Notable Foreign Basketball Players in Greece
With the financial rise of the professional men's club basketball competition the Greek A1 League during the 1990s, and the media interest for the league in Greece that was generated by large television viewership - there came a desire among viewers and fans to see Greek clubs bring in professional basketball players from abroad. Due to the A1 League's immigration provisions, top foreign prospects chose the path of naturalization in order to circumvent the league's rules. Among them were players from the former Yugoslavia, like Peja Stojaković and Marko Jarić, and from the ex-USSR, like Tiit Sokk. With the Bosman ruling in Europe in 1995, the Greek sports market was finally opened to foreign players and as a result, today major players from around the world are active in the A1 League. The most notable foreign player that has played in the Greek League, is the American player Dominique Wilkins, who scored more than 26,000 points in the NBA and is a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He left the Boston Celtics in 1995 and signed with Panathinaikos Athens. Another well-known American player that moved to the Greek League was the three-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, Byron Scott, who now coaches the Cleveland Cavaliers. Some of the other prominent American players that moved to the Greek League were Walter Berry, Antonio Davis, Tony Delk, Eddie Johnson, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Roy Tarpley, the four-time NBA champion John Salley, and the current coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, Scott Skiles.
The most significant foreign European players in the history of the Basket League are the Serbian player Dejan Bodiroga, the Croatian player Dino Radja, and the Lithuanian player Šarūnas Jasikevičius. All three were named among the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors in 2008, and Bodiroga and Jasikevičius were also named to the Euroleague 2001–10 All-Decade Team. Bodiroga, a two-time FIBA world champion and a three-time FIBA European champion, played for four years with Panathinaikos and with them he won the Euroleague championship twice. Despite the fact that he never played in the NBA, he was widely regarded as one of the world's best players at this time. Following a successful NBA career, Radja moved to the Greek League and became one of the few players to star for both arch-rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiacos. Jasikevičius, who is widely considered one of the best European players of all-time, also moved from the NBA to the Greek League. Another well-known foreign European player to play in the Greek League was the Serbian player Dejan Tomašević.
Other well-known foreign European players that have played in the Greek League include: the Serbs Žarko Paspalj, Željko Rebrača and Zoran Savić, the Croats Arijan Komazec, Stojko Vranković and Nikola Vujčić, the Slovenes Rasho Nesterović and Jure Zdovc. As well as the Lithuanians Artūras Karnišovas, Ramūnas Šiškauskas, and Linas Kleiza, Frenchman Jim Bilba, and the Ukrainian Alexander Volkov.
There have also been some other notable foreign players that have played in the Greek League like the Israeli player Oded Katash and the Turkish player İbrahim Kutluay. In recent years, key American players like J.R. Holden, Roger Mason, Maurice Evans, Von Wafer, and Josh Childress have also played in Greece.
Read more about this topic: Basketball In Greece
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