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Nick Van Exel names his top Wisconsin players: "That's my top three"
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- Nick Van Exel names his top Wisconsin players: "That's my top three"
Wisconsin is not traditionally known as a major hub for top basketball players. It has, however, produced a number of quality hoopers who have represented their state well on the biggest stage.
One of them was Nick Van Exel , who is a native of Kenosha, an industrial and lakefront city south of Milwaukee . He played 13 years in the NBA and was a one-time All-Star after starring at the University of Cincinnati.
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Van Exel continued to share what he learned about basketball in Wisconsin as he transitioned to coaching and player development after his playing career ended. He became an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks , Memphis Grizzlies and Atlanta Hawks and was a scout for the Dallas Mavericks for a while.
Best Wisconsin players
While he is proud of what he was able to achieve on the basketball court as a Wisconsinite, Van Exel is not taking it all on his own, recognizing the other players who hailed from the same state he is from and who also did, and still do, special things in their careers, especially in the NBA.
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"Nick the Quick" mentioned some of them in his appearance on the "Out The Mud Podcast" of former NBA players Zach Randolph and Tony Allen .
" Caron Butler , [Latrell] Sprewell. Tyrese Halliburton. He's going to be solid when he comes back. Tyler Herro. Me, Spree, Caron Butler, that's my top three. That's my top three, dog," Van Exel, now 54, said .
Caron Butler , who was born in Racine and had a rough childhood that saw him arrested a number of times before he reached 15, honed his basketball skills and turned his life around at Racine Park High School and Maine Central Institute.
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He earned a scholarship to UConn, where he continued to soar as a player, winning top individual awards that led to his selection as the 10th pick in the 2002 Draft.
In the NBA, he was a one-time champion (with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011) and a two-time All-Star, finishing with career averages of 14.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 881 games. Butler is still in the NBA as an assistant coach with the Miami Heat .
Milwaukee native Latrell Sprewell , for his part, played Junior College ball in Missouri before starring at the University of Alabama. After college, he played 13 years in the NBA.
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He was a four-time All-Star and a one-time member of the All-NBA First Team, which he did in just his sophomore year with the Golden State Warriors in 1994, joining Karl Malone (Utah), Scottie Pippen ( Chicago ), Hakeem Olajuwon ( Houston ) and John Stockton (Utah).
Oshkosh's Haliburton
Widely considered the best Wisconsin player in the NBA right now is the Indiana Pacers ' Tyrese Haliburton , who was born and raised in Oshkosh, east-central Wisconsin.
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In just six years in the NBA, the 26-year-old former Iowa State star has been a two-time All-Star and was a member of the gold medal-winning Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics. He missed the entire 2025-26 NBA campaign as he continues to recover from the Achilles injury he suffered in the 2025 Finals, but is expected to make a full recovery.
"Nothing means more to me than to give back here at Oshkosh. It is something that I plan to do for a long time moving forward because I value this community so much. I have fond memories of this place and this city. To show that I'm from Oshkosh is fun," Haliburton shared what his hometown meant to him.
Other players from Wisconsin in the NBA include Terry Porter and Jordan Poole from Milwaukee and Jalen Johnson from Wausau.
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Wisconsin may not be a hotbed of top basketball talent in the US, but, as shown by the likes of Van Exel, Haliburton and Sprewell, Wisconsinites are not short on drive and can be counted on to deliver when opportunities arise.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
