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On the eve of the first regular-season NBA game in Germany, European basketball pioneer Detlef Schrempf is “proud” of the role he played in making the league a worldwide phenomenon.
“The NBA has gone global,” Schrempf told AFP from Berlin, where the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic will face off on Thursday.
A three-time NBA All-Star, Schrempf is considered the first true European star in the NBA, popularising the game in his native Germany and Europe.
Four decades on, international players – particularly Europeans – are entrenched at the top of the game.
In 2023, Germany eliminated the United States on the way to becoming men’s FIBA World Champions for the first time.
The NBA MVP award, given annually to the league’s best player, has not been won by an American since 2018.
With France’s Victor Wembanyama and Slovenian Luka Doncic joining multiple MVP winners Nikola Jokic, of Serbia, and ‘Greek Freak’ Giannis Antetokounmpo as the NBA’s leading lights, the European presence is here to stay. “There was talent like that in the past, but they didn’t have the opportunities,” Schrempf said of the new superstars, adding some facilities were so poor, “you wouldn’t want your kid playing basketball in that thing every day.
“When I got drafted, there were maybe two scouts and one coach at the European Championship before the draft.
“Nowadays, every NBA team has multiple scouts all over the world looking for talent.”
