The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by James Naismith.
There were 51 players selected, as a result of a tie in the vote totals.
Five European players that had played in the NBA up to that time made the list (Divac, Petrović, Marčiulionis, Volkov, Martín).
However, no U.S.A. NBA players made the list, because they were not competing in major FIBA-organized tournaments until the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Nonetheless, 5 players with U.S.A. citizenship that played in leagues other than the NBA, did make the list (Brabender, Luyk, Galis, Cruz, Morse).