Greatest European Athlete To Make It In America

[Dmac]

So, I was originally going to do this as British but don't feel like there are many examples.

With that said, we will do it as European instead.

In all of your expert opinions. Who do you feel has been the most successful athlete to make the transition from Europe to the States?

...

For me it's hard to look past Dirk Nowitzki.

NBA champion (2011)
NBA Finals MVP (2011)
NBA Most Valuable Player (2007)
14× NBA All-Star (2002–2012, 2014, 2015, 2019)
4× All-NBA First Team (2005–2007, 2009)
5× All-NBA Second Team (2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011)
3× All-NBA Third Team (2001, 2004, 2012)

A future Hall of Famer for sure.

 

[Chris]

Dirk the GOAT

Let's see if Luka can top him

 

[Dmac]

Dirk the GOAT

Let's see if Luka can top him

Well he certainly hasn't started that path badly has he?

Luka is incredible to watch and still so young so he can only get better.

 

[CakeWalker]

Osi Umenyiora
2× Super Bowl champion (XLII, XLVI)
2× Pro Bowl (2005, 2007)
First-team All-Pro (2005)
Second-team All-Pro (2010)
2× Southland champion (1999, 2000)
All-Southland (2000)
Troy University Sports Hall of Fame
New York Giants Ring of Honor

GOAT​

 

[Hoss]

Basketball seems to have the biggest European influence of major sports in America. I would imagine many Europeans also play in the NHL, and maybe in the MLS even, but the NBA is larger in the mainstream than those leagues anyways. So yeah, Dirk is a surefire top tier pick. Giannis already close behind him I believe with 2 MVP awards, DPOY, his own Nike line of shoes and likely at least one NBA Championship in his future. Luka, as mentioned already, is also on the path to greatness. And going back a little more, Arvydas Sabonis and Drazen Petrovic have left pretty big legacies in American sports, even though they both had more prolific careers in Europe.

 

[CakeWalker]

I did it because Osi is British.

 

[Hoss]

Ah, and how could I forget to mention the Gasol brothers among elite European NBA stars?

 

[Dmac]

Basketball seems to have the biggest European influence of major sports in America. I would imagine many Europeans also play in the NHL, and maybe in the MLS even, but the NBA is larger in the mainstream than those leagues anyways. So yeah, Dirk is a surefire top tier pick. Giannis already close behind him I believe with 2 MVP awards, DPOY, his own Nike line of shoes and likely at least one NBA Championship in his future. Luka, as mentioned already, is also on the path to greatness. And going back a little more, Arvydas Sabonis and Drazen Petrovic have left pretty big legacies in American sports, even though they both had more prolific careers in Europe.

The European influence on the NBA is why I started supporting the Raptors because at that time there was...

Andrea Bargnani
Jose Calderon
Hedo Turkoglu
Marco Belinelli

AND

Brit, Pops Mensah-Bonsu.