Michael Wright was an American-Turkish professional basketball player. He also held Turkish citizenship. His Turkish name was Ali Karadeniz. He played professional basketball in Poland, Spain, Israel, South Korea, France, Germany, and Turkey. He was murdered in 2015.

The 2001 NBA draft took place on June 27, 2001 in New York City, New York. Kwame Brown became the first high school player to be drafted with the first overall pick in the history of the NBA. The selection of Kwame Brown by the Washington Wizards, over players that have gone on to have more successful NBA careers, has been a source of great criticism by numerous media outlets. Several international players from this draft, Pau Gasol (Spain), Tony Parker (France) and Mehmet Okur (Turkey), became NBA All-Stars.