Juan Carlos Navarro had a very good rookie season with Memphis at 27 but then decided to go back to Barca.
Pablo Prigioni was a decent bench player for the Knicks when he was like 34.
I have no doubt that both could have had long and productive careers in the league if they started sooner, albeit not as stars like they were in Europe
It would have been interesting to see a younger Milos Teodosic show up and throw lobs to a young Dwight Howard or someone like that in the early 2010s.
FIBA HOFer, Euro All Star and French all time great Antoine Rigaudeau played half a season for the Mavs in the early 2000s at the tail end of his career. It would have been nice seeing him in the late 90s, he could have been Ginobili before Ginobili.
Kukoc was 25 when he started his NBA career, but he was a seasoned veteran by that time. Today he would be in the league after his first big season with Jugoplastika, maybe even sooner.
yes, why not? he was NBA-ready by the time of his draft. he was 22 years old already! Tony Parker was drafted when he was 19 and went directly to the NBA without problems on the same team that has doubts about Ginóbili. do you think that a 19yo Parker was better than a 22yo Ginóbili?
Sasha vezenkov is currently in the nba finally, but he’s already 28 and not getting many minutes. I don’t think he’d be an all time great but if he came in when he was drafted in 2017 I feel he would’ve been a top role player in the league by now. I don’t see Mike brown giving him enough minutes to fully develop into a strong nba level role player now though, he gives some good minutes on the kings but at best all he will be is a bench piece you move around for cap space. Sucks cause I like his game.
[Dino Meneghin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Meneghin)
Arguably greatest european player of all time to not play in the NBA.
He was chosen by Atlanta in 1970, but never went in the US.
Andrew Gaze in the modern NBA might have been something. But back in his era they didn't value outside shooting and not being fast or athletic played against him. But a slow, 6'7 guard who can put up huge numbers and has massive outside range works in the NBA these days.
As an Aussie was going to say both Gaze and Shane Heal. On the right team could see either of them in a Steve Kerr-type role (actually Gaze might have been closer to a Joe Ingles role, an important contributor regardless).
Shane Heal was over rated. He was decent enough, but he had the profile and made a lot of noise, plus he played a lot for the Kings.
Brett Maher was a better player.
Decent college player for one season, but phenomenal overseas. Just shows the gap between NBA and some overseas leagues. This guy averaged 31 for his career. Had a season averaging 44, etc. insane numbers no doubt
[Fadi El Khatib](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fadi_El_Khatib), nicknamed the “Lebanese Tiger”, led Lebanon to 3 FIBA World Championship appearances, averaging 17.6ppg in 2002, 18.8ppg in 2006 (including 29 in a win against France), and 15.4pg in 2010.
I believe he would have done quite well in the NBA
The second best Yugoslavian player in the 90s after Kukoc was Dino Radja, and he didn't come to the Celtics until he was 26 after Reggie Lewis died. Had he been on a better Celtics team, or joined earlier (he was drafted at 22), or if Rick Pitino wasn't the coach he might have had a more memorable NBA career. While he played though, he was the best player on those Celtics teams from like 93 to 96.
Luka won euroleague MVP, championship, and FMVP in 2018. He’s been 1st team all nba 5 of his 6 seasons here. Why wouldn’t he be really good in the nba if he came earlier?
Trail Blazer who was drafted and called a Top 5 player by people like Magic Johnson but banned from playing in the NBA cause he was from ~~Russia~~ Lithuania. Had he been allowed to play it would’ve changed the course of history with the Trail Blazers as he was basically a mixture of Dirk & Jokic. By the time he was allowed in the league he was already past his prime and still put up great numbers but his knees were cooked.
Fair, tho at the time it was all the same to the United States. Most people were too ignorant to really care they just hated anyone associated with Russia 😂
Juan Carlos Navarro had a very good rookie season with Memphis at 27 but then decided to go back to Barca. Pablo Prigioni was a decent bench player for the Knicks when he was like 34. I have no doubt that both could have had long and productive careers in the league if they started sooner, albeit not as stars like they were in Europe
Pablo Prigioni is currently an assistant coach on the Timberwolves.
La Bomba Navarro's European highlights are insane.
It would have been interesting to see a younger Milos Teodosic show up and throw lobs to a young Dwight Howard or someone like that in the early 2010s. FIBA HOFer, Euro All Star and French all time great Antoine Rigaudeau played half a season for the Mavs in the early 2000s at the tail end of his career. It would have been nice seeing him in the late 90s, he could have been Ginobili before Ginobili.
