Jeremy Lin, Chris Bosh & Pau Gasol Among NBA's Smartest Players Heading Into the 2016-17 Season; Team and Contract Details
Jeremy Lin, Chris Bosh and Pau Gasol are not your ordinary NBA players heading into the 2016-17 season. Aside from being smart on the court, the NBA stars have impressive off-the-court records that could prove they are among the biggest brainiacs in the league.
Lin, Bosh and Gasol recently made it to the list of NBA's smartest players released by Joel Brigham of Basketball Insiders. According to Brigham, the league is full of smart players, but not all of them took their education as seriously as Lin, Bosh and Gasol.
Lin: The Ivy League Player
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Lin attracted a lot of attention this summer after signing a three-year $36-million deal with the Brooklyn Nets. He is poised to lead his new team in the 2016-17 NBA season as the starting point guard.
In the past years, Lin constantly grabbed attention for sporting eccentric hairdos. But according Brigham, there is more to Lin than those eye-catching haircuts. The 28-year-old NBA star is among the only four Harvard students in the history who made it in the NBA.
As of press time, Lin is the only active player in the NBA to have attended an Ivy League university like Harvard. He earned a degree in economics in the prestigious institution. He was also famous for his incredibly high 4.2 GPA in high school.
Bosh: The Computer Wizard
Bosh, the member of the Miami Heat's famed Big Three, hinted days ago that he will return to the league to play for the 2016-17 season. The 32-year-old star forward took hiatus early this year to recuperate from a calf injury.
Brigham wrote that Bosh is also among the NBA's smartest players because of his impressive educational background. During his high school years, he was a member of a computer club called Wizkids. The forward's passion for coding and computer science made him become a member of the National Society of Black Engineers and Association of Minority Engineers.
Gasol: The Medical Expert
Per SI, Gasol is among the veteran players in the league who are slated to make big turns in the 2016-17 NBA season. The 36-year-old forward left Chicago Bulls this summer and inked a two-year $30-million dollar contract with the San Antonio Spurs.
According to Brigham, Gasol's father was a senior nurse while his mother was a doctor. The Spain national attended medical school before landing a career in the league. He can also speak three languages fluently, including English, Spanish and Catalan.
In addition to Lin, Bosh and Gasol, Brigham also listed retired basketball stars Dikembe Mutombo (Atlanta Hawks), Chris Dudley (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Danny Granger (Miami Heat) as NBA's smartest players. Tom McMillen (Los Angeles Clippers) and Bill Bradley (New York Knicks) also made it to the list.
