TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- At 7 feet 2 inches tall, it's hard for Garth Joseph not to stand out on the streets of Tehran -- even harder as an American.

He and teammate, Andre Smith, are among the few Americans in Iran these days, having globe-trotted here to play basketball.

Joseph, a resident of New York who hails from the Caribbean island of Dominica, has been playing professional basketball in Iran since October.

He mainly for economic reasons. After a brief stint in the NBA with Toronto, Denver and Chicago, Garth started traveling the world -- from Cuba to Ukraine to Iran -- playing basketball to get a paycheck for his family back in New York.

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