Gary Neal is a vital role player for the N.B.A. team with the best record, one of the top rookies in the league and the name most likely to elicit this one-word response: “Who?”
It is O.K. to ask. Gregg Popovich had to ask, too, before handing Neal a San Antonio Spurs jersey and a guaranteed contract.
“Never heard of him until he walked in the gym,” Popovich, 
the Spurs’ coach and team president, said Tuesday.
Lately, no Spurs highlight reel — and there are many — seems complete without Neal flinging 3-pointers while opposing coaches scream in vain for someone to put a hand in his face.
Neal has made 53 3-pointers, the most among N.B.A. rookies, and has converted a stout 38.1 percent of his attempts. He scored 21 points in a recent victory over the Dallas Mavericks and had 22 points in consecutive wins over Denver and Phoenix last month.
Neal had a rare off night Tuesday, shooting 3 of 11 and scoring 8 points, and the Spurs took a rare loss, falling to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden, 128-115.
Undoubtedly, Neal owns a place in every team’s scouting report, although the players guarding him might still need to read the back of his jersey to identify him. And that is fine with Neal.
“I don’t mind being anonymous,” Neal said with a wide smile. “It’s great for me. A lot of open shots. And a lot of wins. We’re winning a lot. That’s the most important thing.”
The Spurs’ league-best 29-5 record is, as ever, a product of Tim Duncan’s post play, Tony Parker’s whiz-bang playmaking and Manu Ginobili’s creative scoring. But San Antonio also has its best group of reserves in years, and Neal has been as valuable as any of them. He is easily their biggest surprise.
Neal went undrafted in 2007, despite averaging 25.3 points as a junior for Towson. When no N.B.A. team signed him, Neal took his talents to Turkey. Then to Spain. Then to Italy. And then back to Spain.
For three years, Neal toured Europe, never staying anywhere long enough to fully absorb the culture or the language.
“I picked up enough to be able to survive,” he said.
He also picked up a fair amount of basketball wisdom and maturity, growing at every stop. The Turkish team, Pinar Karsiyaka, “let me showcase my talents; they let me play,” Neal said. In Barcelona, Spain, he was asked to play within a structure, which “taught me a lot about playing for the betterment of the team,” he said. In Treviso, Italy, he found a happy medium, a place to expand his game while also fitting into a team concept.
After spending most of last season with Treviso, Neal’s odyssey ended in Málaga, Spain, where he was turned loose as a scorer for 10 games. But the principles of team play stuck.
“I can go games where I don’t have to score and it doesn’t affect anything else basketball-wise about my game,” Neal said. “If I don’t score, I can still play defense, because I did that in Europe and I understand that it’s about the team and for the betterment of the team.”
Neal averaged 19.4 points for Treviso and 12.6 for Málaga and earned an invitation to a Spurs free-agent minicamp, where he endeared himself to Popovich.
“He shot well,” Popovich said, “but he also stuck in his nose a little bit defensively. I was impressed.”
Neal shot 50 percent in the summer league and led San Antonio in scoring (16 points per game), earning a three-year contract. He is simply the latest on a long list of hidden gems discovered by the Spurs’ front office.
Parker was a late first-round pick. Ginobili was taken in the second round, 56th over all. George Hill, the Spurs’ excellent backup point guard, was another late first-rounder. DeJuan Blair, their starting center, was also a second-rounder. Tiago Splitter, the skilled backup center, was the 28th pick in 2007, the same year that Neal went undrafted.
“We’ve had our share of good hits,” Popovich said, before adding, wryly, “But we’ve got some guys over there in Uzbekistan and places like that that we don’t want anybody to ever know about. You have to find players that are willing to fulfill roles, and you have to know what roles you need to have filled to go around your star players.”
There is no ambiguity with Neal. He waits for open shots and makes them, with great frequency, while opponents wince after foolishly leaving him alone.
“I don’t mind standing in the corner getting 10 3s every night,” Neal said. “That’s great.”
It just might cost him his anonymity.
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