The bomb went off at noon on Friday. Kemba Walker, star of the NBA in the last decade, four times All Star and named All NBA in 2019, has signed for AS Monaco, a Euroleague team. Kemba change the NBA for the best league on the continent and will defend the jersey of the French giant next season, joining Willy Hernangomez as players who have made the reverse leap, from America to Europe. And although the arrival of a player of Kemba’s talent is historic for European basketball, it is not the first time that a star has packed his bags for Europe.. Not even the first All NBA. Because in history there are several Americans who decided to try another type of basketball before retiring.
Of all the names, there are two that shine above the rest: Bob McAdoo y Dominique Wilkins. In the case of Nique He had two adventures in Europe, the first at Panathinaikos and the second at Fortitudo Bologna, and He had time to win a Euroleague with the Greek team, being MVP of the Final Four against Barçaboth cups, Greek and Italian. Wilkins He returned to the NBA between his years in Athens and Italy, and ended up retiring in Orlando. Before, in the NBA, Wilkins He was a nine-time All Star, seven times All NBA and has retired 21 at the Atlanta Hawks pavilion, in addition to being named last year one of the 75 best players in history by the league itself.
McAdoo was also a hero in Italy, with Olimpia Milaneither. The one who was MVP of the NBA in 1975 won two FIBA European Champions Cup in a row, the current Euroleague, in addition to several national tournaments in Italy. After Milan, he played for Filanto Forli and Teamsystem Fabriano before retiring at the age of 41. In seven seasons he averaged 27 points per game in the league and 25.8 in continental competition. In his curriculum he also has two NBA rings, five All Stars, two All NBA or the award for best rookie in 1973. McAdoo was also three times in a row, from 1974 to 1976, the top scorer in the league and also, like Nique, is part of the list of the 75 best players in history.
More recently there is the case of Amar’e Stoudemire, who since 2016 has been playing in Israel. Started at Hapoel Jerusalem, where he co-owns and managed to win a league and a cup before moving to Maccabi Tel Aviv for one season. It was two months before the pandemic, so could only play six Euroleague games, which was canceled, but he did have time to win the Israeli league, being MVP of the finals. The success of Stoudemire and his prominent Judaism allowed him to obtain Israeli citizenship in 2019, when adopted the name of Yahoshafat Ben Avraham. Before, in the United States, his career was elite with six All Stars or five All NBA, in addition to being ROY in 2003.
He is not the only one who preferred to stay in Europe. Micheal Ray Richardson was banned from the NBA in 1985 for three positives in drug tests in the league. He was reinstated in 1988, as he was a four-time All Star and one of the best point guards in the league, but he decided to continue his career in Europe. He went through Italy, Croatia and France before retiring at 47s. With the Knorr Bologna he won the Saporta Cup in 1990 against George Karl’s Real Madrid. Ettore Messina He was the coach of the Italian team at that time, with only 31 years of age.
Others played only one year. Artis Gilmore made 30 appearances for Fortitudo in 1989 before hanging up the boots. Gilmore He was champion and MVP in the ABA, All Star in both the NBA and ABA and was almost every year in defensive or league quintets. He was also only one season, but en Maccabi, Tom Chambers. A four-time All Star, he led the Israelis to win the league before returning to the NBA where he would eventually retire.
Of course, there were some in Spain. Ralph Sampson played eight games with Unicaja in 1991/92 after leaving the NBA crushed by injuries. Sampson It was one of the two towers of the Rockets, with Hakeem Olajuwon and the first great NBA to play in Spainalthough almost everyone remembers George Gervin. After dominating Banco Roma, he played the end of the 1990 season at TDK Manresa where he was key to maintaining the category. He averaged more than 25 points per game despite coming to Spain at the age of 37 and after having suffered from addiction problems. In the end, Gervin He was four times top scorer in the NBA, nine All Star and seven All NBA. Or even Lamar Odom and his arrival in Baskonia, in 2014, where he played only two games.
There have been others who have gone through European basketball without making a lot of noise. Alex English played a year in Naples, in the Italian second division, in the same one in which Adrian Dantley was playing in Milan. Less ago, in 2010, Allen Iverson signed for Besiktas. The former NBA MVP a decade earlier signed a two-year contract, but after ten games, he returned to the United States due to injury and hasn’t played since. Also in Besiktas, albeit temporarily, he signed Deron Williams. He did it in a lockout year, when the NBA stopped for months in 2011. Other names somewhat known as Brian Scalabrine (Benneton), Danny Green (Olimpija) o Ty Lawson (Zalgiris) They followed in Deron’s footsteps.
Now it’s time for Kemba Walker. It depends on the base to be remembered as Lamar Odom o Allen Iversonplaying just a dozen games, or being the new Dominique Wilkins in Europe and leading a mighty Monaco to the continental title. The good thing is that the whole planet will be able to continue enjoying their basketball.
Sports journalist covering the NBA from Toronto. Leaving from Barcelona, he has lived in Boston, Sydney and Bogotá before staying in Canada to bring the best basketball league on the planet. All NBA, a bit of basketball, because he grew up with Tracy McGrady and Pau Gasol, but also with Sarunas Jasikevicius and Arvydas Macijauskas. He studied journalism in Barcelona, where he worked in various media and radio stations, and currently also collaborates with Gigantes del Basket and NBA Spain. He was in the NBA finals in which Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Sergio Scariolo got their first ring. If you don’t see him here, he’s probably on Twitter. …
2023-07-22 07:32:48
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