For the first time in many years, the Cuban national basketball team has several talents playing professionally in important foreign leagues. This exposure is great news for a Cuban squad that dreams of reliving the glory days when they fought for medals in the Olympic Games and World Championships with their national teams. Two of these talents are Javier Justiz and Jasiel Rivero.

At 26, and measuring 6’1”, Santiago native Javier Justiz is the center for Cuba’s present and future. With his characteristic dreadlocks and double-zero jersey, he started to represent the greatest of the Antilles in 2014 at Centrobasket, in Nayarit, Mexico, where he showcased his great potential with an average of seven points and four rebounds for his cause.

Javier Justiz

Since then his development is quite evident; in the last FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers, he averaged 12.8 points per game and 12.8 rebounds in six games. These numbers were good enough to rank him among the 15 best scorers and be the absolute leader in rebounds per game throughout the whole competition.

Justiz is currently playing his debut season with Tecnyconta Zaragoza in Spain’s ACB League. There he records 6.2 points and 3 rebounds per encounter. He's the second player born in Cuba in history to participate in this Spanish league.

Until today, the only Cuban that ever played at Liga Endesa was Andrés Guibert, who was part of the ranks of Club Ourense Baloncesto during the 1995-96 season; he later returned in 2002-03 to Fórum Valladolid’s roster.

Before he landed in Spain, Justiz outstood in one of the best teams of the Argentine league, Estudiantes de Concordia, where he collaborated with 13 points per appearance between 2015 and 2017. He was also a Liga de las Américas champions with San Lorenzo de Almagro in 2018. All of this happened after he didn't make the pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.

Recently, Justiz was also chosen as the best Latin American player in the 24th edition of Liga Endesa; an accolade that ACB is inaugurating this season.

As for Jasiel Rivero Fernández, he was the leader in points of the Cuban squad during the Qualifiers and concluded as one of the best five scorers of the whole tournament, with 16.2 points. Twenty-five years of age and measuring 6’8”, the versatile forward drew his guns early in Cuba’s League in 2015, setting 15 points and five rebounds on the scoreboard every night.

Now, with Club Boca Juniors in the National Argentine League, the towering player from Havana is coming in from contributing more than 18 points and five rebounds in 46 games. These are number that, for many, would make him the tournament's MVP.

Rivero already had experience with Estudiantes de Concordia in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. In 2015 and 2016 he was part of Club Atlético Tabaré in Uruguay — all a result of not being picked at the 2015 NBA Draft.

The Cuban duo now has the capability of building a solid barrier on the Islanders’ paint, complementing a healthy offense and a defense that’s airtight. Rivero is capable of consistently scoring thanks to his athletic capacity, an unbelievable Euro step and an unorthodox — yet effective — short and long-distance throw. Meanwhile, Justiz is a mighty presence near the rim, moves effectively on the floor and — being left-handed — is a threat on the attack. This is good news for Cuban basketball. An excellent example for young players on the island who are witnessing firsthand the new tendencies of some of the best basketball in the world.

FIBA