Europe has more and more weight in the best basketball league in the world, the NBA. It is significant that during the last four seasons the MVP award has been monopolized by a Greek and a Serb. Giannis Antetokounmpo conquered it in 2019 and 2020, Nikola Jokic in 2021 and 2022. Before them, Dirk Nowitzki was the only European to have obtained that recognition, in 2007. It is an obvious change in trend. The NBA has become an open, global competition, and more and more foreign stars have the opportunity to shine in the United States. As of Thursday, the focus will be on the Eurobasket. These are the main names of the North American league that will be present at the tournament.
Giannis Antetokounmpo is a leader, both in his team and in his country. He was the architect of the second ring in the history of the Milwaukee Bucks, won in 2021, exactly 50 years after the first. He has been awarded the MVP twice, curiously the two years prior to the title; in addition to All-NBA the last four seasons and All-Star the last six. At 27 years old, he is already competing to become the best European player in history.
He made his debut with the Greek national team in 2014 and played in the World Cup. The following year he participated in his first Eurobasket, in which Greece fell in the quarterfinals against Spain, which would end up being champions. His last major international championship was the 2019 World Cup. So far, he hasn't come close to success with the national team. In this edition of the Eurobasket he will have the opportunity to demonstrate, once again, his leadership skills, accompanied by his brother Thanasis, Nick Calathes or Tyler Dorsey.
Nikola Jokic succeeded Antetokounmpo as the third European to be named NBA MVP. He also did it twice, in 2021 and 2022. He has three appearances in the best quintet of the season (2019, 2021 and 2022) and four appearances in the All-Star, the last four seasons. At the same age as the Greek, his explosion in the league came later. His lack of explosiveness collides with the spectacular nature of the competition, but he made his physical condition and gifted technique a trademark. Thus, he is one of the best playmakers from the inside position.
With his national team he won the silver medal at the 2013 U-19 World Cup, held in the Czech Republic. He played metal again at the 2016 Rio Olympics, this time with the senior team. Serbia came within a whisker of gold, losing to the mighty US team in the final. In the 2019 World Cup in China, he reached the quarterfinals.
The Dallas Mavericks point guard is set to succeed the other two as the NBA's fourth European MVP. After his early explosion with Real Madrid in the ACB and in the Euroleague, he was chosen at number three in the draft that same year. In the NBA he was not intimidated and continued to grow, showing that he has the potential to become what many expect: the best European player in history. It's still early. In his short career in the United States, he has been recognized as the Best Rookie of the Year, three times All-NBA and three times All-Star.
With Slovenia it took place under the baton of Goran Dragic, leader of the team in the 2017 Eurobasket that both conquered. In that tournament, Dragic was MVP and Doncic was part of the best quintet. In the Olympic Games played last year, where the Dallas guard was already the undisputed star, Slovenia finished fourth and Doncic signed the second best score in the history of the competition, with 48 points in his debut.
Rudy Gobert is one step below the other three, without a doubt the most prominent names in Eurobasket. However, the center recently traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves is the face of France, a team committed to fighting for medals in almost all competitions. He is one of the best defenders in the modern history of the NBA, also among the best Europeans in this facet. Three times Defensive Player of the Year, three times All-Star and six appearances in the best defensive quintet of the season endorse it.
With France he won bronze in the 2014 World Cup, in the 2015 Eurobasket and in the 2019 World Cup. In the 2021 Olympic Games he went one step further, but he was on the verge of gold. He was, if not, the United States in charge of snatching the title from him in the final.
Among the most historic surnames in European basketball is that of the Sacramento Kings power forward. Although he has already been an All-Star twice and one of the standards in recent years for the Indiana Pacers, averaging more than 20 points per game in the 2020-21 season, the fame of his last name comes from much further back. He is the son of the legendary Arvydas Sabonis, a legend in the Portland Trail Blazers and a member of the NBA Hall of Fame.
