SubscribeThe NBA is undoubtedly the top basketball league in the world, with the biggest stars and the best players from all around the globe. The NBA, unlike the NFL and the MLB, is popular not just in the US but all over the world as well. With superstars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James who have themselves become global icons, its no surprise that the NBA has become the global juggernaut that it is.
As such, it has been attracting the best players from all over the world. Dirk Nowitzki of Germany, Manu Ginobili of Argentina, Tony Parker of France, all of them have gone to the US to ply their trade in the best basketball league in the world.
However, something unprecedented happened in the last NBA off-season. A player went the other way, and signed to play for a team in Europe. It’s not the first time this has happened, in fact, it happens a lot. There are only so many slots on NBA teams, so other players go overseas to play the game they love. What’s different about what happened last year was that the talent level of the players who signed to play in Europe is clearly the best it has ever been. The likes of Josh Childress and Earl Boykins, key players for their previous NBA teams, went to Europe mostly because of the money.
For now, money is the main motivation for players to sign in Europe, but in the long run, this could be good for basketball. It could finally become the global game that football has long been.