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International NBA stars take over the league and this could be just the beginning

2022-05-15T20:49:53.236Z


Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Joel Embiid are some of the new international stars of the NBA. And it could be just the beginning.


Analysis: Jokic and his well-deserved second NBA MVP award 1:16

(CNN) --

A 7-foot-5 man arrives at a Serbian stable in a horse-drawn cart.

In a few moments, tears come to her eyes.

Far from the glitz and glamor where he displays his many skills, Nikola Jokic received the trophy awarded to the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the National Basketball Association (NBA) at the exit of a horse stable in his native country.

After another dominant year, Jokic was named MVP for the second straight season, becoming the 15th player in NBA history to win MVP multiple times.

As a young man, Jokic says he never dreamed of playing the sport he now excels at;

he was too busy cleaning the stables.

Jokic and his particular way of receiving the NBA MVP 1:09

"I was cleaning the boxes. I was cleaning the horses. At that age, I didn't think about basketball at all, I'm not going to lie."

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Fast-forward to 2022 and we'll see a successful Jokic after the 27-year-old great became only the second straight player to win the award in successive seasons behind Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2018-19 and 2019- twenty.

Perhaps more significantly, it also continues a streak of non-American MVP winners and the upward trajectory of a new wave of international stars in the NBA.

Jokic dribbles against the Memphis Grizzlies at Ball Arena on Jan. 21, 2022. (Photo: Ethan Mito/Clarkson Creative/Getty Images)

A dream

Before Antetokounmpo won his first MVP title in 2019, it had been 12 years since an international player had garnered the prestigious award, when Germany's Dirk Nowitzki did so as a member of the Dallas Mavericks in 2006-07.

Aside from Nowitzki, Jokic and Antetokounmpo, the only non-U.S.-born players to win the MVP award are Hakeem Olajuwon of Nigeria, Steve Nash of Canada and Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands (although Duncan is a U.S. citizen and represented the United States in international games, the NBA considers him an international player).

This year, however, the shortlist for the prestigious Maurice Podoloff Trophy was an entirely international affair, as Jokic beat out Antetokounmpo and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid.

It is the first time that the top three spots in the MVP voting have been made up of fully international players.

Antetokounmpo after a 3-point shot against the New York Knicks.

(Photo: Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

In a league made up mostly of American stars, having a Serbian, a Greek and a Cameroonian as the best players in the league is a historic moment for the NBA.

Never before has there been such a concentration of international stars in the NBA.

In this year's All-Star game, there were seven foreign-born players;

30 years ago, there were only two.

In the first season of the league, in 1946/47, there were five international players in the league.

At the start of this season, there were 109 from 39 countries.

Former NBA Commissioner David Stern spotted the potential for global expansion and the opportunity for the sport to expand its borders.

"It's David Stern's dream," 76ers coach Doc Rivers said.

"It's a global game. It's not just 'us' anymore, whatever 'us' means. It's a global game and that's a good thing."

Combined with the influence of Dražen Petrović and Arvydas Sabonis - two European players who had successful NBA careers in the 1990s and are seen as pioneers in breaking the US barrier for many international players to come after them - the league became a realistic goal for many.

In fact, Sabonis's son, Domantas, is an All-Star forward currently playing for the Sacramento Kings.

With league offices springing up around the world and the sport's growing popularity in many countries, it's no wonder there has been an influx of international stars, notably 11 of the last 27 No. 1 selections in the NBA have been born outside the United States.

Embiid passes under pressure from Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.

(Photo: Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

A first wave?

Joining this year's international MVP finalists is perhaps the next European player in line for the award: Luka Doncic.

The Slovenian shooting guard for the Dallas Mavericks is experiencing another season of extraordinary growth.

The 2019 Rookie of the Year -in addition to being EuroLeague champion and MVP with Real Madrid at 18- has almost single-handedly led the Mavs to and through the playoffs.

And while his slow start to the season put him out of contention for this year's award, he will surely be in contention for years to come.

Doncic, like Jokic, Antetokounmpo and Embiid, arguably benefits from being the only NBA player from their respective countries, commanding attention while their American counterparts will have to compete for attention.

Doncic during the second half of Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Phoenix Suns.

(Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)

Jokic is without a doubt the biggest name in Serbian basketball;

Giannis Antetokounmpo -and his two brothers Francis and Thanasis- dominate the Greek panorama of the NBA;

and Doncic is the star of Slovenian basketball.

According to the NBA, on NBA Europe social media channels, content featuring Antetokounmpo performs 100% higher than average posts, while Jokic's content performs 10% higher.

The ripple effect of this influx of stars, with young basketball players seeing the sport as a potential career path, is the foothold the NBA might need to grow even more with the next generation.

With basketball academies being created all over the world, either by the players or by the league itself, who's to say the next Jokic could be just around the corner?

"If it's not me, who is it?" Jokic explained when asked if he considered playing in the NBA a long shot.

Jokic waves to his teammates after a basket against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 22, 2021.

"There's no way I'm going to get to the NBA and play basketball from... from this stable, basically, and now I'm playing it in the best league in the world and playing at a high level."

With some of basketball's most famous players nearing the end of their careers (LeBron James is 37, Kevin Durant is 33 and Steph Curry is 34), there could be more room for a new generation of young international players to take over the faces. of the league.

And while they will have to face competition from homegrown U.S. talent like Trae Young, Ja Morant, Jayson Tatum and Zion Williamson, the NBA could welcome a whole new influx of players as the league improves its status. global.

Giannis AntetokounmpoJoel EmbiidNBANikola Jokic

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2022-05-15

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