Both he and his father have played in Spain, Arvydas with great success at Valladolid and Real Madrid and Domantas at Unicaja de Málaga. At the international level, the latter holds the records for the most rebounds in a single game for the European Under-16s (27) and the Under-20s (28). He is the youngest player to debut for the Lithuanian senior team (19 years and two months) and won the silver medal at Eurobasket 2015.
Bogdanovic is another who tried to use Spanish basketball as a springboard to the NBA, although in his case it was not so easy. During his time at Real Madrid he had no continuity and was loaned out twice, the second time to CB Murcia, which ended up terminating his contract. After a few years in Croatia he was chosen in the thirty-first position of the second round of the 2011 draft, but decided to continue three more seasons playing in Turkey. His breakout in the NBA didn't come until 2018, and in 2020 he averaged more than 20 points with the Utah Jazz.
At the international level, he had disciplinary problems that kept him away from the national team between 2012 and 2013. For the rest, his participation in the 2016 Rio Olympics stands out, where he emerged as the tournament's top scorer, with an average of 25, 3 points per game and a percentage slightly above 50%.
The center will celebrate his tenth season in the NBA this year. There, he made a name for himself with the Toronto Raptors, alongside DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and company. However, his statistics, especially in the offensive section, jumped in his last two seasons, in the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Orleans Pelicans. In these teams he had to assume a greater responsibility in attack, since they did not have the flow of those Raptors.
He made his debut with the Lithuanian national team in 2011. In 2013 he won silver at the Eurobasket and in 2014 a meritorious fourth place in the World Cup. He repeated the silver medal at the 2015 Eurobasket, in what is his last major participation in an international tournament. In the following, Lithuania did not go beyond the quarterfinals.
The point guard recently arrived at the Chicago Bulls, who also had a brief stint at CB Murcia, is the player on this list with the longest career in the NBA. Since 2008 he is part of the best league in the world. He has gone through five different franchises and in all of them he has had an important role, either as a starter and with prominence in the game or as a key secondary player at certain moments in the games. His best years were spent between 2013 and 2020, playing for the Phoenix Suns and, above all, for the Miami Heat, where he received his only All-Star call-up and reached the NBA finals in the NBA season. pandemic.
With Slovenia he is already a legend, the leader of a champion group of the European Under-20 in 2004 and of the Eurobasket of absolute category in 2017, where he was also awarded the MVP. Now, his witness is picked up by Luka Doncic, but Dragic, who flirted with the idea of leaving the national team after that last victory, will continue, at 36 years old, as a mentor to the youngest.
This point guard born in Braunschweig was chosen in seventeenth position in the 2013 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, after being named the best young player and most improved player in the German league. It was precisely in the Hawks where he achieved greater regularity. After five seasons on the team, he went to the Oklahoma City Thunder and was recruited by LeBron James to try to repeat the title with the Lakers in 2021, a task in which they failed miserably, partly due to injuries. He started last season with the Celtics and finished it with the Rockets.
Despite being in a difficult situation, as he is still an unrestricted free agent, he is completely focused on his performance as leader of the German team. A team in which he will have Franz Wagner as a partner, a member of the best rookie team of the season in the NBA. After missing the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Schröder returned showing a high level in the preparation matches for the Eurobasket, in which he will play at home.
The beginnings of the Bosnian center in basketball go through Slovenia and Croatia. With six Euroleague games behind him, all of them with Cedevita Zagreb, he comes out in 16th position in the 2014 draft, chosen by the Chicago Bulls. That same night of the ceremony he was transferred to the Denver Nuggets, where, yes, he began his career in the American league. It is in Portland, however, that he becomes the undisputed owner of the painting and a perfect match for Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. He broke his tibia and fibula in a terrible action in 2019, missing the whole season, but he is back and is slowly getting back to his previous level.
He is the most outstanding figure of the Bosnian national team, to which he returns after several years of absence. His last participation with the national team was in the 2019 World Cup. However, he will not be alone, since he has the current ACB MVP, Dzanan Musa, recently signed by Real Madrid. In a match against France in preparation for the Eurobasket, Nurkic left a spectacular mate on Vincent Poirier that went around the world.
