VALENCIA (Jeff Taylor's Eurovision) - You know what a pair of Olympic gold medals with the USA, three NBA crowns and four NBA MVP awards gets you?

Just ask LeBron.

In ESPN's latest World Fame 100 (i.e. the list of the 100 most famous athletes in the world), LeBron James ranks No. 2!

Only Real Madrid football mega star Cristiano Ronaldo is above the King on the ladder while below him are some mighty big names like Barcelona icon Leo Messi (No. 3), tennis great Roger Federer (No. 4) and 'Lefty' (Phil Mickelson, No. 5), a guy that knows his way around the golf course.

For the second year in a row, Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron is No. 2 behind No. 1 Ronaldo, and that's despite the bust of the latter that was unveiled at the Madeira Airport in March.

A lot of research was done by ESPN to come up with this list. You can view their 'methodology' here. Endorsements and social media followers weigh heavily. LeBron rakes it in when it comes to endorsements - $55million - and he's got tons of followers on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

As an international basketball scribe, I have a mixture of pride and disappointment over this list.

You can argue that basketball reinforced its position as the second most popular sport in the world with this ranking. There are 13 NBA players on the list and all have connections to USA Basketball, the undisputed powerhouse in the sport with all of their Olympic and FIBA Basketball World Cup success.

What's disappointing is that some of our beloved players seem to have been slighted. I'm talking about four truly great international basketball heroes - three of them Europeans - that did not crack the top 100.

Where's Dirk Nowitzki of Germany, France's Tony Parker and Spain's Pau Gasol on this list? They are the greatest players ever from their respective countries, and they're still getting it done on the hardwood in the NBA. They've helped popularize the game to no end on the old continent. Yet this trio of players that seem to be able to walk on water are not even among the most 100 famous players in the world?

Where is Manu Ginobili of Argentina, maybe the most famous player from South America not named Oscar Schmidt? Manu, the MVP of the 2004 Olympics and the four-time NBA champ of San Antonio, isn't among the 100 most famous?

All four of those players continue to amaze in the NBA and are active in the social media - which is part of the criteria used to come up with the top 100 - yet are not on the list.

Come on Fortune 500 companies, this is a matter of honor! Can't we get some more endorsement revenue for these guys? Social media world, can't we get them some more followers? I want to seem these fellas on the list!

Parker, a four-time NBA champion, is the all-time leading scorer in EuroBasket history. Why isn't he on the list?!

Gasol? He's a two-time NBA champion and with Spain, a world champion and a three-time EuroBasket champion. They make my top 100 any time. 

Nowitzki? He's an NBA champ, an NBA MVP and he passed 30,000 career points in the NBA in March.

Doesn't Pau being good buds with Rafa Nadal (No.9) count for anything?

Rafa Nadal and Pau Gasol celebrate Spain's EuroBasket 2015 triumph

I'm also ticked off by the fame gender. There are 92 men on the list and just eight women. And there is no Diana Taurasi, the greatest women's basketball player of all time! Endorse this woman, someone!

I like the fact that LeBron is higher than both Kevin Durant (No. 8) and Steph Curry (No. 11). Durant was the MVP of the 2010 FIBA Basketball World Cup and a leading player in the USA's last couple of Olympic Gold Medal-winning sides but has yet to win an NBA title. He apparently gets $36million in endorsements.

Curry has captured an NBA title and been on two World Cup winning sides but hasn't been as impactful as Durant or James for the USA. Curry has also yet to play at an Olympics. He receives $35million in endorsements.

Kyrie Irving, who's No. 34, is a guy that has done it all. He's an NBA champion with Cleveland, a 2016 Olympic champion. Need I remind you of what he did in 2014?

Irving wasn't even on the list last year. Maybe his comments that the world is flat have made him more interesting to follow in the social media?

I also like seeing Carmelo Anthony on this list, at No. 41. He became the USA's all-time leading scorer at Olympic Games when he played in his fourth last summer in Rio. Melo benefits by playing for the New York Knicks because he's in the media capital of the world.

So yes, it's great to see our sport have such a presence on this famous list. I only wish there were some non-American basketball players to crack the top 100.

Jeff Taylor
FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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