Since the establishment of the NBA in 1946, there have been 4,681 players who have officially participated in NBA games, including about 350 foreign players, accounting for 7% of the total number! At the same time, since the establishment of the MVP in 1956, 66 trophies have been born in the NBA, of which 6 were won by foreign players, accounting for 9% of the total. From this perspective, are foreign players a little more powerful than American players?
No. 1: Hakim Olajuwon, 1994 MVP, birthplace: Lagos, Nigeria!
Lagos is the largest city in West Africa, with a population of more than 8 million. Because it is located in a port, many Africans immigrated to major cities in the United States through Lagos in the last century, and Hakim Olajuwon is one of them!
Olajuwon was 17 years old for Nigeria to score 60 points and 15 rebounds in the African Championships. After the game, American scout Pound discovered him and recommended him to Houston head coach Guy Lewis . Then half a year later, Olajuwon officially immigrated to the United States and partnered with Drexler to lead the University of Houston to the NCAA semi-finals for three consecutive years. The closest one was Georgetown, led by Ewing in the 1984 Finals!
In his twilight years, both of these two were abandoned by their team!
After Jabbar retired, Olajuwon officially took over the scepter and became the league's number one center. Among them, he defeated Ewing in the 1994 finals, Robinson in the 1995 Western Conference Finals, and O'Neal in the 1995 Finals, officially establishing the position of the first person of the four centers!
In 1993, Olajuwon officially changed his nationality and then represented the US team in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Now we should call Olajuwon a Nigerian American!
second place: Tim Duncan, MVP in 2002 and 2003, birthplace: US Virgin Islands!
First of all, in our opinion, Duncan is undoubtedly an American, but for local American fans, Duncan was once divided into one of the foreign players. For example, as early as 2005, the league intended to change the All-Star Game to international players vs. local American players. At that time, Duncan was divided into the international players column in the polls. Of course, this change was finally realized in the rookie challenge!
In the American cognition, they only recognize the land of the 50 local states, and in the US Constitution, the Virgin Islands, Guam, Puerto Rico and other territories have only autonomy and no right to vote. Moreover, for larger territories like Puerto Rico, their people can choose not to add human beings when they are born. American nationality is only retained. For example, the famous Mavericks defender Jose Barria is a Puerto Rican citizen!
At that time, CCTV used the Mavericks and Spurs as an example to use the international team!
If you have to make an analogy, the Virgin Islands are somewhat like Hong Kong and Taiwan. Although they both belong to China, they will still be divided into Chinese team, Hong Kong team and Taiwan team in the Olympics!
third place: Steve Nash, MVP in 2005 and 2006, birthplace: Johannesburg, South Africa!
Nash was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. His father is British and his mother is Welsh. When Nash was nine years old, he moved to Canada with his parents. He attended Mitchell High School in Canada. He came to the United States when he was in college and joined Santa Clara University for four years before participating in the NBA draft!
In 2005, Nash defeated O'Neal with seven votes to win the first MVP, and then in 2006, he won half of the first vote and won the second MVP trophy again!
That Sun Team, which is attacking like mercury, is pouring into the ground!
fourth place: Nowitzki, MVP in 2007, birthplace: Würzburg, Germany!
Decnowitz has shown his talent in tennis since he was a child. At the age of 12, Nowitzki won the 1990 German Youth Tennis Championship. However, in 1992, Dirk's height was over 1.90 meters. So at the suggestion of coach Holger, Dirk still embarked on the path of basketball!
1998 was selected by the Bucks in the ninth pick in the first round, and then came to Dallas with the Mavericks. He was selected for the first time in 2002, entered the All-Star team in 2005, won the MVP in 2007, defeated the Heat and won the championship in 2011. Nowitzki is the highest-ranking international player now!
The driver was blackmailed by the Warriors just after receiving the MVP!
No. 5: Giannis Antetokounmpo, 19 and 20 years MVP, birthplace: Athens, Greece!
Antetokounmpo has loved football since he was a child. It was also because he was over two meters tall at the age of 14, so he had to abandon football and play basketball. Antetokounmpo first joined the Greek second-tier Dix team, and then joined the first-tier Zaragoza team as an adult. Antetokounmpo averaged 9.5 points and 5 rebounds per game in the 12-13 season. This data is sparse, but because of its great potential, it was still selected by the Bucks in the 15th pick in the first round!
then took four years until Antetokounmpo was selected for the All-Star and Best Team for the first time in 2017. Then she became an MVP in 21 years and won the championship in 21 years. Now Antetokounmpo is not yet 28 years old, and the probability of surpassing Nowitzki in the future is very high!
No. 6: Nikola Jokic, 2021 MVP, birthplace: Serbia Sonbor!
Serbia is located in the southeast of Europe with an area of only more than 80,000 square kilometers. As a result, except for the slight weakness in football, they have maintained an extremely high level in basketball, volleyball, tennis and other events!
Jokic has been in contact with basketball since he was a child. Before entering the NBA, Jokic played for the Serbian League Lake team. In the draft report, Jokic moved slowly, lacked explosiveness, lacked bounce, poor physical fitness, slow speed, weak willpower, insufficient strength, and easy defense to make mistakes. It can be said that he has no advantages. Therefore, he fell to the 41st pick in the second round in the 2014 draft. Now he won the MVP and became the top five stars in the league. It is also considered a slap in the face of an expert!
These two fat guys should be very wonderful to play basketball together!
As for the next foreign player who got the MVP, that's no surprise, Luka Doncic from Slovenia. Doncic's data has always been great. As long as the Mavericks can play in the top two in the West, Doncic's MVP will be very good!
