Kevin Garnett stopped Paul Pierce from spreading negative assumptions about European players with recent comments on players like Rudy Gobert. Pierce's comments dismissed the ability of any American athlete to look at a European and think he is tough.
"No one considers European players to be tough, especially those who come from France. It's the truth. I don't know how it is in other sports, but no American player is respecting a tough guy from France or Europe in general. They are nice people, they like pastries, they're friendly."
Pierce then went on about how American players perceive Europeans as soft based on really prejudicial statements about them being... Pastries? While Pierce reiterated that wasn't his personal belief, he maintained that's what most players assume European players to be.
Garnett had a very different opinion about European players in the NBA, especially the ones who grew up in Eastern Europe.
"Europeans grew up in a real f***ing war, man. They went to school when there was war, bombs, everything... I'm talking about Serbs, about Croats, about some of those places, man... You talk like Americans are made of someone different cloth, and Europeans come from a completely different way of life."
Garnett agreed that negative stereotypes are associated with European players but maintained that they're not true.
"I've played with a bunch of them. They're soft to the point where people say they're not as aggressive as American players, but they're not pushovers. I think that's what the assumption comes off as."
Pierce's comments are quite irresponsible and shouldn't speak to the sentiment of players around the NBA right now. This opinion was widely accepted in the 2000s, but the generation of players like Tony Parker, Pau Gasol, and Dirk Nowitzki dispelled these narratives. Since then, players like Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Luka Doncic have firmly established European players atop the NBA pyramid.
With Europeans like Victor Wembanyama now in the NBA, someone who could one day be the GOAT, it's time to completely drop useless assumptions about European players that have been objectively proven to be false.
The Next Generation Of European Players Is Incredible
Last season, we saw an incredibly historic feat occur in the All-NBA First Team. For the first time in history, all five players were international players. Three of them were Europeans as Jokic, Doncic, and Antetokounmpo were named and are likely to make First Team again this season as the three leading MVP candidates right now.
Even though Rudy Gobert has had to fight through disrespectful notions about his toughness because he's French, he's a massive favorite to win his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, which would tie him with Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo for most DPOY wins in history. He's established his name as one of the greatest defensive players of all time, no matter the narratives around his career.
Even the 2024 NBA Draft is about to be headlined by European players. There's no clear top pick, but French trio Alexandre Sarr, Zaccharie Risacher, and Tidjane Salaun are projected lottery picks. Along with them, Serbian Nikola Topic and Lithuanian Matas Buzelis are expected to be high-lottery picks as well.
The future is going to be filled with European players in the NBA, so it's time that we educate ourselves on their skills rather than judging them based on prejudicial assumptions.
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