While we wait to see if the Golden State Warriors will get invited to the White House, the people of Zaza Pachulia’s homeland of Georgia wasted no time in honoring their National hero. It’s fitting, really. I was just going to write an update about this, but since it’s the offseason, I would like to also take this opportunity to foster a little attention on one of the more overlooked superstars of the NBA.

The Zaza Pachulia rule

I’m probably not alone in that I first learned about Pachulia’s popularity due to the All-Star voting - where he has been so absurdly popular that it forced the NBA to restructure the All-Star selection process. Pachulia would’ve been named a starter in the 2016-17 All-Star game without the structural changes, as the number of fans voting for him was strong enough to bump out Anthony Davis and Demarcus Cousins, among many others - last year he beat Draymond Green.

Like many other aspects of his life, Pachulia takes a lot of pride in being able to represent an entire country. And this unifying force that he has become works both ways, as he serves as a role model for them, he’s also leaning on them as a source of pride and motivation.

"Georgia is a very small country, compared to the U.S., only 3.5 million people, but a lot of basketball...Basketball is in our DNA. It's been here for years, for years and years and generations. We have pretty successful players throughout history. Basketball's definitely a very important Georgian sport."

So it should come as no surprise then that his country rallied around him and offered him the medal. Larry came along for the ride as well, as you can see:

About that medal: in the United States, it’s something of a tradition for the championship team to have a visit to the White House where they take a few photos and give the President a token jersey. That probably isn’t going to happen this year for the Warriors, for myriad reasons. Pachulia’s homeland did us one better by granting their favorite son the Order of Honor, for “outstanding personal contribution to the building of the independent government.”

Nothing Easy

When he signed with the Warriors, I really only had the vaguest notion of Pachulia as a basketball player. Fundamentally sound big man who plays physical - if well-grounded - defense. But he’s more than that. All these NBA players seem like pretty cool guys. They’re rich, famous (to varying degrees), and get to hang out and play basketball for a living. When I think of the “coolest” players, it used to be the Steph Curry and Kevin Durants of the league that came to mind.

Who else has their own website? If you haven’t been to zazapachulia.com, then I don’t know that you can properly appreciate the man. I mean...

He may not be the most fleet of foot, but Pachulia makes up for it in spades with his style.

This is a man who is beloved by his entire Country, is clearly setting the fashion world on fire, and most importantly - a man who will be starting at center when the Warriors take to the court in 63 days to begin the defense of their Championship trophy.

And through it all, he will remain a hero to Georgia - and a whole lot of others around the world, too.