Clyde Drexler and Arike Ogunbowale Are Some of the Basketball Pros Who Starred in 'DWTS'

On Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2021, Iman Shumpert snatched up the much-coveted Mirrorball trophy, beating trained dancer JoJo Siwa, Peloton's Cody Rigsby, and pro dancer Amanda Kloots. The 31-year-old NBA star became the first basketball player to win Dancing With the Stars.

But Iman was far from the only basketball player to appear on DWTS. So, how many basketball players appeared on the show? How far did they get?

A big hit among NFL legends like Donald Driver and Michael Irvin, DWTS has become another career highlight for dozens of athletes. The iconic dance competition TV series first aired on ABC on June 1, 2005, providing a creative outlet for world boxing champion Evander Holyfield, eight-time Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno, and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup winner Hope Solo, among many others.

Here are all the NBA players who've competed on DWTS.

Clyde Drexler appeared on Season 4 of DWTS, teaming up with pro dancer Elena Grinenko to compete against Billy Ray Cyrus and Karina Smirnoff, Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and others.

A rumba routine brought about Clyde and Elena's unfortunate demise. Slightly less glorious than most of Clyde's achievements — a 10-time NBA All-Star, he is frequently hailed as one of the greatest players in NBA history — the routine goes to prove that rumba isn't the easiest undertaking for those less up to scratch with the world of ballroom dancing.

A three-time NBA champion, Rick Fox played as a small forward for the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers before retiring in 2004. He joined the cast of DWTS in 2010, teaming up with pro dancer Cheryl Burke to deliver a series of exceptional performances.

Rick and Cheryl could have made it to the tail end of the season — was it not for the elimination they were (unjustly) subjected to in Season 11, Week 7.

"My one disappointment is that we won't learn the Foxtrot," Rick joked during an appearance on Good Morning America.

Metta World Peace (aka Metta Sandiford-Artest and Ron Artest) is best known for his incredible achievements as a small forward who played for the Los Angeles Lakers, the Houston Rockets, and other NBA teams. He partnered up with Peta Murgatroyd in Season 13 of DWTS, performing a cha-cha routine before becoming the first duo of the season to get eliminated.

Derek Fisher and Sharna Burgess stayed in the game for longer than Metta and Peta (or "Meta Pita" for the jokesters) — but they didn't quite manage to score a victory. They were eliminated in Season 25, Week 4.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar performed with Lindsay Arnold, while Arike Ogunbowale partnered up with Gleb Savchenko. They came in on a joint 7th place — as they were the contestants to bear the brunt of double elimination in Season 26, Week 2.

In what turned out to be a fairly short-lived run, Lamar Odom and Peta Murgatroyd made a few cameos in Season 28 of DWTS before their elimination in Season 28, Week 4.

Charles Oakley joined Emma Slater for Season 29 of DWTS. They got the boot in Season 29, Week 2, a week before Carole Baskin.

After a heated competition with JoJo Siwa, Matt James, and others, Iman Shumpert and his partner, Daniella Karagach, snatched up the Mirrorball trophy in the Season 30 Finale of DWTS.