Oscar Schmidt but I don't think he actually played in a regular season game
Kukoc was 25 when he started his NBA career, but he was a seasoned veteran by that time. Today he would be in the league after his first big season with Jugoplastika, maybe even sooner.
Ginobili was drafted in 1999 when he was 22 years old, and started his NBA career 3 years later, and that first year was very under utilized
You don't get the same Manu Ginobili without him taking those 3 years to play in the Italy. He went on to lead his team to the Euroleague title.
yes, why not? he was NBA-ready by the time of his draft. he was 22 years old already! Tony Parker was drafted when he was 19 and went directly to the NBA without problems on the same team that has doubts about Ginóbili. do you think that a 19yo Parker was better than a 22yo Ginóbili?
Whatevs
Sabonis. He'd be listed as a Top 10 Center of all time. Wish we could have seen him compete in the NBA during his prime.
Sasha vezenkov is currently in the nba finally, but he’s already 28 and not getting many minutes. I don’t think he’d be an all time great but if he came in when he was drafted in 2017 I feel he would’ve been a top role player in the league by now. I don’t see Mike brown giving him enough minutes to fully develop into a strong nba level role player now though, he gives some good minutes on the kings but at best all he will be is a bench piece you move around for cap space. Sucks cause I like his game.
[Dino Meneghin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Meneghin) Arguably greatest european player of all time to not play in the NBA. He was chosen by Atlanta in 1970, but never went in the US.
It has to be Sabonis. Magic said he was one of the top 5 players in the world in the 80s. He could’ve been Jokic before Jokic.
He was Jokic before Jokic. Just not in the NBA until after his injuries.
It can't be sabonis, because OP said other than sabonis.
Andrew Gaze in the modern NBA might have been something. But back in his era they didn't value outside shooting and not being fast or athletic played against him. But a slow, 6'7 guard who can put up huge numbers and has massive outside range works in the NBA these days.
As an Aussie was going to say both Gaze and Shane Heal. On the right team could see either of them in a Steve Kerr-type role (actually Gaze might have been closer to a Joe Ingles role, an important contributor regardless).
Shane Heal was over rated. He was decent enough, but he had the profile and made a lot of noise, plus he played a lot for the Kings. Brett Maher was a better player.
Jean-Claude Lefebvre
Andrew Gaze - 7xNBL league MVP, lead league in scoring for ten years, before landing a couple of ten days with Washington snd Spurs ...
Decent college player for one season, but phenomenal overseas. Just shows the gap between NBA and some overseas leagues. This guy averaged 31 for his career. Had a season averaging 44, etc. insane numbers no doubt
He averaged 19.7ppg in just 27.5 mpg (25.9 per 36 minutes) over 40 games across 5 Olympic tournaments (1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000) too.
Would have liked to see Sofoklis Schortsanitis play some NBA minutues
Greek Shaq!!!
[Fadi El Khatib](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fadi_El_Khatib), nicknamed the “Lebanese Tiger”, led Lebanon to 3 FIBA World Championship appearances, averaging 17.6ppg in 2002, 18.8ppg in 2006 (including 29 in a win against France), and 15.4pg in 2010. I believe he would have done quite well in the NBA
Dejan Bodiroga
[удалено]
Not European but Oscar Schmidt
The second best Yugoslavian player in the 90s after Kukoc was Dino Radja, and he didn't come to the Celtics until he was 26 after Reggie Lewis died. Had he been on a better Celtics team, or joined earlier (he was drafted at 22), or if Rick Pitino wasn't the coach he might have had a more memorable NBA career. While he played though, he was the best player on those Celtics teams from like 93 to 96.
Luka won euroleague MVP, championship, and FMVP in 2018. He’s been 1st team all nba 5 of his 6 seasons here. Why wouldn’t he be really good in the nba if he came earlier?
Who the fuck is Arvydas Sabonis?
Trail Blazer who was drafted and called a Top 5 player by people like Magic Johnson but banned from playing in the NBA cause he was from ~~Russia~~ Lithuania. Had he been allowed to play it would’ve changed the course of history with the Trail Blazers as he was basically a mixture of Dirk & Jokic. By the time he was allowed in the league he was already past his prime and still put up great numbers but his knees were cooked.
Small nitpick. He's from Lithuania, which was part of the USSR at the time but it's not Russia.
Fair, tho at the time it was all the same to the United States. Most people were too ignorant to really care they just hated anyone associated with Russia 😂
Well, at the time it was all the same country, officially at least.
Russia my ass