At least 17 Asian countries are known to have naturalized foreign-born athletes without ethnic heritage to play in FIBA-sanctioned competitions. The naturalization process may or may not be tedious. In some countries, it only takes a presidential or a Ministry of Sports decree. In the Philippines, it requires a process where the House of Representatives and Senate are involved in investigating the basis of naturalization before approval or rejection.
In the US, the agency that processes naturalization cases is the US Citizenship and Immigration Services or USCIS. An athlete confirmed to be of exceptional talent is given the opportunity to be naturalized. Nigeria’s Hakeem Olajuwon and Cameroon’s Joel Embiid were naturalized, leading to their eligibility to represent the US. There are other requirements like minimum years of residency.
In Russia, president Vladimir Putin signed a decree to naturalize Bucknell University point guard JR Holden in 2003. Holden hit the winning basket with two seconds left to lift Russia to its first EuroBasket championship in the final over Spain in 2007. He represented Russia at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as did another American star Becky Hammons, a WNBA legend now the Las Vegas Aces coach. Russia has also naturalized 5-9 WNBA player Epiphanny Prince of Rutgers to suit up for the national women’s team.
In Japan, several American basketball players were naturalized to represent the country, including JR Henderson of UCLA, Ira Brown of Gonzaga University and Nick Fazekas of the University of Nevada, all former PBA imports. In the Japanese B-League, a team may enlist two “world” imports plus a naturalized or Asia quota player. More than 10 naturalized players see action in the B-League, including Josh Hawkinson, Gavin Edwards, Luke Evans, Thomas Kennedy, Alex Kirk, Ryan Rossiter, Josh Harrellson, Anthony Clemmons, Donte Grantham, Brandon Davies, Sebas Saiz and Kyle Richardson.
Spain pioneered in the use of naturalized players in basketball. New York-born Cliff Luyk of the University of Florida became a Spanish naturalized citizen in 1965 and represented Spain at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and 1974 FIBA World Cup. He was joined by another American Wayne Brabender on the Spanish team in 1971. At the time, FIBA allowed teams to enlist up to two naturalized players.
In the Philippines, athletes applying for naturalization to represent the country are not classified in a separate category. Under the law, their application goes through Congress. Unless there is a vigorous lobby, approval could take months. Why not set up an agency like USCIS to screen the applicants with the authority to approve cases of extraordinary athletic ability so the process isn’t so tedious? Let’s short-cut the process and facilitate the approval of foreign athletes to be naturalized. It’s done in most countries all over the world. In the 1980s, President Marcos issued a presidential decree to naturalize Jeff Moore and Dennis Still who played on the last Philippine team to win the FIBA Asia Cup (then known as the ABC Championships) in 1986. Is that option still available?