On the eve of the NBA’s first regular-season game in Germany, European basketball pioneer Detlef Schrempf expressed pride in the role he played in helping turn the league into a global phenomenon.

“The NBA has gone global,” Schrempf told AFP from Berlin, where the Memphis Grizzlies and Orlando Magic are set to face off on Thursday.

A three-time NBA All-Star, Schrempf is widely regarded as the first true European star in the league, helping popularize basketball in his native Germany and across Europe. Four decades later, international players—especially Europeans—are firmly entrenched at the top of the game.

In 2023, Germany famously defeated the United States en route to its first men’s FIBA World Championship, while the NBA MVP award has not been won by an American since 2018. With stars such as France’s Victor Wembanyama and Slovenia’s Luka Dončić joining multiple MVP winners Nikola Jokić of Serbia and Giannis Antetokounmpo, the so-called “European wave” shows no sign of slowing.

“There was talent like that in the past, but they didn’t have the opportunities,” Schrempf said of the new generation of superstars. He recalled that some facilities were so poor, “you wouldn’t want your kid playing basketball in that thing every day.”

“When I got drafted, maybe two scouts and one coach attended the European Championship before the draft. Nowadays, every NBA team has multiple scouts all over the world searching for talent.”

Paving the way for skilled big men

Seven-time All-Star Grant Hill, now a co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks, said Schrempf “paved the way” for the modern NBA big men: versatile players who can dribble, pass, and shoot.

Drafted by the Dallas Mavericks, a franchise known for spotting European talent like Dončić and German MVP Dirk Nowitzki, Schrempf’s career took off after a 1989 trade to the Indiana Pacers. In 1993, he moved to the Seattle Supersonics, reaching the NBA Finals in 1996 and pushing Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls to six games.

“I don’t like to compare eras, but they were tough to beat,” Schrempf reflected. “They had a lot of really good players, knew exactly what they were doing, and arguably the best player ever. We had our chances, but just didn’t execute.”

Standing 2.08 metres (6’9”), Schrempf—nicknamed “Det the Threat”—challenged the perception that European players were soft and helped reshape how big men were valued in the NBA.

“People used to say Europeans were soft. I always thought differently,” he said. “I said it’s a lot harder to play European Championships, World Championships, or the Olympics than NBA games. I wasn’t trying to change perceptions—I was just trying to play basketball.”

European development vs. the U.S.

Schrempf believes his career may have looked very different had he grown up in the United States. “Typically, tall guys in Europe were more skilled because they were taught dribbling, passing, shooting, and understanding the game from an early age,” he said. “In the U.S., if you were a big guy, you were posting up. My kids, if they were the tallest on the team, were told to stay under the basket instead of developing skills.”

Three-time MVP Nikola Jokić exemplifies this approach. “With Jokic, it’s a whole different level. A big guy who can dominate on so many fronts—it’s just amazing.”

Despite European players’ success, Schrempf is skeptical about meaningful change in the U.S., where high school and college rules often limit game time. “Good luck with that—you’re dealing with slow-moving institutions that rarely change,” he said. “In Europe, youth players can practice three times a day. If you really want to improve, you can.”