World dream team is getting closer
Greece’s Antetokounmpo leads growing list of international stars,
It was at the 2018 All-Star Game in Los Angeles that I asked Steve Nash, one of the foremost imports in NBA history, if the league would ever be ready — really ready — for a Rest of the World vs. United States format for its annual midseason showcase.
“We’re getting there,” Nash said then.
Nash suggested that perhaps 2022 would be “the time to try it,” as a 30th anniversary tribute to the original Dream Team that wowed the world at the Barcelona Olympics.
That forecast is looking smarter every day.
Understandably somewhat lost last week amid the very sad news of former NBA commissioner David Stern’s death was the bulletin from the league office detailing the first batch of returns from fan balloting for next month’s all-star game in Chicago.
The leading vote-getter in the Eastern Conference: Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo, from Greece.
The leading vote-getter in the West: Dallas’ Luka Doncic, of Slovenia.
Fan voting will always generate outrage for one reason or another. Boston’s little-used Tacko Fall, sixth among East frontcourt candidates, and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Alex Caruso, No. 8 among West guards, were the primary causes for complaints from the opening round of polling. Yet you scarcely heard a quibble about the fact that LeBron James trailed both Giannis and Luka even though he has joined Anthony Davis in powering the Lakers to a 29-7 start.
Antetokounmpo is the league’s reigning MVP and is playing at an even higher level this season.
Doncic has yet to appear in an NBA playoff game, but he has established himself as a consensus top-10 player by averaging a ridiculous 29.7 points, 9.7 rebounds and 8.9 assists in his sophomore season — leading the upstart Mavericks to a surprising 23-13 record in the process.
Unlike Nash’s era, when the NBA certainly featured numerous successful international players but only a few who were considered truly elite, there are several at that level besides Giannis and Luka.
The Cameroonian duo of Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Toronto’s Pascal Siakam have their own gaudy stat lines that make them all-star locks.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic (Serbia) is the unquestioned fulcrum for the team with the second-best record in the West.
Utah’s Rudy Gobert (France) has made such an all-around impact for the Jazz that you can find his name on Basketball Reference’s MVP tracker at a solid No. 10.
Minnesota’s Karl-Anthony Towns, who was born in New Jersey but represents the Dominican Republic internationally, played in the past two all-star games and would be a cinch for a third appearance if not for a recent knee injury — and the Timberwolves’ slump to a 14-21 record from a 10-8 start.
Throw in top all-star contenders such as Philadelphia’s Ben Simmons (Australia) and Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania) — as well as all-stars of recent vintage such as Orlando’s Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Philadelphia’s Al Horford (Dominican Republic), Toronto’s Marc Gasol (Spain), Miami’s Goran Dragic (Slovenia) and Dallas’s Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia) — and the point becomes clear.
There may not quite be 12 internationals playing at an indisputable all-star level as we speak, but it’s increasingly fair to ask, as Nash predicted, if we’re all that far away.