ABU DHABI: Five NBA championships, three alongside Michael Jordan and two with Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal, give Ron Harper a rare perspective on what it takes to reach the top of basketball. After spending four days around some of the best young talent from the Middle East, Africa and South Asia in Abu Dhabi, the former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers guard believes there is no reason a player from the region cannot one day make it to the NBA. “You can always have anybody if you chase your dream,” Harper told Arab News when asked about the possibility of seeing a Middle Eastern player reach the league. “It’s not going to be easy. You’ve got to work at whatever you want to do, but you can have a dream.” Harper was in the UAE capital for the first NBA Academy Select Showcase, held by the NBA and the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi at NYU Abu Dhabi from Sept. 23-26. The four-day event brought together top high-school-age prospects from across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia for skills-development sessions and exhibition games. Harper and two-time NBA Slam Dunk champion Jason Richardson were joined by veteran NBA assistant coaches Damian Cotter, Dan Craig, Henry Domercant and James Wade in working with the prospects. For Harper, access to that level of coaching at a young age can provide players with the tools they need to continue developing. “You’ve got a bunch of young kids who are here trying to work on their basketball skills,” he said. “They have a lot of great coaches here, so it gives them an opportunity every day to work on their basketball game.” Harper entered the NBA as the eighth overall pick in the 1986 draft and established himself as a scorer early in his career, averaging more than 20 points per game in five of his first seven seasons. Some of his greatest success, however, came after joining the Bulls in 1994 and adapting his role on a team featuring Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman. Chicago won three consecutive NBA titles between 1996 and 1998, including a then-record 72-win season in 1995-96. Harper later joined the Lakers and won back-to-back titles in 2000 and 2001 alongside Bryant and O’Neal, giving him five championships in six seasons. Having played alongside some of the greatest players in NBA history, Harper said their journeys began with the same ambition he saw among the prospects in Abu Dhabi. “We all were young kids and we all had this dream of playing in the NBA,” he said. “It’s kind of preparing yourself every day, and so we continued to work on our basketball game as we grew into the NBA.” There was plenty of young talent for Harper to observe during the showcase. Nigeria’s Stephen Edwin was named MVP, while Cote d’Ivoire’s Nathan Djako received the Defensive MVP award and India’s Shekhar Rathee won the three-point contest. Edwin, Djako and Rathee were also named to the All-Select Showcase Team alongside a prospect from Bahrain and Egypt’s Yahya Ammar. The Middle Eastern contingent included prospects from the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Syria. UAE prospects Hamid Eissa Moharrami, Mohamed Jasim and Obaid Yaqoot took part, while UAE-based Matteo Carlomagno was also selected for the showcase. Harper’s championship experience has also taught him that individual talent alone is not enough to build a winning team, a lesson that could prove particularly relevant in Philadelphia this season. LeBron James has joined a star-studded 76ers roster featuring Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and fellow new arrival Jaylen Brown as he prepares for a record 24th NBA season. The new-look Sixers will be in the spotlight from the start of the 2026-27 campaign, visiting the defending champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 20 as part of the NBA’s opening night. James is seeking a fifth NBA championship, having previously won titles with the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers. Asked about James’ chances of adding another title, Harper said Philadelphia’s ability to turn its collection of stars into a cohesive team would be crucial. “You have a lot of great players, but if you don’t have great players that gel or work as a basketball team, it’s going to be a long year,” he said. It is a lesson Harper learned playing on some of the most successful teams in NBA history, and one he is now passing on to players whose careers are only beginning. The NBA Academy Select Showcase forms part of efforts by the NBA and DCT Abu Dhabi to identify and develop promising basketball players across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. Those efforts are set to expand further with the launch of the NBA Global Academy in Abu Dhabi, which will serve as the global hub for the league’s NBA Academy program and provide year-round development for elite high-school-age players from the UAE, the Middle East and around the world. For the young players Harper worked with in Abu Dhabi, reaching the NBA will require talent, hard work and commitment. “It’s not going to be easy,” Harper said. “You’ve got to work at whatever you want to do.”