua franca is as indispensable as a reliable jump shot.
Source: ESPN
