Former NC State All-ACC Guard Lorenzo Brown will Represent Spain in the 2024 Olympics

Former All-ACC NC State Guard Lorenzo Brown will represent the country of Spain in the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Yes, Brown is from the United States. He hails from the state of Georgia.

But, back in 2022, Zo became a naturalized citizen of Spain, even though he had never lived there, nor played professionally there.

FIBA has a rule, that each national team can have one naturalized player on their roster per game.

Brown was also pursued by Croatia to become a naturalized player on their roster, but Zo chose to play for Spain, having a prior connection with their head coach Sergio Scariolo, when he was with the Toronto Raptors in the NBA.

The addition of Brown proved to be game changing for Spain. In 2022, Brown helped lead Spain to the Eurobasket Championship, earning a spot on the All-Tournament team.

Most recently, Brown helped lead Spain to victory in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament, solidifying their 7th consecutive appearance in the Summer Olympics. He averaged 12.3 points and 7.5 assists in the tournament, shooting 50% from three.

Back in 2013, Brown was drafted in the 2nd round by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but was waived before the season began. As a result, the 76ers scooped up Brown. He went on to play 5 seasons in the NBA with Philly, Minnesota, Phoenix and Toronto, totaling 103 games.

In those years, Brown also played in the NBA D-League/G-League, being named a D-League All-Star in 2015 & 2016. In 2018, Zo was named 1st Team All G-League, and earned the G-League Most Valuable Player Award.

Zo has also had a successful international career, playing professionally in China, Serbia, Turkey, Russia, and Israel. His most recent stint for Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv (Israel) was his most successful, helping lead them to three titles, while earning All-Euroleague 2nd Team this past year, and 1st team the year before that.

Brown just signed a 3-year deal to play for Panathinaikos (Greece), the reigning Euroleague champions. The deal is worth $5.4 million euros.

While at NC State, Brown earned 3rd Team All-ACC honors in 2012, and 2nd Team honors in 2013. His 589 career assists, rank 4th in NC State history, and his 172 steals rank 7th.

Brown and Spain will be in Pool A to kick things off in the 2024 Paris Olympics, playing against Australia, Greece and Canada.