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NBA: Europeans Nowitzki, Parker, Gasol named to Hall of Fame

April 2, 2023

The 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame inductees list has a distinctly European feel, including France's Tony Parker, Spain's Pau Gasol, and the first ever German player to be inducted — former league MVP Dirk Nowitzki.

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San Antonio Spurs center Pau Gasol, left, of Spain looks for an opening to the basket against Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki, right, of Germany in the first half of an NBA basketball game,Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, in Dallas.
Both typically playing as power forwards, and mainly with Western Conference teams, Gasol and Nowitzki would regularly match up one-on-one during their careersImage: Tony Gutierrez/AP/picture alliance

The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced its 2023 inductees on Saturday, ushering three leading European players into the prestigious institution in a single intake. 

Dirk Nowitzki, who won the 2007 Most Valuable Player award and the 2011 NBA championship in a career spent exclusively with the Dallas Mavericks until his 2019 retirement, became the first German player ever to join the Hall of Fame. 

Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks reacts after making a three-pointer in the fourth quarter while taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game Five of the Western Conference Finals during the 2011 NBA Playoffs at American Airlines Center on May 25, 2011 in Dallas, Texas.
Nowitzki led the Mavericks to the franchise's only NBA title to date in 2011Image: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

On Twitter, Nowitzki said he was "so humbled and honored" to be part of the year's "amazing class." The German was widely seen as a lock to be chosen as one of the elites who enter the Hall of Fame, given he's a 14-time All Star selection and the sixth highest-scoring player in league history.

Gasol, Parker, coach Popovich also join the ranks

Nowitzki's rival power forward Pau Gasol of Spain, twice a champion with Kobe Bryant at the LA Lakers, also made the 2023 cut. 

And the San Antonio Spurs' French point guard Tony Parker also joined the intake, along with the legendary coach who helped him thrive in Texas, Gregg Popovich. Parker won four NBA titles at the Spurs, all under "Coach Pop," who claimed five himself in more than 25 years in charge. Only five NBA coaches have won five or more titles ever.

San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker, left, confers with coach Gregg Popovich during a timeout in the first half of the team's NBA basketball game against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, in Denver.
For several successful seasons in San Antonio, Gregg Popovich would mastermind the offense and Tony Parker would run itImage: David Zalubowski/AP/picture alliance

Nowitzki praised perhaps slightly lesser known Europeans in the NBA who had helped blaze a trail before his generation came into the spotlight. 

"I think there were a few guys who blazed the way for us a little bit," Nowitzki said. "And then the next wave came with Pau, Tony and myself. And if we help to make the game truly global and help some kids along the way that's obviously truly humbling for all of us." 

From an international trickle, to a flow, to a flood

The very first European players to be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame never made it to the NBA but were honored for their achievements in international or European club basketball. 

Legendary former Soviet Union guard Sergei Belov was the first international player to be inducted in 1992, having never played in the US. Latvia's Uljana Semjonova from the women's game followed a year later. 

Kresimir Cosic, a former LA Laker, became the first NBA player from Europe to join in 1996.

And behind him, more Europeans like Arvydas Sabonis, Toni Kukoc and Drazen Petrovic — or Africans like Hakeem Olajuwon or Dikembe Mutombo — would go on to qualify.

Hakeem Olajuwon  Amerika  Basketball Spieler
The first international player to ever win the MVP award as best overall player was Nigeria's Hakeem Olajuwon; Nowitzki later became the first European to win itImage: Band Photo/Photoshot/Picture-Alliance

And if top-tier European or international talent was becoming more commonplace by the time Nowitzki, Gasol and Parker were among the international stars of the NBA, it's verging on being the norm now. 

Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo and Serbia's Nikola Jokic have won the league's MVP award for best player in all of the last four seasons. And 24-year-old Luka Doncic, who played his rookie year alongside Nowitzki at the Mavs in 2019, seems likely to scale similar heights in time. 

Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic , right, embraces former Dallas Maverick Dirk Nowitzki after Game 7 of an NBA basketball Western Conference playoff semifinal against the Phoenix Suns, Sunday, May 15, 2022, in Phoenix.
After Dirk's era at Dallas, Doncic's swiftly followedImage: Matt York/AP/picture alliance

Dwayne Wade, Becky Hammon among US entries

Three-time NBA champion Dwayne Wade, a local boy born in Chicago, was the leading US men's player in the intake. The explosive guard Wade won the NBA title with the Miami Heat in 2006, 2012, and 2013, and lost to Nowitzki's Mavericks in the 2011 Finals.

Dirk Nowitzki and Dwayne Wade hold their jerseys during the second half of an NBA All-Star basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Charlotte, N.C.
Wade and Nowitzki, who locked horns in the 2011 NBA finals won by Nowitzki's Mavs, both retired in 2019Image: Chuck Burton/AP/picture alliance

From the women's WNBA, star player and then trailblazing coach Becky Hammon made the 2023 inductees list. Hammon is a six-time All Star who went on to coach the Las Vegas Aces and lead them to the 2022 championship. 

She was also Popovich's assistant coach at San Antonio from 2014. And she remains the only woman to take charge of an NBA team during a regular season game when, in 2020, she stepped in as Popovich was ejected from a game against the Lakers. 

Basketball | Chicago Sky - Las Vegas Aces Las Vegas Aces | Becky Hammon
Like so many basketball coaches, American-Russian Becky Hammon was a point guard in her playing daysImage: Shaina Benhiyoun/Sport Press Photo/ZUMA/picture alliance

msh/rm (AFP, AP, Reuters)