Giannis Antetokounmpo was like a child in a sweet store (his default setting at the perfect of instances) whereas rubbing shoulders with the all-time greats throughout All-Star Weekend.
Regardless of the presence of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and a bunch of different legends on the town for the NBA’s seventy fifth anniversary celebrations, it was Dirk Nowitzki who Antetokounmpo was most excited to spend time with, as he defined on Sunday.
“There have been solely two Europeans on this (seventy fifth Anniversary) workforce proper? That’s insane,” he mentioned. “Sitting subsequent to Michael Jordan, that’s nice. LeBron, Carmelo, simply unreal. However having the chance to sit down subsequent to Dirk, who opened the trail for us… That’s an much more unimaginable feeling for me.
“I watched him play after I was a child… When he was profitable the championship for the Dallas Mavericks. He was one in every of us. He got here from Europe.”
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Whereas it’s typically mentioned Nowitzki modified the sport for large males, it can’t be overstated what he means to worldwide gamers who’re following in his footsteps. It wasn’t all that way back, comparatively talking, when it was a lot much less frequent to see European gamers within the NBA, and people who did make the league had been typically considered as “comfortable”.
Now, the highest three MVP candidates are all worldwide gamers: Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Giannis. Luka Doncic additionally has MVP awards in his future. And with the worldwide motion properly underway within the NBA, the Greek Freak is wanting ahead to his fellow European gamers being formally recognised among the many all-time greats.
“Hopefully Luka, Jokic, extra European gamers can observe… Hopefully extra African gamers can observe. In 25 years, we’re gonna do it once more and there’s going to be extra non-American individuals within the group.”
